What Exactly is the Gospel?

Immediately before Jesus ascended to the Father, He gave His last marching orders to His followers: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15 English Standard Version). When Jesus issues a command, we want to execute his command as faithfully and accurately as possible, so it’s imperative that we fully grasp what He’s telling us to do. Jesus commands us to “proclaim the gospel,” and virtually all Christians would nod their heads in agreement, but are we sure we understand exactly what the gospel is?

There are countless Christian denominations and sects, all with their own “gospels,” and all with their own ways of propagating it, but have they asked themselves if they are preaching the gospel the Apostle Paul preached? Paul warned that we should never deviate from the gospel he preached and even went as far as to call down a curse on anyone who did (Galatians 1:9). This is rather strong language coming from the Apostle, but for good reason; Paul knew that the gospel is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16), and to preach another gospel could potentially rob someone of genuine saving faith.[1] With so many “gospels” in our culture competing for the minds and devotion of the people, we should take some time to reflect and re-examine our own views of the gospel and make sure they line up with the gospel of Jesus and the apostles.

The Gospel Defined

It’s helpful to start with what the word “gospel” means and then build a biblical definition from there. The Greek word used in the New Testament from where we get the word “gospel” is εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion), and it means “glad tidings, good or joyful news.”[2] It is good news because the “gospel starts with a promise that addresses the deepest of human needs” and brings restoration to a broken relationship with God.[3] But what specifically is this promise of good news and how do we communicate this message? The gospel has many points, so to come up with a biblical definition of the gospel, the next section will unpack what I believe are the key texts and ideas that tie the Bible together and inform my understanding of the “big story” that Scripture is telling us about God and His love for the world.

The Old Testament and the Gospel

We grow up in Church and hear about the four Gospels that begin the New Testament and assume the gospel Jesus inaugurated was the beginning of something new. What Jesus taught was new in some sense, but we must understand that the gospel Jesus preached had its roots in the Old Testament all the way back to Abraham and beyond.[4] If we look to the four Gospels where Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom, and if we carefully analyze the gospel sermons in the book of Acts where the first apostles preached the gospel, we see a story being told that reached far back to Israel’s history. The story was not just Christ and Him crucified, though that is certainly one of the key elements to the gospel. Their original gospel story was the story of the Bible, or at that time, what we call the Old Testament, and how the story of redemption in those sacred Scriptures finds its resolution, not in a personal salvation, but in Jesus of Nazareth.[5] And not just in Jesus’ death and resurrection, which we tend to focus on in our salvation messages, but as the King of creation reigning in glory.

Another reason we know the gospel includes the story of Israel in the Old Testament comes from Jesus Himself. In Luke 24, Luke gives a different angle on the Great Commission. Matthew records Jesus saying to “make disciples” (Matt. 28:19). Mark records Jesus commanding us to “preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Luke, however, gives us a crucial glimpse into what Jesus thought the gospel is we are to preach:

These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:44-47 ESV).

Several important points can be highlighted from this passage. First, notice that Jesus mentions the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms and how those writings were about Him. Jesus is saying that “every single iota of Scripture pointed to him, and the true purpose of the old covenant was to prepare Israel for the coming of Christ.”[6] If that is the case, then Moses and the Prophets were writing the gospel story.

Also notice how Jesus had to “open their minds to understand the Scriptures” if they were to understand the gospel. In other words, without understanding the Scriptures, which would have been our Hebrew Old Testament, they could not understand and proclaim the gospel. Additionally, when speaking of His death and resurrection, Jesus said, “Thus it is written,” a phrase He often used when quoting from the Scriptures, thus showing that if we are going to proclaim the true gospel, we have to understand the story of the Old Testament and use it in our own “gospeling.” But what parts of the Old Testament do we include in the gospel message?

