What Is the Gospel?

Published on 04/28/24 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

What is the Gospel all about? Who needs to hear it, and why? What will happen if we accept the Gospel message, and what does acceptance truly mean or entail?

The Gospel is what God "promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name’s sake;" (Romans 1:2-5, WEB)

Here, The facts about the Gospel are:

a) Yahweh God promised the Gospel through His prophets in the Tanakh. By many of His prophets, God foretold of the day of salvation, where He will remove sin and usher in everlasting righteousness and peace for the world through His Messiah. So the Gospel was nothing new. Jesus wasn't the One who introduced it but was the One who fulfilled it.

b) The object of God's Gospel is His Son. The whole Gospel revolves around Jesus. Jesus was born as a flesh and blood human being in the line of David. The prophets foretold that the Messiah would be a branch of David. But through Jesus' resurrection by God by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was proven to be the Son of God. His resurrection attests to the fact that he's the divine Messiah whom the old prophets prophesied, the man who has origins from eternity past prior to his human existence (Micah 5:2). His resurrection fulfilled Isaiah 53, which foretold of his death and resurrection. God raised him up to be the Lord of all.

c) It's through Jesus the Messiah we receive grace of God and apostleship. When we trust in Christ for our salvation, God graciously forgives us of our sins and sanctifies us to fulfill Jesus' Great Commission to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Some people are ordained to be apostles, while other teachers, pastors, evangelists, prophets, and so forth.

"Grace" in the New Testament can also refer to divine empowerment to help us live a godly life, and "grace" has this meaning also in this context. Through our faith in Christ, we receive grace to be obedient and faithful. We're distinguished from among the whole sea of humanity. We're set apart for God's grace for the sake of Jesus Christ. Yahweh has entrusted us into His Son's hands, and He desires that we honor His Son as we honor Him. Thus, our sanctification for divine grace and our obedience bring Christ honor and glory.

"For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, 'But the righteous shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16-17, WEB)

Paul declared that he's not ashamed of the Gospel. He was implying that he was proud of the Gospel. What about the Gospel made him boast about it? He loved the Gospel because it's God's power or force to bring forth salvation: forgiveness and eternal life. By accepting the Gospel in faith--namely by accepting Jesus Christ--anyone will be saved. The Gospel was first preached to the Jews since they're God's chosen people, and next, to the gentiles. For both groups of people on Earth, the Gospel saves by their faith.

The Gospel demonstrates Yahweh's righteousness. Yahweh's righteousness refers to mainly two things in this context: a) God's goodness, and b) God's plan to make people right with Him--what we call "justification." Justification speaks of a right standing with God. Sinners whose sins are not forgiven are not justified or in a right standing with Yahweh. Those who have their sins completely forgiven are justified. Indeed, those who never sin are justified, but a sinless person does not exist. So justification for humanity is due only to divine forgiveness.

The Gospel shows Yahweh's righteousness because He's giving sincere seekers of Him to be justified. He knows our plight: how we all have inherited a sin nature not due to our own choosing, and how some of us, despite our sins, do desire after Him. God knows this and has pity on us. To rescue those who love Him, He sent His Son to die for our sins so the repentant can be justified, have their sins forgiven and enjoy eternal fellowship with Him. This describes salvation: to be justified and fellowship with God forever. To be saved, all we need to do is to repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, our justification through faith is purely due to the righteousness and grace of God. We do not earn it by our works because we cannot meet the perfect standard of righteousness that God requires for justification.

Have you accepted the Gospel of Christ to receive the salvation of God by faith?

Embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior, believe that he died for your sins and was resurrected for your justification, repent of your sins and you'll be saved!

Make the Gospel your Gospel!