The Gospel

By: William Schneider

Matthew 9:35

Mark 1:14-15

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

“When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the Gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed.” – C.H. Spurgeon

You hear the word Gospel used all the time in conversations. Your friends use it, strangers use it, your pastor uses it, the Bible uses it, and you even use it. But do you really know what you are saying? Do you know the meaning behind the word Gospel? What does it mean to believe in the Gospel or to share the Gospel?

Well in the original Greek the word is “euangelion.” “Eu” meaning “good” and “angelion” meaning “message.” The word Gospel then means “Good Message” or “Good News.” Why is it “Good News” though? What makes it so “good?” It is Good News because it is an answer to a problem. In order to understand the Gospel we must first understand the problem. For example, picture you just had a visit with your doctor. He came back into the room and explained to you that there is a cure for Stage IV Leukemia. You’re thinking well great, but why do I care? Now let us flip the situation; you have Stage IV Leukemia and your doctor walks in and tells you there is a cure for your Leukemia! Big difference now, right? The same thing is true with the Gospel. The Gospel is our “Good News,” but we don’t see it that way until we see that we have stage IV cancer and the Gospel is the cure.

Explanation of the Gospel: 1 Corinthians 15 explains very well what the Gospel is. The Gospel is an explanation of who Christ is and what He has done. So who is Christ and what did He do? First we need to understand that we are all sinners and there is nothing we can do, no good works or religion will get us to Heaven. The Good News (what Christ did for us) is that God sent His one and only Son (John 3:16) to come to earth, die on the cross, be raised from the dead, defeat death, and pay the penalty for our sins so that we are able to go to Heaven, but only if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord (Romans 10:9).

Our problem: We are sinners; and because we are sinners, we will go to Hell for eternity after death.

Our answer: The Gospel says Jesus Christ died to save us!

Accept the Gospel = Eternal life with Christ in Heaven!

Point to Ponder: Have you confessed with your mouth and believed with your heart in the Gospel? Is there someone specific that God is telling you to share the Gospel with?