God the Creator

Because we live in such a pluralistic culture with so many ideas about God, the gospel begins with God as Creator. We see Paul do this in Acts 14:15-17, when he preached the gospel to Gentiles at Lystra who worshiped the Greek gods. When discussing God as Creator, we should emphasize the love of God that prompted Him to create the universe as a cosmic temple for Himself and His creatures. It is also important to start with God because if the person we are talking to is an atheist, we first have to overcome that hurdle. I have other articles that address how to dialogue with an atheist, so check them out here. 

Creation and Role of Humans

The role of human beings is also crucial to understanding the gospel. Although the gospel in many Christian circles today has become so man-centered it no longer resembles the true gospel, we can't neglect the biblical truth about humankind. The book of Genesis presents humans as God’s vice-regents who reflect the glory of their Creator.[7] As image-bearers of the Creator (Genesis 1:26), they were mobile idols (εἰκών) placed in God’s temple to reign on His behalf.[8] Not only were they mobile idols, they were also mobile temples that contained the spirit of glory (1 Peter 4:14). When Adam and Eve sinned, the glorious presence of God’s spirit departed from their spirits (ichabod) leaving them spiritually dead. Consequently, they could no longer live forever as immortals. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection made it possible for humans to be in right standing with God thereby allowing the Spirit of God to live in them once again. Reconciling humans to Himself so God could live in human hearts is one of the key ideas that needs to be emphasized when sharing the gospel.

Abraham, Nation of Israel, and King David

The next important story to pull from the Old Testament is God’s covenant with Abraham and his offspring. In our salvation culture, we tend to neglect this important part of the story, but we see Jesus talk about Abraham when preaching the gospel (John 8:48-59), and we see Paul talk extensively about Abraham (Rom. 4:1-12; Gal. 3:6-20; 4:21-31; 2 Cor. 11:22). Abraham is a key figure in the gospel story because God preached the gospel to Abraham (Gal. 3:8) and evidently, Abraham understood the gospel and wished to see Jesus’ day (John 8:56). Because of Abraham’s unwavering faith in God’s promises, God now had a human He could work with and could begin the centuries-long process of restoring His eternal life and presence to the human race.

            Through the nation of Israel, God wanted to be King of all creation, so He established Israel to be a kingdom of priests to continue Adam’s task as image-bearer and “gardener” over creation. However, the people wanted a human king. Even though God was displeased with this, He worked with them and promised that one of David’s sons would one day rule over Israel. But it wasn’t just a descendant that was to come; the people understood that this son of David was going to be the Messiah (anointed one) and rule forever (2 Sam. 7:13). David wrote about his own descendant and called him “Lord” (Psalm 2:7). This is significant because Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy and the rightful heir to David’s throne (Luke 1:31-33).

Kingdom

The Kingdom of God that was supposed to be realized through the first Eikons (idols), Adam and Eve, was then passed on to the nation of Israel. When they rejected God as king, God set up David and his descendants to rule over Israel, but with a promise that the true King, a Son of Man, would one day rule over the whole world (Dan. 7:14). This Son of Man did indeed arrive in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (Zech. 9:9), and the gospel He preached was the gospel of the Kingdom of God that He was to rule over.

Interestingly, the Greek word for gospel, εὐαγγέλιον, according to Lois Tverberg, “also comes from terminology that was used in regard to kings and their dominions. When a new king was crowned, the εὐαγγέλιον was the announcement that the monarch had taken the throne, that a new kingdom had taken power.”[9] When discussing the gospel, it is important that we explain how being a Christian involves not just accepting Jesus into our hearts and then continuing with our lives unchanged. The individuals we evangelize need to understand that the gospel demands allegiance to a King that requires a change in mindset and behavior.

