What is the Gospel?

"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." 

(Mark 1:1)

    What comes to your mind when you hear "good news"? Maybe it is getting a raise at work, getting a good grade on a test, an engagement, a birth, a vacation, or someone healing from a sickness. Whatever it may be that is considered good news, it usually depends on the one looking at it. An example of this that comes to mind is the fact that the good news of one person getting a promotion means the bad news that someone else did not. 

    When you are in Christian circles you will quickly hear the fact that the word Gospel means good news. If you were to ask most Christians what the gospel or the good news of Christianity was, you would most likely hear a reply that goes something like this: 

"The message of the gospel is that Jesus died for our sins and we get to live with Him forever when He returns to set things right." Granted, the phrasing may be different, but often the reply is the same. We equate the good news of Jesus immediately to what makes the news good for us. Although salvation and eternity are indeed good news for us, it is not THE good news that scripture alludes to. An example of this would be something like "We got to go on vacation because Dad got a raise!". This example shows that the ultimate good news is that Dad got a raise which resulted in everyone getting to go on vacation. Salvation and eternal life are amazing gifts that we have received from Christ and they are definitely good news, but when we come to the topic of the gospel or good news according to the Bible we must understand that salvation and eternal life are a result instead of the subject. We have received salvation and eternal life because of the good news.

    If we want to understand what the good news we are called to believe in is we must look at the context in which it was announced. 

    The word for good news in Jesus' context is the word ευαγγελλιον (euangellion) which was often the term used for news of victory. This word was most frequently used in relation to the emperor and their achievements or life events (ex: a wedding, an heir is born, or a battle won). NT Wright shares the example of the proclamation of good news when Octavian defeated Antony in their struggle for power in his book Simply Good News (Wright pg 10). 

    This word is not something that speaks to generic good news like finding an extra $20 in your wallet or getting your favorite food for dinner, but rather a news that changes life as we know it. This word implies a new reality that gives you the option of either acceptance and allegiance or rebellion and consequences. This word makes it clear that the good news will remain the same no matter what our opinion of it is. 

    The new reality that is proclaimed is the Lordship of Christ and the arrival of His Kingdom. When we accept this truth we will begin to see the Christian life in a new light, but if we make the gospel about us, we will put ourselves on the throne of our lives rather than Christ. 

    Today, we live in a world where lordship is hard to grasp. Yes, we might have examples through history of what it means to have someone as lord over you or we might be able slightly to understand the concept of lordship but to personally have someone as lord over us is foreign. We may have governing authorities, but we largely have input and representation for our needs and desires, whereas in something like an empire, we would not have the same freedoms. 

    When it comes to the matter of rulers, emperors, and Lords, there is little to no input as to who is in charge. Yes, sometimes there have been rebellions and plans to usurp, but the success of those plans is dependent upon the power and influence of the current ruler. 

    When the Bible makes the statement that Jesus is our Lord, that means that He is the ultimate authority over life. What is great about His Lordship is that He knows and wants what is best for us, but it comes at the cost of what we think is best for us. 

    To live in submission under Jesus as our Lord means He calls the shots regarding what is the best way to live because we trust that He knows what is best for us. He also, while getting the last say, allows us to come to Him boldly to ask for our desires, to ask questions, and to ponder what He is doing. He is a good King.

    If the good news is that Jesus reigns and we get no input on that fact, then what should our response be? Well, shortly after Mark's introduction to Jesus at the beginning of his gospel, we see Jesus proclaiming this: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). 

    Now, if you are participating in a Christian church for any amount of time and the word Repentance comes up, you will discover that it means to change one's mind. Of then the picture given is to turn around from one thing to another. The call that the gospel gives is for humanity to turn from rebellion and sin and to walk in life under the reign of the King. This call is a challenge for us to believe and submit to the kingship of Christ. 

