In the Greek language, the word for gospel meant a reward for good news.
It later became the good news itself. However, in the New Testament the gospel is contextually spoken as the glad tidings of Jesus Christ and His salvation.
The Apostle Paul defines specifically the gospel:
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
– 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ESV
Thus, the “good news,” the gospel in total, is salvation has come by the forgiveness of sins through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As seen previously, the Greek word for gospel (euangelion) denoted good news, or good tidings. It has two basic senses :“active proclamation of the message and the content proclaimed.”[1] Both “natures” of the gospel (proclamation and content) began with Jesus’ example following John the Baptist’s arrest (Mark 1:14-15).
Those same two tenets are then seen in a single verse written by Paul to the Corinthians. “In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim [the content] the gospel should get their living by the gospel [the act of proclaiming it]” (1 Corinthians 9:14 ESV).
Even with the rightful focus of the New Testament’s use of the gospel with that of Jesus, there were those who tried to propagate another sort of “good news.”
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
– Galatians 1:6-9 ESV
Specific to the Galatians, it was
1. thought the “different gospel” was one that destroyed the grace of Christ
2. one which proclaimed salvation on terms other than the simple dependence on the merits of the Lord Jesus
3. one which introduced the Jewish rites and ceremonies as an essential in obtaining salvation.
In other words, it was a gospel of Jesus and the Law.
Any supposed “good news” that couples something else with Jesus as a requirement for salvation (“Jesus and…”) is not good news at all!
Another alternative gospel is one that would eliminate Jesus Christ altogether from its “good news.” It cites other ways to God, other routes to happiness, and additional ways to experience peace. Many of the world’s religions are an illustration of this. However, there is only one way to God the Father and that is through Jesus Christ His Son. And truly, it is the same for both genuine happiness and peace.
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”
–1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV
The gospel in total is the good news that one can obtain salvation through the forgiveness of sins by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the gospel!
“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
– Acts 4:11-12 ESV
[1] Erickson, Millard, J. Christian Theology, (Baker: Grand Rapids), 1999, page 951
