I Am Not Afraid of the Gospel

Paul says he's not ashamed of the gospel, because it is power of god for salvation to every one who believes. Paul doesn't begin with saying that he's proud of the gospel or bold with the gospel. To understand a some of the cultural context of this kind of greco roman world, let's look at justin martyr's third century dialogue with trypho. Trypho writes, your jesus having fallen under the extreme curse of god, we cannot sufficiently admire how you can expect any good from god who placed your hopes upon a man that was crucified. You see, crucifixion was viewed as the most cursed way to die. If you were crucified