Featured Is Ambiguity a Problem?

Returning to topic, here is an oft quoted verse:

Rom 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.​

This is an ambiguous verse and seems to be not understood in the same way by Calvinists or Arminians or middle of the Roaders.

First, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. Why might he have been ashamed? Because it is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. (1 Corinthians 1:23) We can derive from that the idea that the gospel may be inconsistent with the presuppositions of the lost.

What "power of God" is in view that is for salvation? For the Calvinists, or at least some of them, it is the power of irresistible grace to cause an individual to come to "saving faith by regeneration." For the Arminians, or at least some of them, it is the power to make salvation available for the choice of people, i.e. whoever chooses to believe is automatically saved.

The third way of understanding is that the power of God for salvation refers to God's power to provide reconciliation to those who believe the gospel fully, holding nothing back, and this determination is made by God alone when He credits the faith of some as righteousness.

Now Jesus presented this opportunity first to the Jews and then also to the Gentiles (non Jews) consistent with God's timetable and rollout plan.

 

Why might the gospel be a stumbling block to the Jews? Peter, a Jew when advocating the wrong view is addressed by Jesus as Satan or Adversary, as he was being a stumbling block for Christ's message of purpose. Peter was enjoying the physical company of Christ and in his humanity did not want to lose that due to Christ dying for all humanity.

In Matthew 18:7, we learn that stumbling blocks such as enticements to sin are inevitable, but woe to those who convey or provide them. Perhaps these enticements include not accepting God's offer of grace to the Gentiles.

Another stumbling block for Jews concerned their presupposition that the Gentiles would be required to fulfill the works of their Law, such as circumcision. But the gift of the cross nullified all such requirements, which again was at odds with some Jewish presuppositions.