What is the Gospel?

Short Version Answer

One of the shortest, clearest ways of stating the gospel is the sentence this website prints on every page: "Believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. He has already done the work to earn your entry into Heaven". At least it gives the "bottom line" call to action and explains the most fundamental benefits.

The statement is more clear and hopefully un-muddied when the reader wades through the explanations of the words involved. So if you have read the various pages in this website like "What Does it Mean To Believe?" and "What Does Savior Mean?", you probably have a pretty good understanding of the gospel of salvation. But here we hope to "unpack" this incredibly wonderful and powerful word "gospel" in a robust way.

Long Version Answer

You might read or hear a lot of things about "the gospel", and you might even wonder why I have not used the word much in this site. At one time the word communicated well. But today, it is not so.

"The gospel" is rarely explained or understood well. What I am presenting here is in concert with the bible, and easy to understand. The gospel is a very positive message. If you believe the message, its meaning will lead you to heaven. Here on earth, you will find heaven in little sips and big gulps here and there, now and then. As you grow closer to God, you will experience spiritual, emotional, and physical realities of heaven, as well as new abilities to apprehend them. Believing the gospel always results in a growing faith to know Jesus as your Savior and Loved One. Resultantly, you will have a better life. When I say "better" I mean better for you and better for the world around you. The world's definition of "better life" will not meet the deepest needs of our hearts. The better life to which the gospel leads will fulfill us more deeply as we exercise faith that it will happen. Of course, after this earthly life, you will experience the love and beauty of God's kingdom, which is vastly more fulfilling.

What the Gospel is Not

A little further down, we will cover more of what the gospel is. But here, let's talk about what the gospel is not, contrary to what most people think it is. The gospel is not an attempt to get you to change your ways, turn over a new leaf, be a better person, think positively, convert to a religion, believe a set of doctrines, join a club, give your money away, stop doing the sins you love, stop being selfish, change your views, improve your morals, forgive the people who wronged you, go to church, watch Christian television, go to the gym, use self-help techniques or be disloyal to your non-believer friends.

That might make a few people breathe a sigh of relief. You don't have to do any of those good works to get into heaven. At the same time, it is perfectly acceptable if you find yourself wanting to do some of these things. There is no list of DOs and DON'Ts. There is just one DO. Have faith in Jesus.

Most of today's cultural uses of "the gospel" are somewhat out of touch with the true biblical writings. For example, "the gospel" is commonly misused today as a synonym for a truth, or a rule, like "Officer, I did stop at that red light, and that's the gospel truth".

Cultural uses are generally way off-target when defining and understanding the true gospel. That is why it is extremely common for people at large to miss the true meaning of the phrase " the gospel". Those who truly study the good news in the Bible will understand better.

The gospel never is, "don't do this" or "don't do that". It is a message of what people can do, not what they should no longer do if they want to be saved. For example the gospel does not include "you can't smoke, you can't drink, you can't sin."

The gospel destroys the negative "cants" with one positive "can't" and one positive "can". The one positive can't is: You can't get to Heaven by trying to do what you are humanly incapable of doing. The one positive "can" is you CAN get to heaven by believing the good news - by believing in Jesus. God CAN get you to Heaven. Jesus has done the work for you, and wants you to receive that work as a free gift. No strings attached.

When we change our thought patterns to replace the false meaning of the gospel as a bunch of negative cants, we lift a burden from our minds and feelings. We are set free from the stress and fear of trying to follow a set of rules, good works, or effortful rituals to get to Heaven, never knowing if it is enough.

The positive "can" is because of grace: You are saved by God's love and favor which you don't deserve, can't earn, and will never merit on your own steam.

Replace the definition in your mind that says "Heaven is where good people go when they die." Replace the thought that whispers, "Everybody except the worst sinners will be saved and go to heaven". These concepts are warped and slanted definitions based partly on hearsay, but mostly on wishful thinking. They deceive people into missing the real meaning of the good news.

The gospel is not a message that says, "you're going to hell if you don't _________". The gospel is not "Jesus is coming to deliver vengeance on people". It is not "God is judging this nation for ______________ "

St. Francis of Assisi said "Preach the gospel at all times. And when necessary, use words." This was a lovely, clever way to influence believers to reflect the love and compassion of Jesus in their behavior. But words are extremely important as well. The gospel should be communicated both in actions and with words. Without words, it is too easy to misinterpret the actions.

The cynical tendencies common in our culture get many saved people to receive a different meaning of St. Francis's quote based on poor logic. They hear, "Most of the time, do not preach the gospel, but instead do good works and love people so people can see Jesus in your life."

The "instead" part wrongly deprives many people from finding Jesus. Christians should be willing to tell people the good news as God leads us. Whether by example or by words, the point St. Francis was trying to make was "Preach the gospel at all times". That is the advice I am trying to follow, both in my life and here. In person, Christians need to be sensitive with a non-Christian listener. We should not keep pushing evangelistic words, if the gospel has been gently well communicated, especially if the listener is exhibiting annoyance in their body language. At that moment it is time to pray silently that God would soften their hearts to the message, and go back to preaching the gospel with love and not words. I think perhaps St. Francis would agree.

