What Is The Gospel?

“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save (except) Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”  I Corinthians 2:2

The term “gospel” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “god-spel” which means “god-message”.  But in earlier times the word “god-spel” signified “a good message” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary).  Today we refer to the gospel as the “good news”.  I suppose a simple way to define the gospel is God’s desire for and the way by which His family grows.  Adam and Eve were God’s family, but when they disobeyed Him in the one thing that He had forbidden to them, their family was split apart.  Adam and Eve’s disobedience showed a lack of trust in their Creator, companion, provider, and protector.  The first couple, in effect, trusted Satan more than they trusted God, giving the devil a higher position than that of the LORD God.  From that time forward, man has given Satan preference over God.  However, because of God’s great love and mercy, He would not allow Satan to rule because God knew that Satan cared not for God’s creation and only cared for his own power and glory.  Thus God Himself became the means whereby He would rescue folks from Satan’s grasp through Jesus Christ.

Since the power of Satan is strong, leading men, women, boys, and girls into all kinds of sin, the remedy would require a stronger force to overcome the power of sin and fulfill the requirement for the punishment of sin.  To accomplish this great task would take a great sacrifice on God’s part.  The “good news” is that Jesus was willing to be the final, once for all sacrifice to satisfy God’s requirement for the penalty of sin in order that mankind could receive forgiveness and be allowed to be part of God’s family.  This is the gospel message that Paul preached in a straightforward and common language.  There was no reason for him to focus on anything other that “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”.  There is no other gospel nor way for sinful folks to be forgiven of sin and become children of God than by repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because God is omniscient, that is, He is all knowing, He knew that His creation would fall from loyalty to Him in the beginning.  He had already made His plan to redeem fallen man.  God is never without a plan, and His plans will never fail.  While there will be vast numbers of folks who will reject His plan of salvation, the gospel, there will be multitudes who will turn to Him and become part of His family.  Jesus said in Matthew 24:14 that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”  The gospel message will be available and open unto folks until time as we know it shall end or the end of earthly life for each individual.  For those who hate God, the gospel will be open until such time as God closes the door (Romans 1:28-32) or death occurs.  There is a time limit, one way or the other.  God said that His Spirit shall not always strive with man (Genesis 6:3).

God made the plan of salvation unique in that He chose foolish, weak, inferior, and despised things to confound the world’s wisdom (I Corinthians 1:27-28).  The world tends to go toward what is high and mighty, rich and famous, intelligent and savvy, beautiful and handsome.  The religious leaders of Jesus’ day couldn’t accept a lowly Son of a carpenter, who had no college degree, and hung out with smelly fishermen and, God forbid, a tax collector.  What the secular and unbelieving world calls foolish, i.e., the gospel of Jesus Christ, those who believe and are saved from God’s wrath and eternal misery into a life of peace and joy forever more call it wonderful, marvelous, glorious, and a multitude of other adjectives of gratitude and love.  It pleased God to make the gospel in a way that everyone regardless of his or her social standing or amount of education can understand if they listen with their heart and examine their lives, allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in convicting and then leading them to repentance.  It all boils down to the desire for a sinner to be honest with himself or herself.