The doctrine of the gospel

1. Definition. To define the gospel you must look at the Greek word — e)uaggelia. It is compounded: e)u means good; a)ggeloj means message or news. The gospel, then, by definition is some kind of good news: the communication of doctrines pertaining to salvation. Gospel or good news pertains to the message and communication of doctrines pertaining to the work of Christ on the cross.

2. The boundaries of the gospel — 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. The first boundary is the fact that Christ died for our sins, and “according to the scriptures” refers to the Old Testament. It is taught in the Old Testament as well as in the New. “He was buried” is to indicate that after He died for our sins He died physically. So we have spiritual death; physical death. “That he was raised in the third day, according to the scripture.” So the gospel ends with resurrection. There are the boundaries. If you go away from the cross you are out of bounds; if you go away from the physical death you are out of bounds; if you deny the resurrection you are out of bounds. The playing field with boundaries is from death to resurrection.

Note that the gospel the fact of sin or the penalty of sin. These are true doctrines but they are out of the boundary. In other words, when you give the gospel the doctrine of hamartiology is true but it is not the gospel. The good news is that Christ did something about it on the cross. Preaching the gospel is the explanation of salvation in terms of redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation. The boundaries of the gospel run from the death of Christ for our sins to the resurrection of Christ. Those are boundaries.

3. The enemy of the gospel — 2 Corinthians 4:3,4. Satan is the enemy of the gospel.

4. Usage of the word “gospel.” Gospel is often used with other words. It is used with adjectives, participles, with all kinds of words. Therefore there are words with most contexts which describe certain emphases of the gospel. For example:

a) We have “the gospel of Christ” in Romans 1:16,17. This is emphasis on the person of the gospel.

b) We have the “gospel from the glory” in 1 Timothy 1:11. This gives us the source of the gospel which is the essence of God.

c) We have “my gospel” or “our gospel” as in 2 Timothy 2:8; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4. This emphasises the fact that the gospel is the same but it belongs to us as believers. We possess it, therefore we propagate it.

d) We have in Ephesians 6:15 “the gospel of peace.” This is not a different gospel but the emphasis in this passage is on doctrine and the doctrine is reconciliation.

e) We have “the gospel of the Kingdom,” the same gospel exactly, found in Matthew 24:14. It emphasises the fact that the unconditional covenants to Israel are only fulfilled to those Jews who believe in Christ or appropriate the gospel. That is why it is called the gospel of the kingdom.

f) In Revelation 14:6 we have “everlasting gospel,” which is the same gospel but the emphasis is on the preparation for eternity.

All of these have the word “gospel” but they have defining words, emphasising words. The content of the gospel never changes but the emphasis of the gospel changes with the defining words in context.

5. The attitude toward the gospel is found in Romans 1:16.

6. The emphasis of the gospel — 1 Corinthians 1:17. Salvation is not by baptism even as salvation is not by keeping the law. “Not in cleverness of speech.” When you get clever about the gospel you void the power of the cross.

7. The place for the gospel — Romans 15:20. Proselytising is not preaching the gospel.

8. The gospel without charge — 2 Corinthians 11:7,8.

9. There is a false gospel — Galatians 1:8.

10. The gospel belongs to the Old Testament — Galatians 3:8, “preached to Abraham, saying ...”

11. The gospel is revealed by the Holy Spirit — 1 Peter 1:12.