What I Actually Mean by “The Gospel”...
The Gospel is the overarching story of the whole Bible, showing us our depravity, need for redemption, and the revelation of redemption itself. Once understood, it envelopes a person’s whole life and whole way of thinking because it reconciles us back to God Himself. It’s not just life changing, but life-giving because it makes a completely depraved, spiritually dead person, live.
It starts with God: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”- Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”- John 1:1
And His holiness surpasses our understanding such that not even the highest of angels can look at him. He is the maximum amount of Holy, completely perfect in all He is and does:
“I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.” – Isaiah 6:1-4
He embodies love (1 John 4:8), justice (Psalm 68:5, 145:17; Revelation 15:3, 21:8), and mercy(Psalm 116:5), and out of all of who He is, this magnificent, high, mighty God created the universe. He thought the world up, and spoke it into existence (Genesis 1).
Then, He made humanity and decided to impart His image to us:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’”- Genesis 1:26-27
We were like little mirrors, called to reflect His love and dominion on earth. We were made to be in relationship with Him, centered on Him, so that we could reflect Him. He walked with us (Genesis 3:8), and we obeyed Him perfectly.
However, it didn’t take long for the first two humans to mess up the relationship. In Genesis 3, the first act of disobedience occurred when Adam and Eve ate the one thing God told them not to eat. Once they disobeyed this perfect and Holy God, they learned evil. Our relationship with this high and mighty God broke. Because God is the giver of life and our disobedience pushed Him out of the picture, death was all that could fit in this new system.
“The wages of sin (disobeying God) is death” (Romans 6:23a).
Now all we had to center on was ourselves. All we could reflect now was a broken image. After adam and eve sinned, Adam “fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth” (Genesis 5:3). Brokenness passed down- all the way to us, and the problem is, we can’t fix it.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). Our identity of self-centered ungodliness has offended a perfect, Holy, eternal God, and because of the greatness of His identity, our sin deserves eternal damnation (Revelation 20:10, 20:15). Romans 1:18-32 describes the depth of this depravity that deserves the worst of punishments, and because God is just, this sin has to be paid for.
But…God is mercy, and because we couldn’t reach Him, He came down to us:
“Though He [Jesus] was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7).
He became human and lived the perfect life we were supposed to live- the life we had before the fall. He was “in every respect tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He was perfect on this earth because He was God- “The Word” who was with God in the beginning (John 1:1).
Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” The law requires perfection from us, complete God-centeredness, and also, punishment for sin. Jesus came to fulfill it by being perfect for us and taking our punishment for us:
“Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness’” (Matthew 3:13-15). But whose righteousness? Jesus was already righteous. He was fulfilling our righteousness.
“For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth” (John 17:19).
But, there’s still a problem. We still have sin that needs to be paid for. His perfection can’t apply to us without our sin being paid for- and that’s why Jesus had to die:
“Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The Holy, eternal, just God, Jesus took on the full punishment that our sin deserved in three days. He died on the cross and in that moment, had all the sin of the world on Him. He felt the full weight of the Father’s absence (Matthew 27:46). Then, three days later, He rose (Matthew 16). The payment of death was cleared. Only an eternal God could have completely paid that eternal punishment in order to give us eternal life. “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). He came to give humanity the life we had lost by bringing us back into relationship with Him.
Now, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). “Now when they heard this [the gospel] they were cut to the heart, and said, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:37-38) “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12).
God saves us from sin, for Himself, back to obedience and relationship with Him through Jesus. He got our death and we get His righteousness.
“For it is by grace that you have been saved- through faith- and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8-10) “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with your spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:15-17).
Through the Gospel, we are freely given the life we were made for. Now, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 3:20).
This is where life is and this is the story we’ll stay in for eternity. In repenting, believing, and accepting the Gospel, we give up our sinful, self-centered lives, and turn back to God and a life centered around Him.
