Apparently, most theologians up until the last half-century or so thought Paul’s theme-opening words were merely a modest and understated bit of theological throat-clearing. The traditional interpretation of “unashamed” in Romans 1:16 also qualifies as the least verbose. And he wrote to both as an ambassador of God’s honor, to the rejection of all human frameworks of collective identity but one-the church as the unified body of Christ experiencing the peace of His salvation. Paul did not write as a Gentile or as a Jew, but as neither and both. While I believe the modern, Western conception of honor-shame has some peripheral weight in understanding Paul’s use of “unashamed,” I think he focuses more centrally on the Hebraic concept of shame reflected in the Old Testament, and especially the psalms of lament.īuilding on recent socio-rhetorical methods of interpretation, I will attempt here to forward the already sprawling conversation on Romans by making a more careful analysis of Paul’s words in Romans 1:16, comparing them both to his own words elsewhere in the Scriptures as well as to the echoing eschatological and exhortatory texts and concepts of the Psalms.
When they have begun to address the pivotal honor-shame dynamic of ancient cultures, it seems many contemporary commentators have accidentally carted their own prejudices into their conceptions of ancient peoples, lending a modern color to the Pauline concept of honor and shame which does not adequately unpack the force and wisdom of Paul’s words. Yet, perhaps because these verses proceed to deal with what seem like far more pressing issues to post-Reformation theologians-like the gospel and righteousness and salvation, theologians have only quite recently given any proper attention to the pivotal ancient idea which opens Paul’s theme: shame. Given the fact that nearly all commentators agree that verses 1:16–17 constitute Paul’s theme statement for the whole book of Romans, one would think theologians would have spent quite a lot of time discussing every aspect of these verses, especially their first words. The 116 Clique, a Reformed hip-hop collective founded by Lecrae Moore, named themselves after Romans 1:16, focusing particularly on Paul’s phrase “I am unashamed of the gospel.” They want to make it clear that they, like Paul, suffer no embarrassment from the gospel of Jesus, even though unchurched rappers and taste-makers might want to make fun of Christians and Christianity as “lame.”Īs valorous and commendable as this sentiment may be, does it fully draw out the meaning of Romans 1:16? Are the opening words of the theme statement for Paul’s most characterizing of epistles like something a respectful teenager might say about having his awkward but loveable parents around when his peers ask about them at prom? Did Paul mainly mean that he refused to feel embarrassment concerning the gospel? But everybody gotta die and stand in front of the King.
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