For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
Truth to Learn
There is no shame in being called a Christian, and there is no shame in sharing the glorious news of salvation through faith.
Behind the Words
The word translated “Scripture” is graphē, which is the noun form of graphō, properly meaning “to engrave” but by interpretation it means “to write.” Graphē, then refers to that which has been written. It was common practice among the people of the first century to refer to Holy Scripture with this word.
“Put to shame” is from the Greek word kataischunō, which is made up of kata, used as a negative intensifier and aischunō, meaning “to be ashamed of oneself.” Thus we see that this word means “to put to shame” or “to humiliate.”
Meaning Explained
In the previous two verses Paul stated one of the most blessed truths that mankind has ever heard, namely that a heartfelt belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and a verbal confession that He is Lord results in a person receiving the righteousness of God and the promise of salvation from the penalty of his or her sins.
Paul now quotes a portion of a passage from Isaiah 28:16 which says,
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay a foundation stone in Zion — a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.”
You will notice, however, that the ending of this verse in Isaiah is different from what Paul says in Romans. That is because Paul, as is normally his practice, is quoting from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of what we call the Old Testament. And, in reality, the two are saying the same thing, for what Isaiah means by “whoever believes will not act hastily” is that he will not make haste to run away from the sufferings he meets with in the way of his duty. That is, he will not be ashamed of his religion even though he and it are despised by others.
One of the things that Paul is doing by quoting this verse from Isaiah is demonstrating to the Jewish Christians in Rome that there really is no difference between how the Jews are saved and how Christians are saved. We will say more about this in the next verse.
Paul’s point in the current verse is that anyone who truly believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and confesses him as Lord will never be ashamed to declare Jesus Christ as Lord. As we said in the previous verse, anyone who is truly saved wants to confess it to others and, as a result, wants to tell others how to be saved.
Application
Have you confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? If so, you should be unashamed, even eager, to share the gospel message with those around you.
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2018 Will Krause. All rights reserved
