The Greek word from which we derive the word "Gospel" is "euaggelizo" (pronounced yoo-ang-ghel-id'-zo). The meaning of the word is "proclaiming the good news", and is sometimes used to indicate just the good news itself. If you asked a group of 10 people today, "What is the Gospel?", there's a good chance you'd get 10 different responses. Many of the answers probably wouldn't even be Biblically based.
There are several reasons why many don't know what the Gospel actually is.
One reason is that many non-Christian entities have been redefining traditionally Christian terminology and fundamental Christian concepts. Another is that many Christians aren't looking deeply enough into their faith through the Word of God (the Bible) to understand the Gospel. Yet another reason why many don't know the Gospel is that they don't know or see a need for the "good news" - in other words, they don't understand that there is some very bad news and that we all have need of the good news.
So, what IS the good news?
The Gospel, the good news, begins with God. The more knowledge we have of God (not the same as "about God"), the better we understand how desperately we need the Gospel as well as the hope and promise we have in it. (This isn't one of those situations in which pleading ignorance spares us from consequences, so I encourage you to read through to the end whether you like the message.)
Throughout the Bible (the Word of God), we learn that He is sovereign, omnipotent, holy, truly good... and many more attributes that I'll look toward another article to unpack. God is good...truly good. Not the kind of "good" that we often use as a reference today. God's goodness is far beyond our capability to achieve. It's a great thing for us that God is good, and I would even argue that God can only be good because an evil god could never exist. Now, because God is good, truly good, He does not tolerate evil.
What is evil? In short, anything that is not perfectly aligned with God, His Will, or His Word. The Bible gives us many examples of evil - murder, stealing, lying, sex outside of a marriage, sex between two people of the same gender, worshipping idols...even our thoughts can be (and, according to some scientific journals, often are) wicked. Where does that leave us? Because God is good, truly good, He does not tolerate evil. Being good means that God is just. Think about that for a moment. If God were unjust, then He couldn't be good. If He were unjust, then sin would go unpunished. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Aurangzeb, Tamerlane, and so many others...all others...would be allowed to enjoy heaven without any punishment and not even a requirement a hollow "I'm sorry." Murder, theft, and all other sins would be treated the same as if they were good behaviors. Because He is just and good, God punishes sin. The consequences He gives for all sin is death. Not a simple wink into oblivion, though. The Bible tells us that the death (second death) is a punishment of never-ending destruction - it happens physically and spiritually, continuously across the expanse of eternity, never being finalized by full extinguishment.
For all of us, the bad news is that we are evil and God is good (and just and omnipotent and...). For some of us the good news is that God is good (...and merciful).
In order to atone for our wickedness, we need to offer a sacrifice to God that is pure and perfect. Since we are sinful by nature and we corrupted the world with sin, we don't have anything to offer God that wouldn't be tainted by sin. That leaves us in a very desolate, hopeless place. The good news is that God is not only good and just - He is also merciful! In His infinite mercy and grace, He provides a scapegoat for our sins so that we do not all have to suffer His righteous punishment for our sins. That substitute for us is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fully God and at the same time fully man. During His time of incarnation on earth, Christ never sinned. In eternity, He never sinned, He was not born in sin as we are, He never sinned during His incarnation, and He never will sin. For this and other reasons, Christ fulfilled all that needed to be met to atone for our sins in our place.
On the third day after His death on the cross, Christ rose physically from the dead. His resurrection shows us that His sacrifice was accepted by God the Father. It also shows us that He possesses the power over death, giving us the hope and promise of eternal life through Him. Physically ascending to the right hand of God almost two thousand years ago, Jesus now mediates for His people with God the Father because He is the only Way to the Father in heaven.
When we examine the Gospel, there are so many layers to apprehend and appreciate. While I've tried to be thorough and succinct here, I haven't said enough. Probably one of the most succinct and still powerful treatments of the Gospel can be found in what is commonly called "the Romans Road". Here are the steps of that road to salvation:
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," - Romans 3:23 (NASB95)
"as it is written,
There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.
Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving,
The poison of asps is under their lips;
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness;
Their feet are swift to shed blood,
Destruction and misery are in their paths,
And the path of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.” - Romans 3:10-18 (NASB95)
"For the wages of sin is death" - Romans 6:23a (NASB95)
"but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:23b (NASB95)
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8 (NASB95)
"that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." - Romans 10:9-10 (NASB95)
"For the Scripture says,
Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed...
Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?” - Romans 10:11,13-14a (NASB95)
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," - Romans 5:1 (NASB95)
"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." - Romans 8:1 (NASB95)
"For I am convinced that
neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers,
nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39 (NASB95)
Friend, now that you know the Gospel, the good news, the next steps (if you haven't already made them) are to repent and put your faith in Christ Jesus. "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." - Romans 10:17 (NASB95) If you aren't already in a church with sound Biblical teaching and preaching, I urge you to find one today and begin hearing the Word of God.
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