What is the Gospel?

I have been thinking a lot lately about a question that is deceptively simple. The question is "What is the Gospel?" The answer is surprisingly evasive for a number of reasons. One of these is that there are few clear definitions of "the gospel" in Scripture. Another reason is that the word "gospel" seems to be used differently in the Gospels than it is in the writings of Paul.

Why is this complicated? I Thought the Gospel is Simple!

The gospel, literally, means the "good news". In the four Gospels (the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) Jesus comes preaching the good news. They show Jesus preaching the Gospel in passage after passage. But few passages tell what that good news is. Is it the arrival of the Kingdom of God? Is it the sacrificial death of Jesus? Exactly what good news is it in the context of the Gospel books?

The Gospel of the Kingdom

The inbreaking of the kingdom was good news to the down and out of society:

Matthew 4:23 - Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

The good news was that the God's kingdom was coming and the preaching of Jesus to the poor and downtrodden was a signal of that kingdom.

Paul on the Gospel

Paul declares the Gospel in 1 Cor 15:1-8:

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which 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 according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

This is a concise statement of the Gospel. The elements here are:

- necessity of belief
- necessity of holding fast
- Jesus died for our sins
- Old Testament predictions of the death
- Jesus was buried
- Jesus was raised on the third day
- Jesus appeared to Peter
- Jesus appeared to five hundred
- Jesus appeared to James
- Jesus appeared to the eleven
- Jesus appeared to Paul

Putting this into categories:

Necessity of holding to belief
- Death of Jesus for our sins
- Burial of Jesus
- Resurrection of Jesus
- Post resurrection appearances

Gospel of Paul in the Gospels

This may seem to be a radical claim, but it seems like the Gospel books describe the Gospel as something different in emphasis than Paul. The first part of each of the Gospel books focuses on the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. The second half of the Gospels focuses on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

In the Gospel books it isn't until Jesus is well into His ministry that He announces that He is going to die. There are hints of it quite a bit earlier. For instance Mary is told at the dedication of Jesus that her heart would be pierced - pointing to the death of Jesus on the cross. John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the "Lamb who takes away the sins of the world". Each of these refer to His death. Jesus plainly tells the disciples that He will rise again.

Not a Dichotomy

It impossible to draw a clear line between the Gospel books understanding of the Gospel and Paul's understanding. Clearly they are the same with the same focus on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But the emphasis is different in the preaching. Before the cross, the message was that the promised one was in their midst. After the resurrection, the message was radically clarified. Not only had the Messiah been in their midst, but they had killed Him. God turned it around and resurrected the Messiah. The Gospel message was good news. Man no longer needed to be bound by His sins. The Messiah was alive and had taken the sins of mankind. The message of the Apostles in the Book of Acts was quite different than that before Pentecost.