Pastor Steve's thoughts

Lately, I’ve seen blog after blog talking about the gospel. Blog blah blog blah blog and then blah. The more prolific bloggers have connected other words to the gospel. We have a living gospel, pure gospel, Jesus’ gospel, Paul’s gospel, gospel according to Starbucks, heath & wealth gospel, healing gospel, community gospel and the list goes on. It seems to me that Jesus and His apostles made understanding the gospel simple and bloggers have made it complicated.

As I read the current books and blogs about the gospel, I see very little biblical underpinnings. Let’s start with a simple question. What is the gospel?
What exactly is the gospel? Our English word gospel means “good news”. This needs to be further clarified by this question. Good news about what?

The Greek word for gospel is euangelion. It is found 76 times in the noun form and 54 times as a verb. The verbal form means to tell the good news. In classical Greek, the verbal form meant to announce a victory. (Classical Greek language roughly ranged between 500 bc and 100 bc. The bible was written in Koine Greek which is different. Some words kept their meaning and others changed. We see the same changes in the English language over time.)

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul summarized the gospel is basic terms.

15 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Notice how Paul emphasized the historical details and the emphasis upon the resurrection. The resurrection is central to the gospel message. Paul later states in chapter 15 that without the resurrection the gospel is meaningless.

Paul also says that Christ died for our sins. Central in the death of Jesus is what we call penal-substitutionary atonement. Simply, Jesus died in our place so we could have eternal life.

What is the good news? The bad news is my sin prevents me from knowing God and having eternal life. How is this to be resolved? I can’t do anything to resolve the issue. Therefore, I need God’s grace through Jesus’ work on the cross. The good news is that Jesus died for my sins. This is grace because we do not deserve anything from God. I reminded of the slogan the reformers used: “Faith alone in Christ alone.”

Keeping the gospel clear is of utmost importance. Otherwise we muddy the waters and down grade Jesus and his work on the cross.