Picking up the key word “gospel” that has been a basic motif in the introductory verses (see 1:1, 2, 9, 15), Paul now briefly explains why he is so committed to spreading the good news and how that message is able to transform human beings.

The negative formulation of verse 16—“I am not ashamed”—may be no more than a literary device (litotes), functioning in a basic positive sense: “I am very proud of.…” Paul may have a reason for this way of putting the matter. As his passing reference to people who slander him in 3:8 suggests, he knows he has come under fire for his advocacy of the law-free gospel for Gentiles. One of the reasons he writes such a long and theological letter to the Roman Christians is to disabuse them of some wrong ideas about his own view of the gospel that they have probably heard. Thus, it makes perfect sense for him to go on the defensive here: I am not ashamed of this gospel I preach.

Why is he not ashamed? Because he knows the gospel he preaches is the divinely appointed means to bring salvation to the world. “Salvation” (soteria; see also 10:1, 10; 11:11; 13:11) and the verb “to save” (sozo; 5:9, 10; 8:24; 9:27; 10:9, 13; 11:14, 26) are important words in Romans. We sometimes use this language to describe conversion only (“When were you saved?”), but Paul more often uses it to refer to final deliverance from sin and evil that will come to the believer at death or the Parousia (see esp. 5:9–10; 13:11).

Announcing what will become a key note in this letter, Paul insists that the salvation available in the gospel is for all who believe (3:22; 4:11, 16; 10:4, 11–13; cf. 11:32; 16:26). In a significant advance on the Old Testament, which focused on Israel, the gospel is universally available. But also typical of Romans is the qualification Paul immediately adds: This gospel of salvation is “first for the Jew.” Some think Paul means by this no more than that the gospel was, historically, first preached to Jews, as the book of Acts makes clear. But the development of this point in Romans reveals that Paul’s point is more theological. In some sense, he will affirm, Jews still have a kind of priority in the plan of salvation. Perhaps the closest we can get to the idea is to say that Jews are the first addressees of the good news of Jesus Christ. That is, God worked through them to prepare the way for the coming of Messiah, and the glad tidings about him naturally have them as the primary focus. The juxtaposition of these two statements—“everyone who believes” and “first for the Jew”—drives the theological dynamic of Romans.