Paul expresses intense love and excitement for the Christians in Rome as well as a longing to visit them. In spite of Paul's history of killing Christians and extensive training as a Pharisee, he is able to be shameless in preaching the Gospel of Christ. Paul's overt confidence can only be due to Jesus' shameless acts of self-sacrifice as well as Paul's understanding of the saving power of the Gospel. The only thing that is more powerful than the impact of shame is love.