What is the gospel?
We talk a lot about the importance of the gospel. But what exactly is the gospel?
I am not trying to pose a trick question, and others before me have sensed a need to define what we are talking about when we use the word 'gospel'. Some have been book-length answers such as 'What is the Gospel' by Greg Gilbert.
The simplest answer to that simple question is that, it is the 'good news' ….as that literally translates the meaning of the actual word 'gospel'.
But in Scriptural context, what is this good news about? What is this news which we are told is good?
How would you describe the 'good news' of the gospel?
In this 21st century when you want an answer to a question, (and in particular what people might give as a definition of the 'gospel')…what do we do?
… a 'google' search of course!
So I typed in 'What is the gospel' to Google, and here are some examples of short answers that came up:
The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation.
The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy. That's the gospel.
Sinclair FergusonIn New Testament terms, the gospel is the proclamation of the person and work of Jesus Christ plus how the benefits of that work can be appropriated to us by faith and by faith alone.
So the gospel has a narrow definition: it's the message about Jesus. Now, there are other good tidings: the kingdom of God, all of that. But, specifically, if you look at what we call in the New Testament the kerygma, the apostolic proclamation of the gospel, it focuses on Christ: who He is, what He did, and how we receive His benefits.
Evangelism group CRUIf a student asked me that question I would say, "Paul has told us in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 15." He says, "These are the things that are of first importance." And he states facts with an interpretation: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; the third day He rose again" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). And that is, in the New Testament, or at least in Paul's letters, the simplest foundation.
It is the news about who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and how that changes everything for all of us.
Greg Gilbert - author of the book 'What is the Gospel?'
It's a message from God saying, "Good news! Here is how you can be saved from my judgment!"
Answers in Genesis
The word 'gospel' means 'good news.' When Christians talk about the gospel, they are presenting the good news of Christ's death and resurrection.
Most of the above answers are essentially fairly similar, and most went on to explain it further after their initial short answers. And, these short answers are all excellent succinct answers and definitions.The gospel is the good news about what Jesus Christ has done to reconcile sinners to God.
However, these answers all may nicely agree, and give us a neat 'spear-head' kind of consolidated and sharp definition. But do they clearly help us see what the real 'point' of the gospel spear-head is?
The gospel in 2 Corinthians 4
Recently I read 2 Corinthians 4 in the course of once again working through the Bible in a year, and one particular verse 'jumped' out at me, in a way I guess I hadn't 'seen' quite so clearly before.
Maybe 2 Corinthians 4:4 gives us the simplest and most profound answer to the 'gospel' question…and one we might easily overlook in weight and meaning…
It says:
'In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.'
So, if we ask re the gospel, 'it is the good news of what?' ….the answer from this verse is: 'the glory of Christ'.
Now this might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about what could be a definition of the gospel….it certainly wasn't the way any of the above Christian leaders or groups defined it. At least not in those specific terms.
Maybe as you are reading you are grabbing your bible to check out that verse in 2 Corinthians which I just quoted, and your bible says it a bit differently:
The NIV says the 'gospel that displays the glory of God'
The NLT says 'the glorious light of the good news'
The KJV and NET say ' the glorious gospel of Christ' (although the NKJV changes it to 'the gospel of the glory of Christ')
The CEV says 'the good news about our glorious Christ'
So some translations of this verse adjust it slightly and turn the noun 'glory' into an adjective. But this seems to lessen its impact and importance.
Here is what a couple of commentators say as they pick up on these words and the way some translations switch a noun for an adjective (emphases mine):
Ellicotts
Lest the light of the glorious gospel.—…. The English version "glorious," though a partial equivalent for the Greek idiom of the genitive of a characteristic attribute, lacks the vigour and emphasis of the original, which expresses the thought that the gospel is not only glorious itself, but shares in the glory of Christ, and has that for its theme and object.
Jamison-Faucet-Brown
light of the glorious gospel of Christ—Translate, "The illumination (enlightening: the propagation from those already enlightened, to others of the light) of the Gospel of the glory of Christ." "The glory of Christ" is not a mere quality (as "glorious" would express) of the Gospel; it is its very essence and subject matter.
The gospel is not just something glorious in that it is wonderful news, but it is news about glory that has come, like bringing light into darkness.
