Understanding God's Word...
What Is the Gospel?

What is the gospel? Is it the gospel of God? The gospel of Jesus Christ? The gospel about Christ? The gospel of the Kingdom of God? Or some other gospel? Is there more than one gospel? What gospel did Jesus preach? What did He instruct His disciples to teach? What about Paul? Did he teach the same gospel Jesus Christ taught? Or was it different from the gospel God sent through Christ?

The apostle Paul wrote of contemporaries who were perverting the gospel, teaching something other than what he taught. He marveled that, as a result, some were turning away from the gospel so soon after accepting it. Some say Jesus Christ is the gospel. If so, how does that concept fit in with the Kingdom of God, which is the focus of the good news He taught?

What do we mean gospel? The literal meaning of the word is "good news." But good news of what? Let's understand the exciting answers revealed in the Bible!

Discussion: The gospel, or good news, has its roots in the very beginning, even before the creation of the universe. Contrary to popular opinion, the gospel didn't begin with Jesus Christ's earthly ministry in the New Testament.

• Is the gospel revealed by Jesus Christ, even though it had been planned from time immemorial?
  (2 Timothy 1:9, 10).

Note: From the beginning the message was called the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:1, 14, 15).

• Did Jesus instruct His disciples to preach the same good news? (Luke 9:1, 2).
• Did Jesus preach the same message after His resurrection? (Acts 1:3).
• What gospel did Peter preach? (Acts 15:7).
• Did other followers of Christ continue to teach the same good news? (Acts 8:12).

Discussion: What about Paul? Did he preach a different message?

• Paul called the gospel his gospel. Why? (Romans 2:16).
• Was it because God called him to preach it? (Romans 1:1).
• How did Paul receive the gospel? (Galatians 1:11, 12).
• Was Paul faithful in preaching the same message Jesus and His followers preached? (Acts 20:25).

Note: Paul not only faithfully preached the authentic gospel that had been delivered to him by Jesus Christ, but he was astonished that some tried to teach another gospel.

• Did Paul insist that there was only one real gospel? (Galatians 1:6-8).
• In addition to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of the Kingdom of God, are there other names for the same message? (Acts 20:24; Romans 10:15, 16; Romans 15:16; Ephesians 1:13).

Note: The gospel is the good news of-or from-God and was taught by Jesus Christ and His disciples. It is God's message to mankind. This one genuine gospel has different names, each emphasizing an aspect of the message. Focusing on only one aspect while excluding others forms an incomplete picture.

Discussion: A part of the gospel message involves the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the key figure-He is of first importance-in God's plan for mankind.

• How important is this? (1 Corinthians 15:1-5).
• Through whom do the dead and the living receive eternal life? (John 11:25, 26).
• Who is the door through which we enter the Kingdom? (Acts 4:12).
• How are our sins removed? (Hebrews 9:11, 12).

Discussion: What does the gospel tell us about Christ's present and future role?

• Who is our Savior and High Priest, our Intercessor? (Hebrews 10:19-23).
• Who will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords in the coming Kingdom of God? (Revelation 19:11-16).
• If Jesus is to become King of Kings, what will be the extent of His Kingdom? (Revelation 11:15).

Note: The Kingdom of God of which Jesus Christ spoke will be a future world-ruling kingdom inaugurated at His return. The entire earth will be brought under His dominion and rulership.

• How long will this kingdom, ruled by Jesus Christ, last? (Daniel 2:44).

Discussion: Jesus Christ is the key figure in the gospel message. But was Jesus Christ the gospel? Does the Bible teach us other things about the gospel?

• Did preaching the good news include announcing the Kingdom of God as well as emphasizing Christ's life, death and resurrection? (Acts 28:31).
• Are repentance of sin and belief in the gospel required? (Mark 1:15).
• Is the gospel also a message of obedience? (Romans 10:16; 1 Peter 4:17).
• Are there other words to describe the good news brought by Jesus Christ? Didn't the apostle John write that Jesus' message was that His people should love one another? Wasn't this message of love in existence from before the beginning of the creation of mankind? (1 John 3:11; 2 John 5, 6).

Discussion: Many believe that the gospel didn't begin until Jesus began teaching it as recorded in the New Testament. But the good news existed long before New Testament days. As alluded to in the first part of this study, the gospel is rooted in God's plan from the very beginning. This is acknowledged by the apostle Paul in one of his letters to Timothy.

• Wasn't our calling from God in place even before creation? Isn't it now made manifest by the appearing, by virtue of His physical birth and life on earth, of our Savior Jesus Christ? (2 Timothy 1:9, 10)./li>
• Christ revealed the gospel to mankind, but didn't it exist, wasn't it in effect, millennia before that time, even before the world began? (Titus 1:2).

Discussion: The book of Genesis starts with an offer of the tree of life to Adam and Eve. They rebelled against God and chose wrongly. Isn't the rest of the Bible the unfurling of God's plan to redeem-to buy back-all of humanity and give it the tree of life, symbolic of immortality? (Revelation 22:1, 2).

Note: The broad theme of Scripture and the message of the gospel is God's plan to give to humanity eternal life in His family. This represents the heart of the gospel. Everything else fits onto this framework.

• Doesn't the message of the gospel mean that we may partake of the very nature of God by escaping the corrupting influence of the world? (2 Peter 1:4).
• Doesn't the gospel of the Kingdom of God mean that we are redeemed, or "bought back," by Jesus' sacrifice, which was planned before the creation of the universe? (1 Peter 1:18-20; Matthew 25:34).

Note: The first chapter of the Gospel of Mark succinctly chronicles the beginning of the gospel of the Kingdom of God as preached by Jesus Christ.

• After Jesus' baptism, what message did He immediately begin to preach? (Mark 1:14).
• In preaching the gospel message, what action did Jesus call for on the part of a new believer? (Mark 1:15, 17).
• Can the gospel be preached from Old Testament scriptures? (Acts 28:23).
• Did the Scriptures preach the gospel to Abraham? (Galatians 3:8, 9).
• Did the prophets of God from the beginning preach the same message-about Christ, repentance and the Kingdom to come? (Acts 3:18-26).
• Did Enoch, one of God's early servants, preach the same basic message of God? (Jude 14, 15).
• Isn't the gospel of the Kingdom the same message, or "mystery," God has revealed to His followers through the ages, both before and after the time of Jesus Christ on earth? (Ephesians 3:9, 10).

Discussion: What about the future of the preaching of the gospel?

• Will the good news continue to be preached? (Matthew 28:19, 20; Mark 16;15, 16).
• How long will the gospel be preached? (Matthew 24:14).

Further study: The one and only gospel is and always has been the message of God to mankind. It has been the same message throughout man's history. That message is called by various names because it has various aspects.

The gospel involves man's need for salvation and God's requirement for man's repentance from sin and a belief in and acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It foretells the return of our great Savior, who will bring grace, peace and salvation as He establishes His Kingdom on earth. For further information, request our free booklet The Gospel of the Kingdom. GN

-- Bill Winner