Articles
The Gospel
The word gospel occurs nearly a hundred times in the New Testament. It means good news. The English word is a compound of good + spel, a story or message. After long association with God’s message, goodspel became Godspel, God’s good news.
Consider how the New Testament identifies the “good news.”
It is the gospel of God. “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (Romans 1:1-2). God is the source of this good news, which makes it good indeed.
It is the gospel of the grace of God. “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). The good news is that God, who is holy and just, is also gracious and merciful. The gospel reveals the expression of His grace and how we can become recipients of it.
It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark’s account of Jesus’ life opens this way: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). But the gospel is far more than the story of Jesus’ life. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 summarizes it: “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
It is the gospel of your salvation. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation . . .” (Ephesians 1:13). This is the practical application. God graciously sent His Son to die for us so that we might have salvation in Him.
The gospel not only identifies Jesus as the means of salvation, it also reveals what we must do to be saved. “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” (Romans 1:16). “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned’” (Mark 16:15-16).
It is the gospel of the kingdom. “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Jesus was the promised King, the Messiah [that is what Christ means]. He rules both at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33-36) and in the hearts of His disciples (Luke 17:21).
It is the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:15 identifies “the gospel of peace” as part of the Christian’s armor. Earlier in the same book, Paul wrote of Jesus, “And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father” (2:17-18). The good news is that in Jesus we have peace with God, peace with our fellow man, and even peace with ourselves (Philippians 4:7).
It is the gospel. There is but one. “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). Don’t be duped by a distorted gospel in which the Biblical facts about Jesus are denied or the requirements for us are altered.
Paul occasionally referred to the gospel as my gospel (Romans 2:16; 16:25; 2 Timothy 2:8). It was what was revealed to Him by Jesus (Galatians 1:12), what he preached, but also what he personally embraced, what he lived. Can you call the gospel “my gospel”?
