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What Is the Gospel?
The word means announcement, not advice. What is being announced.
The word means announcement, not advice. This study is about what is being announced.
What you’ll explore
- 01 “Gospel” means good news
- 02 The summary Paul says he received
- 03 God, humanity, Christ, response
- 04 Why the cross is at the centre
- 05 The resurrection as part of the announcement
- 06 What it asks of a person
- 07 Good news for whom
“Gospel” means good news
Read Mark 1:14-15; Isaiah 52:7
The Greek word was used for public announcements — a victory won, an heir born — news about something that had happened, not instructions. Jesus begins his ministry announcing that the kingdom of God has come near. Isaiah pictures the feet of a messenger bringing good news.
The summary Paul says he received
Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-5
Paul explicitly passes on something he was handed rather than composed: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared. Scholars generally date this formula to within a few years of the events. It is the earliest statement of the Christian message we possess.
God, humanity, Christ, response
Read Romans 3:23-25; Romans 5:6-8; Romans 10:9
The shape of the argument in Romans: God is righteous, all have sinned and fall short, Christ died for the ungodly while they were still ungodly, and the response asked for is confession and belief. Four movements, in that order. Everything Christians say about salvation is an elaboration of them.
Why the cross is at the centre
Read Isaiah 53:5-6; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21
The New Testament says repeatedly that Christ bore what was ours. Christians have explained how across the centuries in several ways — substitution, victory over the powers, an example of love — and the church has never made one explanation a test of faith. That the cross is where the problem is dealt with is the shared confession.
The resurrection as part of the announcement
Read 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17; Romans 4:25
Paul does not treat the resurrection as an appendix: if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. He was raised for our justification. A gospel that stops at the cross is missing half of what the New Testament announces.
What it asks of a person
Read Mark 1:15; Acts 16:30-31; Ephesians 2:8-9
Repent and believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. By grace through faith, not of works, so that nobody can boast. The response is trust and a turn — and it is a response to news, which is why it is not a set of conditions to meet first.
Good news for whom
Read Luke 4:18; 1 Timothy 1:15; Luke 19:10
Jesus quotes Isaiah about good news to the poor, and says he came to seek and save the lost. Paul says Christ came to save sinners, of whom he is the foremost. The New Testament is consistent that the audience is people with a problem, not people who have things together.
Questions to sit with
- Could you state it in three sentences?
- Have you been treating it as news or as advice?
- Which of the four movements is least clear to you?
Every passage in this study
Go deeper
Where this connects
This study sits inside a larger story. Read the passages above in their own books, and follow the thread back through Scripture as a whole.