What Is the Gospel?

Pastor Richard C. Church

In sermons and religious writings one will often encounter the word "gospel", but rarely is this word defined. And even rarer yet is an explanation of the content of the gospel. For many, the term has become of no real meaning or importance.

Some believe that the gospel refers only to the four accounts of our Lord's earthly life and ministry, as in "The Gospel According to Luke." Others refer to any true account as "the gospel truth." But as it is used in the Scriptures, the word gospel has a very definite meaning and its content is described in great detail. The English word gospel is a combination of two Old English words: god, good, and spel, word or news. Thus gospel means simply, "good news."

It may surprise the reader to learn that there is more than one gospel in the Bible. However, when we remember that gospel means simply "good news," we can see that there are truly many messages of "good news" in the Holy Scriptures. In fact, it would be absurd to think that a Bible consisting of 66 books written by over 40 authors over a period of over 1500 years would contain only one message of "good news." And our study of the Scriptures will bear this out, as we find many different messages of "good news," or gospels, preached at different times in the Bible.

For instance, when God told Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed (Gen 12:3), this good news is referred to as "the gospel unto Abraham" (Gal 3:8). When Jesus Christ was born, the heavenly host proclaimed the "good tidings," or gospel, of His birth (Luke 2:10). John the Baptist and Jesus Christ proclaimed the "gospel of the kingdom," saying "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mat 3:2, 4:17). And the apostle Paul preached the good news of God's grace (Acts 20:24), which he calls "my gospel" (Rom 16:25) and "the gospel which was preached of me" (Gal 1:11).

It is this last gospel that most concerns us today, for Paul writes that God "shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." And if it is by the gospel of the grace of God that men will be judged, then it would do us well to know just what this gospel is.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (KJV)
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you... By which also ye are saved... For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

This is the gospel by which men will be judged. What do we believe about Christ? At the day of judgment, all of the religious works that we have done will be of no account (Mat 7:21-23). The only matter to be judged will be our acceptance or rejection of the Christ who died once for all to pay for our sins. Simple faith in the Living and Resurrected Christ will allow us to escape the wrath of God for all eternity. Now that's GOOD NEWS!