So here we have a definition of what the gospel good news is….in three words….'glory of Christ'.
Now, let's look at another passage to see a bit more about this gospel of glory.
The Gospel in 1 Timothy 1
Some years after Paul the Apostle wrote the words to the Corinthian church and further toward the end of his life, he once again wrote a similar explanation and definition again to Timothy, his son in the faith. His understanding of the core essence of the gospel had not changed. Paul, in verse 1 of this passage is in the midst of warning about false teaching, and reiterates to Timothy that sound doctrine has to be:
in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
So this way of describing the gospel, was no 'accident' or insignificant definition, but obviously one that Paul felt was important and was in the forefront of his mind when he thought about the core essence of the gospel he proclaimed.
He knew it was the good news about a glory that was supreme of which he did not need to be ashamed of (Romans 1:16).
This verse is also 'adjusted' in some translations to turn a noun into an adjective (glorious gospel) and I once again feel that slightly conceals the weight of the word and context of glory and honour.
But once again the Commentators explain that the turning of 'glory' into an adjective is not the intent of the text.
MacLaren's Expositions
the proper rendering is that which is given in the Revised Version--'the gospel of the glory,' not the 'glorious gospel.' The Apostle is not telling us what kind of thing the Gospel is, but what it is about. He is dealing not with its quality, but with its contents. It is a Gospel which reveals, has to do with, is the manifestation of, the glory of God.
Vincent's Word Studies
The glorious gospel of the blessed God (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς δόξης τοῦ μακαρίου θεοῦ). More correctly, the gospel of the glory, etc.
The Gospel of Glory
The 'gospel of glory' almost seems too simple a way to describe the gospel….and yet it is maybe the most weighty and clear definition we have, and maybe we don't recognise its significance and importance because we have 'missed' the core of the gospel, because we have missed the core of Scripture being a story about glory - glory present, glory given, glory lost, glory won, and glory re-given.
Greg Gilbert's book above talks about how that to understand the gospel we have to understand the reality of sin, since the gospel is the good news coming to address the bad news about sin. Yet it is remarkably easy for us to miss the true nature or identity of sin…and thus miss the true nature of the gospel.
Remember Romans 3:23….'all have sinned', and what does it say next?….and 'come short of the glory of God'. In other words our sin is a 'lack of glory' problem. Therefore it makes perfect sense that the gospel is then the 'gift of glory' solution.
And what does Paul say in Colossians 1:27 about the mystery finally being revealed?
…'Christ in you the hope of glory'.
If 'lack of glory' is the sin problem, then to be given the opportunity to have 'the glory restored' is the needed answer.
How does that happen? Christ. He bears our 'lack of glory', ie shame, and if we repent of our own self-efforts of glory (our prideful seeking and desire for significance, acknowledgement, importance, value, worth, status, honour, acceptance, approval) for ourselves from others and our own efforts, and believe in Christ's provision of glory, God gives us the favour of the undeserved gift of His glory…and that's called grace. The chasm and separation between us and God is bridged and our relationship with Him is restored, and through His gift of glory He brings peace. Both the turmoil in our own hearts and the enmity with our Creator is resolved. The King of glory becomes to us, the Prince of Peace.
This is also thus a message to overcome shame - that sense at many levels that we feel we are not enough or accepted, or feel excluded or rejected in some way, or feel we are in 'imposter' in our success, or fear exposure of past or present sin and failures, or have been violated by the abuse of another and so feel worthless. All of these are just windows into awakening our awareness of the issue of shame, and then recognising the reality of our greater shame before a holy God. But the gospel is the good news because the whole of Scripture is about God making a way to bring us out of shame and estrangement that began in Genesis 3, and into glory and peace through Jesus.
In our 21st century world which is drowning in shame and desperately seeking honour and wanting to escape shame…and discovering that options to find true peace on the banquet table of the world are empty…the gospel truly is the best 'good news of glory' there could ever be both for now and eternity!
In this Christmas season, let's not forget this is the good news
which begins with a baby entering the world in Bethlehem about 2000 years ago,
when God became flesh
in order to become our shame-bearing Saviour,
so as to be the 'gift of glory' solution to our 'short of glory' problem.
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