The Promise of the Indwelling Holy Spirit

  The promises God made to Abraham and the nation of Israel are critical to a proper understanding of the gospel. This is because “the gospel is the resolution and fulfillment of Israel’s story and promises,”[10] Without understanding the covenants that God made with Israel, most of what Jesus taught and promised about the Spirit will be incoherent. The Spirit of God that empowered Jesus, and the Spirit Jesus talked about (John 14-16), was part of the New Covenant God made with Israel (Ezekiel 36:22). In this covenant, God promised His presence will not just dwell in a tabernacle or temple, but in human hearts (Ezekiel 36:27; Joel 2:28). Peter, when addressing the crowd on the day of Pentecost, told the people that what they were witnessing was the fulfillment of the prophets and the promise of the Spirit (Acts 2:16-21).

This idea of the indwelling presence is one of the common themes that runs throughout the gospel story. When God couldn’t dwell in human hearts after the fall, He made a plan to dwell with the people through a tabernacle in the desert. Then Solomon built a temple where the glory of God resided. Then the glory of God was incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth. This indwelling Spirit of God is what Jesus came to restore to the human race.

Jesus of Nazareth

  Jesus of Nazareth is the resolution of Israel’s story. All that God promised Abraham, Israel, David, and the prophets, was fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus was the promised Messiah and King. He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies and His life relived the story of Israel. For example, the first Adam was anointed by the Spirit to rule as God’s representative. The “Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45-49), Christ, was anointed by the Spirit of God to rule. Just as Israel had to go through the wilderness for forty years, Christ was tempted in the wilderness for forty days (Luke 4:1-12).

The Cross and Sin

  When we talk about Jesus, of course we are going to talk about His death on the cross, but we should also take this time to carefully explain the seriousness of sin and its consequences. Without a discussion about God’s anger toward sin, we aren’t really sharing the gospel. You want to point out in your "gospeling" that Jesus lived a sinless life making His death different from all others. God said "sin equals death" (Romans 6:23), so Jesus’ death as a sinless man meant He could pay for others’ sins. His death on the cross was significant because Jesus was taking the punishment for sin the human race deserved satisfying God's justice. God is just and holy and must deal with sin, and just like God demanded the Israelites sacrifice animals to atone for their sins, God provided the ultimate Lamb to take away the sin of the world. Jesus’s shed blood was the only form of payment God would accept to pay for sins. God’s wrath and justice was placed on Jesus when He hung on the cross, and this freed God to then extend mercy and grace to us.

Resurrection

  The Apostle Paul made it clear that the resurrection of Jesus is part of the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-5). The gospel can’t end at the cross, for the cross means nothing without a victory over it in the resurrection. In the resurrection, God put His stamp of approval on everything Jesus did and taught. It also guarantees our future resurrection from the dead (1 Cor. 15). This part of the conversation will probably require some skills in apologetics because some may object to the idea of a resurrection from the dead.

Ascension

  In Acts 2, Peter preaches the gospel and teaches on the significance of Jesus’ ascension and exaltation. Most important in this passage is the emphasis on the outpouring of the Spirit, which he ties directly to Jesus’ exaltation. Peter said, “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing (Acts 2:33 ESV emphasis added). What we learn from this is the gospel, which includes the promise of the Spirit, could not be possible if Jesus had just died and risen. The ascension and exaltation to the right hand of the Father is where Jesus is pouring out the Spirit, thus fulfilling the New Covenant.

The Gospel Shared

  I will now present an example of how I would present the gospel to an unbeliever with no biblical background.

God created the universe to be a cosmic temple.[11] God’s plan was to share this temple with His human creatures who were created to be image-bearers of the Creator. God formed the physical body of humans from the elements found on planet earth to be mobile temples that housed God’s presence, so God breathed His spiritual life into their bodies and they were animated with God’s spiritual life (Genesis 2:7). As image-bearers with a divine mandate to reign on God’s behalf, humans were given the task to spread the Garden of Eden all over the earth, and then possibly other planets. However, the first human couple disobeyed God, and consequently, God removed His spiritual “life force” leaving them spiritually dead. The curse of sin and death entered God’s creation and all of Adam’s offspring inherited the same genetic death curse. This left the human race in a condition that they were powerless to change on their own, but God did not leave them to die in their sins. God had another Adam coming that would get it right. 

