that gospel is. Ironically, while "gospel" means good news, news is only good if one knows of what is bad, so Paul begins with the bad news: man's sin.
The first tenet of Christianity is that Christ came into the world to save sinners (Matt. 9:13; Mark 2:17). This statement means that all have sinned, so Paul clarifies that first, because in the Roman world (unlike Judaism) many people were willing to deny that anything they did was wrong. Paul then addresses the Jews themselves, who while having a religion that convicted them of sin, were also able through misuse of that religion to believe that they themselves did not sin. Thus, the first two chapters argue in detail the conclusion in Romans 3:23: "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
Paul then presents the good news, beginnin
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