What’s the Good News?
By Rosco Brong (1908 - 1985)“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain” (I Corinthians 15:1-2)
Many people talk loosely about “the gospel” without any clear idea as to the meaning of the word as used in the Bible. Oftentimes men say “the gospel” when they mean the Bible, but this is an incorrect use of the word. The gospel is contained in the Bible. But many people read the Bible and some preachers may even preach much Bible truth without ever knowing or preaching the gospel.
It is a tragic fact that countless souls are on their way to Hell while they think they are saved because they obey some Bible commandments. Not the law nor the prophecies nor the moral teachings contained in the Bible, but “the gospel of Christ” is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16)
What, then, is the gospel? Let us see what the Bible teaches as to the meaning, content, source, description, extent, effects, and possession of the gospel.
MEANING The meaning of the word “gospel” is “good tidings,” that is, good news. Compare these two quotations for proof: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good” (Isaiah 52:7). “As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15).
We can easily see from the very meaning of the word that the gospel does not include God’s moral law given through Moses. That law “is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12), but it is bad news, not good, to sinful man. “And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death” (Romans 7:10). “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, CURSED IS EVERY ONE THAT CONTINUETH NOT IN ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW TO DO THEM” (Galatians 3:10) (emphasis RB).
CONTENT OF THE GOSPEL If the gospel is good news, what is the content of the message? What has happened that makes us glad to hear about it? The content of the gospel is given in I Corinthians 15:3-5: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen...”
Four facts are brought to us in this “gospel” or good news: First, “Christ died for our sins.” Not merely that Christ died, which is a historical fact believed by lost sinners, but that He died “for our sins.” Second, “He was buried.” This is proof of the first fact. Those who put Him to death made certain He was dead before delivering His body to His friends for burial. Third, “He rose again.” He “was raised again for our justification.”He was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 4:25; 1:4). Fourth: “He was seen.” This is proof of the third fact, the fact of His resurrection. The apostle goes on to mention some of the chosen witnesses to the resurrection, who included a crowd of “above five hundred brethren at once,” most of whom were still living when Paul wrote this epistle.
SOURCE OF THE GOSPEL The gospel is “good news” because of its Source - the One from Whom it comes. We would rather hear from some persons than from others. We always want to hear news from our friends. We want to get news reports we can depend upon as true. Newspapers and radios and human “friends” may deceive us with false reports, but we can depend upon it that this good news is true, because it comes from “God, that cannot lie” (Titus 1:2). “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater” (I John 5:9).
DESCRIPTIONS We can get a better understanding of the gospel by noticing the various descriptions of the gospel as given in the Bible.
It is called “the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1), because it tells of a divine Person. The gospel is personal news. Its emphasis is not upon principles or doctrines, important as these are, but upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. When we have believed the good news of Christ, we will have no trouble in accepting His teachings. The real reason that some people dislike some of the doctrines of Christ is that they hate Christ Himself. “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep” (John 10:26). We need first of all and at all times to preach “the gospel of Jesus Christ,” with complete confidence that “He that is of God heareth God’s words” (John 8:47).
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God”(Mark 1:14). This description reminds us that God is on His throne, ruling over the affairs of men, and especially ruling in the hearts and lives of His people. “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (II Corinthians 5:14-15).
In Acts 20:24, the gospel is called “the gospel of the grace of God,” because it is the good news of God’s grace or favor toward us in the person of His Son when He died for our sins.
In Ephesians 6:15, it is called “the gospel of peace,” because it announces peace between the holy God and sinful man. “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2). “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (II Corinthians 4:4). In Ephesians 1:13, it is called “the gospel of your salvation,” because it brings personal deliverance to all who believe it.
In II Corinthians 4:4, it is called “the glorious gospel.” It is “the glorious gospel” because it is the “gospel of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Corinthians 4:4). It tells of a glorious Christ, and it brings to us the promise of a resurrection when He “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).
In Revelation 14:6, it is called “the everlasting gospel,” because it never grows old. “News” of this world soon gets stale, and we are not much interested in worldly events of long ago. We have no use for newspapers and magazines a few months old, and even the world’s best books are out of date in a few years and soon perish from the memory of man. But God’s message of salvation in Christ for sinful man remains timely and of vital interest. As long as this sinful world shall stand, sinners shall rejoice in the good news that Christ died for our sins; and in an eternity beyond, the saints of God shall never cease to praise Him of Whom it is written, “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9).
EXTENT OF THE GOSPEL The extent of the gospel is universal in its appeal. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”(Mark 16:15). “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you” (Romans 1:14-15).
The gospel is of limited extent, however, not in its message, but in its reception. The good news shall be told to all, but it is good news only to those who believe it. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). “We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe” (I Timothy 4:10).
EFFECT OF THE GOSPEL The effect of the gospel, as already noted above, is to save the believer and aggravate the guilt of the unbeliever. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”(John 3:18, 36).
These opposite effects of the gospel, according as we believe or do not believe, are plainly stated in Second Thessalonians 1:3-10: “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you: And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
POSSESSION Finally, how about the possession of the gospel? Whose good news is it?
It is “Christ’s gospel” (II Corinthians 2:12) because it is good news of Him, to Him, and for Him. “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” “For the joy that was set before him” He “endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Isaiah 53:11; Hebrews 12:2)
Jesus shares this good news with His people. In Second Corinthians 4:3 it is called “our gospel.” “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:17).
But to enjoy the benefits of the gospel it is not enough that we be associated with God’s people. “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:23-27).
The gospel not only tells of a personal Savior, but it appeals to a personal sinner. Hence in Romans 16:25 Paul calls it “my gospel.” Oh, happy thought! This gospel is not only good news of and for and to the Son of God; it is not only good news to and for many of my friends, and spoken of by them; but it is good news for me, it brings salvation to me, it has become my message to a lost world.
Friend, this is my gospel. Is it yours? “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43)
======================== [From Christopher Cockrell, Editor: The Berea Baptist Banner, June 5, 2011, pp. 118-119. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
Baptist History Homepage