What is the Gospel?

The word “gospel” means “good news”, which can be a bit misleading. “Good news” to us is birth announcements, a job promotion, buying a new house. But the word “gospel”, in Bible times, actually referred to a certain kind of good news. It was a military term. When an army won the victory over its enemies, a messenger was sent back home to shout out in the city and town squares “Gospel! Gospel!”[1] And the people would know that their army were the champions. So “gospel” means “good news about a great victory”.
But the Bible adds a bit more to the meaning of “gospel”. The gospel that the Bible talks about is not only good news, it is power. More than that, it is the power of God. One Bible writer said it this way: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16a). So the gospel has something to do with the power of God and being saved.
Christians at this point may be thinking that they know all about being saved. Being saved happened to them sometime in their past, back when they first became Christians. But the Bible also says: “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth” (Colossians 1:6b). So there is more to the gospel than just becoming a Christian. It grows and bears fruit, meaning it influences your life from now to eternity in a very powerful way.
So the gospel has something to do with: 

*        Good news
*        Winning in a fight
*        God’s power; something God does for us
*        Being saved from something
*        Life-changing power that never stops 

And you don’t have to earn it. Remember, the gospel “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16a). No matter how good you are or how bad, no matter how strong or how weak, no matter how educated or uneducated, no matter how gifted or ungifted, no matter how extraordinary or ordinary, no matter how worthy or unworthy you are, you can have the gospel.
Since there is no question about you being able to have the gospel, the important question to then have the answer to is” What exactly is the gospel, and do I need it?”

Sharon Currens