The gospel is the Good News that Jesus Christ came to earth in history, lived the perfect sinless life that we should have lived, and died a perfect sacrifice on the cross, all on our behalf, so that we might have life in his name. Jesus was dead and buried for three days, and then he was resurrected, and he ascended into heaven where he is with the Father, as an advocate before the Father for all who believe.
The gospel includes the biblical truth of the atonement (blood sacrifice, pointing back to the OT), which involves redemption of sinners who were enslaved to sin, propitiation of the wrath of God, and true justification because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Romans 3:21-26 explains this and teaches that what Jesus did for us is a gift from God to be received by faith. Those who believe are justified before God, who is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ Jesus.
The gospel would not be Good News if we had nothing to be saved from. But the Scriptures are clear that all have sinned, and all fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). We were created to worship and obey God, but we have all turned in sin to idolatry and have rebelled against God. That is our fallen condition, which shows our great need for salvation.
It is also appropriate to add that, because of the depravity of sinners (including me), no man or woman will turn in saving faith to Christ without the Spirit first drawing them into the light. So, the gospel begins with theology, not anthropology.
You describe very nice meaning of Gospel. I like this post it is very useful and necessary for us I am very thankful to you it is very nice one.
Isn’t He good? A few months ago I came back to God (or maybe I came to Him for the first time). It was a long fight. I wanted Him to live on the back burner of my life. I wanted to be saved, but I wanted to live MY way. Well, as you might imagine, my way lead to tears and frustration and fear. Since then He got a hold of me. But just as I was getting into Him – really into Him – I got side tracked by a false gospel that stated one must be in 100% submission and in 100% obedience at the moment of salvation or it counts for nothing. I went though great fear until He got me back to His basic Gospel. He put it right in front of my face: Jesus said to believe. Believe in the Son of God, that He died and rose again. His grace is what saves us, through faith. Living a holy life, doing good works for the kingdom…all of that comes after salvation, and we do it by His power! He is the one that molds us into His image!
Again, He is good. He could have left us to sink in our sin (and He would have been justified in that). But he didn’t. Rather, He died for dust! What kind of God is that we serve??
Tressa,
Thanks for the comment and encouragement.
Kevin