The Gospel

What exactly is the Gospel and why is it so important?

Lexham Theological Wordbook Concept Summary

The gospel is the good news about God’s victory over death and sin through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

The greek word translated as gospel is: euangelion, which simply means good news.

Its NT usage refers specifically to the good news of Jesus Christ.

It originally signified an announcement of victory after battle.

However, we must be careful not to oversimplify the gospel or overcomplicate it.

The gospel is at once so simple that a child can understand it and at the same time so complex that we will spend all our lives plumbing the depths of the gospel message and never fully understand all that God has truly accomplished through the person and work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

The implications of the gospel are never-ending and for this reason a true believer never moves on from the gospel, only deeper and deeper into this life-changing reality.

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 CSB

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: 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 Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.

Date of writing for 1 Corinthians: AD 56

It is impossible for us to truly understand and appreciate the gospel message apart from an understanding of two things:

Human Sinfulness

We are not basically good people! We are more wicked and evil than we will ever understand.

Psalm 51:4–5 CSB

4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge. 5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Romans 5:12–13 CSB

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned. 13 In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.

Ephesians 2:1–3 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

God’s Holiness

The Hebrew word for holy means to be completely set apart.

Holiness is not just a part of God. God is the definition of holiness, it’s who He is.

Isaiah 6:3 CSB

3 And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth.

Exodus 15:11 CSB

11 Lord, who is like you among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

1 Samuel 2:2 CSB

2 There is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides you! And there is no rock like our God.

God’s holiness brings fear. Because He is holy and we are sinful there is a great separation between us that we can not cross.

Not only that but because God is holy He must punish sin. If He did not punish sin than He would not be just.

Because God is holy He can’t just overlook sin.

Hebrews 10:31 CSB

31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

So how can anyone be saved?

Exodus 34:5–7 CSB

5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Colossians 2:13–14 CSB

13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

On the cross of Christ we finally see the severity of our sin and the holiness of God reconciled once and for all.

We see both God’s love for us and His wrath against sin. The chasm has been filled with the blood of Christ, granting us access to God.

This truth dramatically effects the very core of our identity!

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 CSB

19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.