The Gospel

What is the Gospel?

The word gospel actually simply means “good news.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ specifically is the good news that is the theme of the entire Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Paul the apostle presents the most compact and clear summary of the Gospel in all of scripture: Jesus is God, He died on a cross as the payment for our sins, He rose from the dead three days later, and by that resurrection he conquered sin, Satan, and death. Through His selfless act we have been given the choice of receiving His gift of salvation from God’s wrath against sin, or rejecting it. All we have to do is believe in Him alone and we can have eternal life.

This truly is good news! Jesus has done everything necessary to offer us His free salvation. All that remains for each of us individually is to repent of our sins; those sins that have kept us from coming to Jesus for so long, and to trust that His death and resurrection are the only way that we can approach God and spent eternity with Him – an eternity that starts right now.

Many people mistakenly think that Christianity is one of hundreds of religions in the world, but this is simply not the case. Every world religion has at its foundation a system of things that we must do to achieve paradise. Christianity alone features God condescending to serve and to save us. In other words, the world’s religions would teach that if we do enough for Him, God will love us. Christianity teaches that God loves us, and that enables us to work for Him. The good news is not that we can do enough to earn salvation, but that God as already done that work for us. Through the teachings of Christianity we understand that we cannot trust our own efforts – it’s just not enough, and never will be. Or trust is in Jesus’ accomplishment, not religion.

In short, religion is about men, and the Gospel is about Jesus.

The road of religion dead ends either with thinking pridefully that we are better than others, or with despairing that we will never be good enough. On the road of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we experience humility, confidence, and joy through His power.