God, because of His love for His human creatures, went to work immediately to restore the relationship that Adam and Eve broke through disobedience. God is not a long-distance God, and He was not content to live apart from His children. He wanted to restore the intimate union He shared with Adam and Eve in their spirits. However, God is not going to live in dirty, sinful temples, which humans had become because of sin. God couldn’t live in human hearts, so He made a plan to tabernacle among the people once again to be their God. The plan started with Abraham. God preached the gospel to Abraham (Gal. 3:8) explaining the atoning sacrifice needed to get humans out of their sin debt. Because of Abraham’s obedience and willingness to kill his own son, God made an everlasting covenant with him that would include not only his blood descendants, but the whole world. (Gen. 22:18).

God was faithful and kept his loving eye on Abraham’s descendants as they multiplied. He saw their misery in Egypt and freed them so they could pick up the task of governing the world as God’s ambassadors.[12] Through Moses, God gave Israel the Law and told them He would be their King. He commanded them to construct a mobile tent to function as a meeting place. God met with the priests, and through this priesthood, God would be King over Israel and eventually the nations. Israel rejected God as their King and chose to set up a human monarchy. God was not pleased but used the kings He established as a bloodline to bring about the future Messiah who would rule over Israel and the entire world. God promised King David that one of His descendants would be Lord and Messiah.

Because Israel kept falling into sin, God promised that He would make a New Covenant with them where they would finally be obedient. In this New Covenant, he would give them a new spirit and put His own spirit in them. But before a holy God would live in human hearts, they had to be cleansed first. They had to be declared righteous and their sin debt had to be dealt with. God’s righteousness demands justice, and His wrath toward sin had to be dealt with before there could be forgiveness and reconciliation. This is why Jesus had to die on the cross. Jesus took the wrath of God we deserved as He hung on the cross. Jesus lived a sinless life and didn’t deserve death, so His death could be counted as a sacrifice to pay for others’ sins. But to prove that Jesus’ teachings and life were of God, and that His death was a sufficient sacrifice, God raised Him from the dead! Jesus conquered death and this is why I will follow Him and not Buddha, Muhammed, or anyone else. None of them conquered death. Jesus did! And He promised those who pledge allegiance to Him and live by faith that He will raise them up when He comes again to judge the world and set up His kingdom on the earth.

So, Jesus made it possible for you to be right before God. Jesus made it possible for the Holy Spirit to reside in the temple of your heart where you can experience fellowship and closeness with God. But for God to live in you, you have to get born again. The Spirit of God has to come into your spirit and regenerate you with new spiritual life. When this happens, you are made a citizen of a new kingdom with a new way of looking at life. God’s own spiritual life will be in your spirit, and you will be His child. And because you will have a new, regenerated spirit alive with the life of God, you will have eternal life and be a part of the renewed creation.

To get it on this it takes total surrender and allegiance to Jesus as King. You have to repent of your sins, be baptized, ask God to forgive your sins, and then commit to live a life of obedience to God. God is not looking for converts; He’s looking for disciples. Disciples are followers who study their Master and participate in the Master’s work. It's a serious commitment but the reward is worth it. What do you think about this?

[1] Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 28-29.

[2] William D. Mounce, ed., Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 1103.

[3] Darrell L. Bock, Recovering the Real Lost Gospel: Reclaiming the Gospel as Good News (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010), 7.

[4] Ibid.

[5] McKnight, 37.

[6] Grant R. Osbourne, Luke: Verse by Verse (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), 372.

[7] John H. Walton, Genesis: The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001) ,139.

[8] McKnight, 35.

[9] Lois Tverberg, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus: How a Jewish Persective Can Transform Your Understanding (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2018), 31.

[10] McKnight, 50-51.

[11] John D. Barry, ed., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), The Garden as Temple, Logos.

[12] Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 165.