What Is The Gospel?
We often hear the word Gospel mentioned in the Bible. But what exactly is the Gospel? The word Gospel means good news. It is mentioned 98 times in the New Testament. What is this good news?
It is the belief and understanding that we have a Savior born unto us. Luke 2:11 says, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Because we are all born in sin, we need a Savior in order to escape hell. Jesus came to die in our place for our sins on the cross, and then rose from the dead. He is the only One who can save us, and He is the main message of the gospel. He is that good news.
Ephesians1:13, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed.
Hebrews 2:3, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, So Jesus spoke of salvation by him.”
1 Thessalonians 5:9, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Mark 1:14-15, “Now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” So we understand repentance is required to believe the gospel. What else is required?
Acts 15:7 says, “the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.” We see that believing comes along with repentance. Again, we believe in our Savior, and we are ask Him to forgive us of our sins. What else does the gospel entail?
Acts 20:24, states, “The gospel of the grace of God.” Here we see that the gospel is also the giving of God’s grace. We all need God’s grace in order to be saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace means unmerited favor. The first place the word grace was used in the Bible was regarding Noah. Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord.” And he and his family were the only ones saved on the face of the whole earth out of approximately 1.5 billion people. I would say that “grace,” or “favor with God” is pretty important. We as believers have it in the New Testament as stated in Titus 2:11.
In Luke 4:18 Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poo; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
Matthew 4:23, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.”
Matthew 11:5,” The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”
We see that the Gospel includes, blind eyes being opened, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor receive the means to escape poverty, the brokenhearted are healed, those that been held captive by Satan are set free, and every sickness and disease can be healed. This is the Gospel, which is good news indeed, and covers every area of our life. The Gospel brings freedom from every evil work if we will believe it with our heart.
Romans 10:15 describes the Gospel of peace. Peace is from the Spirit of God and a wonderful thing to experience. It is also part of the Gospel.
The Gospel is also hope (Colossians1:23). We have the assurance of salvation and the hope of eternal life in heaven (Hebrews 3:6; 6:11).
1 Peter 1:13; 21 says the Gospel is power (1 Thessalonians1:5, 2 Timothy 1:8).
God has given us authority over the devil in the name of Jesus (Luke 10:19).
The Gospel is everlasting (Revelation 14:6) and our salvation is everlasting (Matthew 19:29 and Luke 18:30).
The Gospel is our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians1:8). We have Jesus as our high priest to pray for us.
The Gospel is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Romans 1:9, 16; Romans 15:16; 1 Peter 1:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:8-9).
The Gospel has brought to us the Trinity. In the Old Testament only the prophets heard from God, as the Spirit came upon them. But in the New Testament we have the Holy Spirit who actually dwells within us, and we can hear directly from the Father. We have the name of Jesus to command demons to leave, to pray in His name for those sick to be healed, and He is making intercession for us to the Father. This is much more than the Old Testament saints could ever dream of!
The Gospel is the truth (Galatians 2:5, 14; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5). Jesus said He is the truth (John 14:6). We as Christians have Jesus and His Word, which is the only truth (John 17:17; Psalms 119:151).
We must all understand how much we have been given because of Jesus. He told us in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” This is our command from the King of Kings. The question is, “Will we obey Him?”
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By Bill Wiese, author of 23 Minutes in Hell