What is the Gospel?
May 27, 2008 Uncategorized
As I am flying this week, I will be working on some conference messages I am giving over the course of the summer and in several of them, I have been asked to give a message “on the Gospel.”
Normally, this would not be a hard message to give. But I am learning that a lot of people out there have some pretty divergent views on what the Gospel is.
So, here’s my question for you: What is the Gospel?
Without looking anything up in the Bible or anywhere else, give me your answer in the comments section of this post. I am very interested to see what everyone writes. Then, sometime in the next week or so, I’ll post a general outline of my message I am working on.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Noel! Yikes…good question…no, no GREAT question! Hmmm, without looking up anything or trying to wax too spiritual…when I think of the word and meaning of Gospel, I think of good news…the divine, good news that God has a plan for us all and His Church.
I cannot wait to see what everyone else posts, too. We all bring our flavor to the Body, don’t we?
May 27th, 2008 at 10:38 am
It is of course the Good News, the promise of God’s love for us. Its interesting to me that it is not only the word of God, but the Word of God - Jesus being the Word from the beginning. Which seems to tie in not only the old testament but those people came before the time of Jesus and those who came later. His life and sacrifice were and are for everyone from the beginning unto the end, alpha and omega. The more I read the Gospel, the more the different parts come around and confirm each other. Something may not make sense (like why were the people before Jesus left out), but then the answer is in another part (Jesus was there from the beginning, therefore his sacrifice was for all from the beginning).
Its tempting to take verses out of context, but it all makes more sense when I read the letters as a letter and the books as a full book. And the entire testament as a whole. It has been like when you would take a test in school and not know an answer, but further in the test the teacher asks a question that answers the previous question.
Sorry I carried on so, but it just poured out. I pray for you all in your teaching, that you reach those who need to hear your word.
Thanks for being there.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:39 am
THE GOSPEL: I am a sinner and as such, am separated from God. His love for all sinners prompted Him to give His Son Jesus to live as God/man, to suffer punishment for my sins, die and rise again three days later. As I receive the free, undeserved gift of Jesus in my life, I am declared sinless in the eyes of God. Therefore, I will live with Him forever.
There’s so much more to the story, this is just the basics.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:43 am
“Gospel” literally means “good news”. So basically an account of events that occurred that are in some way “good.”
“A gospel” is one of the first four books of the New Testament, i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
But “THE Gospel”, as I would lay it out, is this: that God, in order to reconcile humanity with himself while satisfying both his infinite love and his infinite justice, came to earth as a child, Jesus of Nazareth, born of a virgin; and after living a sinless life and preaching a radically different lifestyle focused on loving God and loving mankind (rather than focusing on pious adherence to the letter of the law while ignoring the spirit of it), he was crucified; in his death on the cross, he became sin for us, and thereby put to death the power of sin that had previously enslaved us, so that we might through him receive his righteousness; and in his resurrection, we have hope of everlasting life in communion with God, if only we are to believe in and receive the free gift of grace that is granted to us.
Another way to say it is Paul’s words in Romans, which (roughly) says that the gospel is “the power of God for the salvation of all who believe;” and in it “a righteousness from God is revealed, that comes through faith in Christ.”
May 27th, 2008 at 11:28 am
The gospel is the good news that we don’t have to live as strangers to God. It is God’s power to reconcile broken relationship expressed in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Father’s dear Son Jesus Christ.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Jesus paid it all.
All to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow!
[plus what was said above]
Have a fun & safe trip Noel!
May 27th, 2008 at 11:57 am
The Kingdom of God is here
May 27th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I’ll agree with Jeff at this point.
The Gospel is the promise/way of being able to “walk with God [as Adam and Eve probably did (Gen 3.8-9)]“, both figuratively and literally, made possible by and manifested most perfectly in Jesus the Christ.
May 27th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
The Gospel: Jesus came on a rescue mission for this world to pay for our sins so that he could destroy evil without destroying us. (THAT is good news!)
That was my paraphrase, now I’m going to look up exactly what I read Tim Keller write along those lines: “The Bible says that Jesus came on a rescue mission for creation. He had to pay for our sins so that someday he can end evil and suffering without ending us.” (page 30 of The Reason For God)
May 27th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I believe that the Gospel is the good news that Jesus died to pay our debts. If we believe in him, what he did for us, and accept him as our savior; we can stand before God with no shame, no sin, no judgment, pure and white as snow.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I think the Gospel message is this: God loves people so much that he was willing to take on human flesh, to be tempted, tortured and murdered on our behalf so that we could spend eternity with him - all without us doing anything at all to earn that gift other than accepting it and surrendering our life to Jesus.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I haven’t read through the other comments but I noticed “Good news” as I was going to mention. I’d say that news is Christ. God loving us so much that we are of Him and were we can see that we aren’t we have this chance to be reborn when it unlivable but whatever the matter we can change for the better of this Body; together as one in Christ as our Lord was with the Father… even the parables can’t be just parables if I’m going to live in truth… and of course you might not be happy about it but I’d say the news should be “I love you” that’s “I Agape you” not some brad pitt thing
May 27th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
My uneducated answer to this question is that I think the gospel is the general message of Jesus and salvation- that he existed, that he exists, that he is coming back, etc. “Back in the day” there was a message that a savior would come, before Jesus was born, but I don’t think that is the gospel. I think the gospel is basically the message that Christ brought, the message of Salvation through Him.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:30 am
The Gospel is the report that the promised Jewish Messiah has come (fulfillment of law and prophecy). Jesus was killed, buried, and raised according to the scriptures. He satisfied justice and wrath while delivering mercy and grace.
