After the long greeting to start the letter, Paul moved quickly into expressing his heart and longing for the Christians in Rome, and his desire to see them face-to-face. Verses 16-17, in particular, give us the main reason for the writing of Romans, and the overarching theme of the entire book. It’s also something we desperately need to hear and be reminded of. Paul tells us that he is “unashamed of the gospel”. I think the only reason he would use language like that is because at some point(s) he was tempted toward the opposite. The gospel of Jesus Christ has always been, and will always be, profoundly countercultural. It was risky to be a Christian in the first century. It’s costly now to follow Christ, and it doesn’t line up with broader cultural narratives that we are surrounded by every day. Our passage for Sunday gives us the reminder that we all need of why we can be unashamed of the gospel and what that will look like in the lives of those who are in Christ Jesus.