What’s the gospel?
It’s fairly easy to define what the term “gospel” means. The biblical word “gospel” refers to the message of salvation. The English word “gospel” is a translation of a Greek word (the original language of the New Testament) that referred to a reward given to someone who brought good news. Hence you’ll often here the term “gospel” equated with “good news”—the good news about the message of salvation.
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So let’s talk about what the gospel means. What is the content of God’s offer of salvation? What are the details of the good news? And why is it good news? The word appears almost 100 times in the New Testament so we ought to be able to figure this out.
The apostle Paul probably talks about the gospel message more than any other New Testament writer. He uses the word “gospel” for the message he preached about Jesus:
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you.… That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Cor 15:1–4)
Paul defines his message, the gospel, elsewhere:
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God … concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith.… (Rom 1:1–5)
The content of the gospel—the good news—emerges clearly in these passages. Here are the elements:
• God sent his Son …
• Who was born in the line of David …
• As the man Jesus Christ …
• Who died for our sins …
• Who was buried …
• And who rose from the dead …
These items are the content of the good news. Let me describe them again here in light of the bigger picture of the story we talked about earlier:
The Son of God became a man. He suffered and died on the cross so that our sins would no longer keep us out of God’s family. He rose from the dead so that we could also overcome death and be with his Father, our Father, the only true God, forever.