    Here is where this gets a little more challenging. When we hear that we are not in charge, our defenses and excuses start coming into play. We do not like to think of the fact that, in the grand scheme of things, we have zero authority on how life should be lived. Sure, we can rebel against Christ, but in doing so, we are robbed of true life. It will not take you long to realize that you make a terrible king of your own life. Sure, there may be some immediate pleasures that you can indulge in, but they do not last, and they never fully satisfy. This is, of course, in contrast to life in submission to the King of Heaven, who not only knows what is best for us but wants it as well because He designed us.

    The good news of the Bible is the fact, the unchanging reality, that Jesus is King. Now, just like when any ruler is announced, there will always be someone who does not like the new ruler. This is because, ultimately, every person deep down wants to be the ruler of their own lives and does not want to be told how to live. 

    When I think of this tension, I often think of a scene from Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail when King Arthur is passing these peasants, and they ask him who he is. He tells them, "I am your king," and one of the peasants quickly replies, "Well, I never voted for you." 

    Obviously, this movie is satirical, but I think that the peasants' response is often reflected in our own hearts. We live in a world that often mocks Christianity as just a fairy tale and will justify the mockery with moral arguments saying that a good God would never allow suffering in the world, but more often than not the real issue that comes to light is the fact that if the Gospel is true then they will be held accountable in the end by the one true King. The issue they run into is not that it is impossible to believe in God, but instead that they simply do not want to believe because it will challenge their authority over their own life. 

    Frank Turek does an amazing job of revealing this heart issue by asking this question:

"If Christianity were true, would you become a Christian?"

    This seems like the answer would be simple, but Turek shares that he often gets mixed responses to this question. This is not because there is no proof that Christianity is true, but rather because it reveals a rebellious desire that rests at the heart of every person, which is the desire to be our own king. We see this in Genesis 3:5 when Satan tempts Eve to eat the fruit so that she can become like God in knowing good and evil. This desire to define what is good and evil for ourselves has been our weakness since the very beginning, and it is Satan's favorite tool to use. 

    Ever since that first bit of rebellion from Adam and Eve, sin and death have run rampant in our world today. We see this come out in racism, injustice, hatred, jealousy, and so much more. The very things that we see that cause us to say, "What is this world coming to?" are the very same reasons why we need Jesus as King. We cannot fix the world on our own; we are in desperate need of a savior.

    So why is the gospel worth it? Yes, there is salvation from sin and an offer of eternal life, but what is it that is really being offered in the gospel? If you look back at Mark 1:15, you will see that Jesus' main message was that the Kingdom of Heaven is here. This is not some way of saying that those who believe in Him and die will go to heaven, but rather that the Kingdom of Heaven is in our midst because the King has come and that we can access it now, as we hope to experience it fully when the King returns to bring the final judgment and sets everything right.

    To believe in the gospel of Jesus is to believe not just in eternity but in the life that He calls us to now, which is life according to His design. Jesus' call to repent is a call for anyone who wants to experience true life to turn away from their sin and rebellion and to turn to life as a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. This life looks like loving your neighbor, forgiving those who have hurt you, serving whenever we have the opportunity, submitting to God's design, and not looking out for our own interests. God made us to live life a certain way, but when sin and rebellion entered the picture, we thought that we could define what our purpose and calling are. True life is found under the reign of the King who is our designer.

    The gospel is worth it because when we live in submission to Jesus, we are formed into who we were made to be. We are trusting that He knows what is best for us, and we are slowly getting rid of the part of us that wants to rebel and rule our own lives. 

    The truth of the gospel is that Jesus is King, whether we like it or not. How will we react to this truth? I pray that you submit to the King and experience the best life you can live while we wait for Him to set everything right. While we wait, we will still experience sin and suffering in this world because of sin and death, but our hope is in the one who defeated both of those and who will return to end them once and for all. 

Jesus is King. How will you respond to this Good News?

Resources Used:

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament by Gerard Kittle

Simply Good News by NT Wright

The New Testament in its World by Wright and Bird

The Chronological Life of Christ by Mark Moore