WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

In Mark 16:15 Christ commanded, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel,” and many profess to be doing that, but it seems there are almost as many gospels as there are preachers, which prompts the question, What is the Gospel?

First, let’s note what it is not.  It is not an invitation to join a church, reform, read the Bible, pray, give money, do good, etc.

Much of what purports to be the Gospel promises that if you “receive Jesus” by believing what is written about Him, it will transform your life.  But neither is this the Biblical Gospel. The Gospel is not the panacea for life’s troubles, Christ Himself warning believers, In the world ye shall have tribulation (Jn 16:33).

What, then, is the Gospel?  It is God’s warning that all men are born sinners (Ro 3:23), who can be saved from hell and fitted for heaven only when they accept that indictment, confess themselves sinners, and believe that when Christ died on the cross it was as their Substitute, for their sins. The Gospel has to do with the salvation of the soul from hell, not improvement of life on earth.

We may believe all that is written about Christ, but if we fail to believe also what God has written about us, i.e., that “All have sinned,” we will enter hell, not heaven, at death.

“He that believeth on him (Christ) is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already (Jn 3:18).

By Jim Melough