On another note, those who communicate the good message need to separate the concept of the gospel from its elements, even though some of them are good and valid. The gospel cannot be summed up in one of its parts, benefits, truths, or results. Even well meaning Bible scholars sometimes innocently interchange these things in defining the good news of Jesus. It may be witty stylistically, but it is better to be accurate and give understandable meaning and clear guidance.

On another note, we need to separate the concept of the gospel from its elements, even though some of them are good and valid. The gospel cannot be summed up in one of its parts, benefits, truths, or results. Even well-meaning Bible scholars sometimes innocently interchange these things in defining the good news of Jesus. It may be witty stylistically, but it is better to be accurate and give understandable meaning and instructions.

Similarly, many teachers and preachers like to take something that is not actually the gospel, and throw it into the mix when defining the good news. Ideas can be related to the gospel, but not be the actual good news. The intentions are often good, but we should keep the "gospel" pure and state other good things as something else.

Sometimes we hear a preacher say 'the gospel is______________'. Then we hear a statement we expect to define what the gospel is. If you hear something like that, listen to see if instead of a clear definition, the person sites an element, a related issue, an overly encompassing description, or a single word. Some teachers over-simplify the good news by saying something like, 'The gospel is only Jesus, nothing else.' Yes, it is Jesus, as well as more helpful information such as what to do with Him.

The gospel does not belong exclusively to any one human institution. For example, associating it with one political stance more than another demeans the gospel, which is high above any earthly slant on things. Have you noticed that if one party believes a certain thing, the other party sometimes feels they must believe the opposite? If you hold any political stance, you can believe the gospel without being disloyal to your party. The gospel is high above the doctrines and dogmas of both church and state.

What the Gospel Is

Here is a preview of remarkable points we will examine about the gospel: We will see it as an active message of God's call to believe in Jesus as our personal Savior because He took our place on the cross transferring death, suffering, and punishment from us to Him.

God has other messages related to the gospel that are just as true as the gospel, but come as a result of being saved. Because we can do these things, we owe it to ourselves to do them. We can turn our attention to God and thereby reduce or eliminate things that oppose this Jesus-focused lifestyle. We can believe that God Wins. We can trust Him to bring us further into eternal life in joy and fulfillment after our bodies die. We can experience the abundant good things in this lifetime for believers who love God.

The gospel is the beginning Christian message. Becoming saved is the beginning of the Christian life. After becoming saved lies the journey with God, an exciting adventure through this life and the next. In a sense, the gospel emerges further, becoming words to live by, a life to embrace. The more mature a believer becomes spiritually, the more the gospel expands in its ever-relevant significance.

If you want to start a car and drive for a while, it is a good idea to put some fuel in it first, or if it is electric to charge the batteries. In this analogy, the fuel means preparation for what lies ahead. Jesus gave a similar analogy. If you want a seed to grow, you first make the ground fertile and well-watered. He compared the good news to a seed. If the seed falls on unprepared ground - rocky, full of sticker bushes, or hardened dry - the seed will not have a good chance to take hold.

It is to our great benefit to prepare our hearts to be like good, fertile ground. This is most striking in the beginning. But, we can also keep working at it throughout our lives, like a driver would add gasoline or a farmer would add nutrients to the soul. But this preparation and maintenance does not earn our salvation. It just helps us get the best out of it.

There is nothing bad in the good news. It displays light and truth from the kingdom of God. We would be wise to accept that the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news in its highest form. It can make a person happy and live in fullness of joy forever, and at many times in this life too.

If you were to ask a non-believer what the "baddest" of bad news would be, an honest answer might be "to hear that I am about to die", or "to hear my loved one is dying". Fear of death (the bad news) is prevalent in all nations on earth. In contrast, the "goodest" of all good news is to find out that you will live and your loved ones will live after physical death with joy inexpressible that never ends.

When you believe in Jesus, he will bring you out of the darkness and into God's marvelous light." He will bring you into heaven where there is no sickness, sorrow, depression, or boredom. It will be a good life for you. The gospel is simple. It kept that simplicity through the ages. Additionally, for such a simple message, it has an extreme amount of good news packed into its meaning and implications for our lives.

Remember, God Wins! He wins not only in the end, but in believers' everyday lives. He fights our enemies such as fear, under-confidence, negative self-talk, oppressive situations, demonic strategies against us, and a host of other battles we find ourselves in.

When believers look to Jesus, "the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2), God takes action and responds to the messes in our lives by winning on our behalf. I have experienced this for decades, through the ups and downs of life. God is faithful. He wins. He rules!

Here are two short videos sharing the gospel to young and old.

Today, we live in a world where much has been obscured about the gospel message. If it would be helpful, you might want to delve into to the biblical topic in its entirety. The next page of this section, "What is The Gospel", tries to do. If you are interested in a lengthy treatment of the subject, please click this link to read it:

If you would like to know about the historical details around the word "gospel", click here.