“The Gospel” is the vehicle for redemption. For a repentant person truly acknowledging His blood shed as THE atoning sacrifice, this covers over sins and provides the fallen:
Relationship with God instead of alienation
Righteousness instead of unrighteousness
Life instead of spiritual deadness (regenerated via the Spirit)
Freedom from enslavement to sin
Pardon from legal condemnation/guilt
…
May 28th, 2008 at 1:38 am
The Gospel in my opinion, is 4 accounts of the life of Jesus written differently inorder to show us what Jesus’s life, death and resurrection mean.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:51 am
We are all sinners
He died for all
So all can be saved
If all believe
May 28th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Our best effort putting to words how awesome JC really was
May 28th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Without trying to summarize and attempt to look smart, this article I find helpful in such a discussion:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/002/9.74.html
May 28th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
The good news is that God became a man named Jesus, who was born, lived, died, and rose again ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE for the atonement of sins so that whoever believes in Him will be saved.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Wow. What great responses (also, for those of you who are on Facebook, head over to my page to see more). I will digest these and hit you all with my summary soon.
Keep ‘em coming.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
The Gospel according to Don Cherry is that The Penguins are getting their oily little butts whupped 2-0, and after tonight it will be 3-0.
Byaaaah!!!
May 28th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Its SO simple. God loves people oh so much….SO much, its crazy. But, He really hates sin. And we are involved with sin, as humans, as people. We sin. A lot. God can’t deal with sin.
Something had to be done about this “sin” problem.
This guy Jesus, who was actually God too, lived a sin-free life. IF sin-free guy, who is also God, chooses to die for people’s sin, so we don’t have to (cause the price of sin is death) then we MUST be able to be with God if we believe in him, the One, JESUS!!!
Jesus re-unites us with God.
The Gospel is all about Jesus. He’s freakin’ SWEET!!!!! I like him a lot.
May 28th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I LOVE the story Don Miller tells on page 33 of Blue Like Jazz:
“A friend, who was a Navy SEAL was performing a covert operation, freeing hostages from a building in some dark part of the world. The team flew in by helicopter, make their way to the compound and stormed into the room where the hostages had been imprisoned for months. The room was filthy and dark. The hostages were curled up in a corner, terrified. When the SEALs entered the room, they heard gasps from the hostages. They stood at the door and called to the prisoners, telling them they were Americans. The SEALs asked the hostages to follow them, but the hostages wouldn’t. They sat there on the floor and hid their eyes in fear. They were not of healthy mind and didn’t believe their rescuers were really Americans.”
“The SEALs stood there, not knowing what to do. They couldn’t possibly carry everybody out. One of the SEALs got an idea. He put down his weapon, took off his helmet, and curled up tightly next to the other hostages, getting so close his body was touching some of theirs. He softened the look on his face and put his arms around them. He was trying to show them he was one of them. None of the prison guards would have done this. He stayed there for a little while until some of the hostages started to look at him, finally meeting his eyes. The Navy SEAL whispered that they were Americans and were there to rescue them, Will you follow us? he said. The hero stood to his feet and one of the hostages did the same, then another, until all of them were willing to go. The story ends with all the hostages safe on an American aircraft carrier.”
The gospel is the “Great Rescue Mission.”
We were taken hostage by our own sin and depravity, but Jesus came to rescue us! WOOHOO!!!
May 28th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
The Gospel is summed up in the benediction (blessing) that I prefer (from one of my old bishops) instead of what is in the Book of Common Prayer and I end my services with these words every Sunday before the final song:
As you go from this place, always remember the Gospel: that God was in Christ Jesus, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s and women’s sins against them. God loves you, God has forgiven you, God is not mad at you and God will never leave you nor forsake you. And the blessing of God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you forever. Amen!
The Gospel is full of radical grace from a Savior who lived, loved, died for us and rose again.
May 29th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, uhh… Acts, probably. Yeah.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Noel,
I know you asked us to give OUR response, but I have found no better description of the gospel than what Scot McKnight recently wrote in Christianity Today. A couple of us from our church at BG just did a seminar with the same title as your post, and in my research I came across McKnight’s thoughts:
“The gospel is the story of the work of the triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit) to completely restore broken image-bearers (Gen. 1:26–27) in the context of the community of faith (Israel, Kingdom, and Church) through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Pentecostal Spirit, to union with God and communion with others for the good of the world.”
June 4th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
“Behold the Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the world.”