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Since I have begun collecting online definitions of “the gospel” during the past year, I have received a number of requests from readers who wonder what I think about some of the definitions I’ve posted. Others simply ask, “How would you define the gospel?” Here’s my shot at it:

Biblically speaking, if we are to be very specific, “the gospel” properly defined is the announcement of good news regarding Jesus Christ: namely, that Jesus Christ of Nazareth has been crucified for our sins, raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and is now Lord of the world. Put Rom. 1 and 1 Cor. 15 together, and that’s what you get. If someone asks me quite specifically what the definition of the word “gospel” is, I’m going to point to that short synopsis.

Of course, if someone asks me to share the gospel, then I can’t start with the announcement of good news. The gospel has to be set within the biblical framework in which it makes sense. So we must unpack the worldview truths about God as Creator, our human rebellion, God’s initiative in restoring sinners to himself through Jesus Christ, his launching of the new creation through the resurrection (and now through the church), and his future return. Furthermore, a clear gospel presentation should always call for human response: repentance and faith.

The gospel itself is a message about Jesus. But that message is for us.

There is also a Trinitarian layer to the gospel that needs to be recognized.

  • God the Father justifies sinners by satisfying his own wrath through the death of Christ and by applying Christ’s righteousness to sinners who respond to him in faith.
  • God the Son inaugurates the kingdom of God on earth through his life, death, and resurrection.
  • God the Spirit breathes new life into sinners, giving us eternal life (“the life of the age to come”), uniting us to the community of faith, and empowering us to live in the world as a foretaste of the new creation.

Each of these aspects of the gospel should remain Christ-focused. Each points back to his life, death, and resurrection.

When these get out of balance, we run into problems.

The Pentecostal tendency is to emphasize the work of the Spirit. Emphasizing personal holiness to the neglect of the other aspects can lead to some fuzzy teaching on justification and leave little room for manifestations of the kingdom in contemporary society.

The Liberal tendency is to emphasize the Gospel accounts of the coming kingdom of God. Some go so far as to pit Jesus against Paul. In the end, Jesus turns out to be little more than a moral example. Political or social activism replaces the good news about the King inaugurating his kingdom by dying sacrificially for his people.

The Reformed tendency is to emphasize the work of God the Father in justification, sometimes to the exclusion of the launch of God’s kingdom or the Spirit’s work in beginning the new creation. Antinomianism, legalism or a separatist quietism can result if we overemphasize the Father’s work to the exclusion of the other aspects.

We need to hold these three strands together. The gospel is about what God has done to reconcile the world to himself. It is about the kingdom being inaugurated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is about the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us into a new creation.

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