The word ‘gospel’ derives from Greek and means ‘good news’ or ‘news that brings joy’. The news of the birth of a child is a gospel. An acquittal in court is a gospel as is a negative diagnosis of suspected cancer. A gospel is therefore good news that brings great joy.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that God is ready to accept us in love, even though we humans are lost, guilty and broken. We are lost because we were made for a life in communion with God but are distant from him. We are guilty because we revolve around ourselves instead of living for God, and we are broken because a life without God leaves its mark on us.
Since we are unable to come to God ourselves, God had to come to us, find us and save us. To do just that, God’s Son became man. Jesus from Nazareth lived an unremarkable life in many ways but differed from us in that he only ever did good. He lived a perfect life, both inwardly and outwardly, right up to his death on the cross.
On the cross, Jesus voluntarily took the punishment for our rebellion against God upon himself. He died the death we deserved as punishment. His resurrection from the dead is proof that God recognises this ‘exchange of places’. Based on the perfect life and substitutionary death of Jesus, God now offers every person complete forgiveness of their guilt and unconditional acceptance.
This offer from God is the best gospel of all time. It is a message to which we can add nothing. Everything has already been done for us. We are invited to respond to this message; to leave our lives without God behind and accept his gift of a new beginning in faith. All who love Jesus and trust in him are forgiven their trespasses before God and credited with Jesus’ perfect obedience.
To be reconciled with God through Jesus, to be accepted and loved by God despite all guilt and weakness, is a tremendous gift that has a transformative effect in the life of every Christian. The gospel therefore not only changes our position before God, but also our everyday life, thoughts, speech and actions.
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you. 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 15:1-3].