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What is the Gospel?
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A “gospel” is good news. Our God is full of good news. “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” (1 Cor. 1:20). In this Lesson, Dr. J. L. Miller sets out a path for us to use the good news of God in our world and lives to establish a road map or “rule” for us as individuals in the next months ahead of us. It seems worth taking a few moments to think about what the BIG good news is in preparation for moving forward with the good news in our individual lives.
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”
Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)
Gospel: The Big Picture
In recent years, several books and studies have pointed out that, without realizing it, Christians have become slightly out of focus on what the good news of the New Testament actually is. Somewhat narcissistically, we have centered it on ourselves. Many think the heart of the gospel is about getting saved. Even more minimalistically, we might make the gospel into a formula for getting saved. “Sharing the gospel” comes to mean sharing a “plan of salvation.”
These human-centered approaches to the gospel forget who the real center is: God. The gospel, in the first place, is the good news that “Our God reigns” and that God’s reign was reclaiming the earth through Jesus.
When Jesus went around Galilee proclaiming the good news, he was proclaiming that God’s reign (the kingdom of God) was about to manifest itself again on the earth–”on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). That is good news because it means the world will once more be set right, with evil defeated and eliminated.
The good news is also about Jesus. In Romans 1:1-2, Paul says that he was set apart as an apostle to share the good news about Jesus. The good news about Jesus is that he is the king, the Messiah. He is Lord. When we call Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John “Gospels,” we are saying that these books are about the “good news of Jesus Christ” (Mark 1:1).
The word gospel had a history. Its Jewish background is in Isaiah 52:7, quoted above. But it also had a history in Roman circles. For the Romans, a “gospel” was good news of an extraordinary sort, often to do with the Roman emperor. For example, the peace that Caesar Augustus brought to the empire was a gospel. A Roman listening to the Gospel of Luke would have heard overtones of this use of the word – Jesus has brought good news to the world even better than a Roman “savior” might have (Luke 2:10-12).
Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Mark 1:14-15 (NIV)
It is only after we recognize that the good news is about God the Father and Jesus the Son that we get to the fact that the gospel is good news for us too. With Jesus dying for our sins and Jesus rising so that we can rise too, the good news of God’s reign becomes good news for us too. Paul puts it nicely in 1 Corinthians 15:
I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you… By this gospel you are saved… Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures… he was raised on the third day.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2, 3-4 [NIV])
So the idea that the gospel is about our salvation is not completely wrong. It’s just that it is more a consequence of the good news that God reigns and Jesus is king. It is part of the good news, but Jesus is the center of the good news.
Gospels in Our World and Lives
Dr. Miller pushes us to recognize that God is always bringing good news to the world and to us as individuals. This good news extends to every part of our lives. Our salvation is the greatest news for all eternity, but God gives us good news every day as well.
Good things are always happening in the world. For so many of us, it is human nature to notice what is wrong in the world. The news and social media plays to this dimension. The most popular sources of news and information almost seem to have a vested interested in making things seem as bleak as possible. Fear and anger seem their greatest currency. Similarly, preaching that stirs us up can be very popular.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). It may not catch the headlines or feature as popular on Tik Tok or Twitter, but it is a greater truth than whatever fear or anger they might be selling. God is at work. Aslan is on the move, for those of you who may be C. S. Lewis fans.
A pastor was once meeting with a church to talk about what that church’s mission should be for the next few years. An appropriate question was asked: “Where is God at work in our community? Let’s find out and get on board.” Rather than coming up with the church’s own plans and ambitions, this pastor was suggesting that the church join God’s mission in the community.
There will always be good news around you if you are watching what God is doing. This will be true in the world at large. It will be true in the communities of which you are a part. And it will be true of your own life. Even in hard times, Romans 5:3-5 says, “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
What are the “gospels” in your life today?