What is the Gospel?

The most obvious good news or “Gospel of the Kingdom of God” that Jeus proclaimed and lived is that the Gospel is not only for Jews but extends to Gentiles, outcasts, people sick with all kinds of diseases and torments, and the worst of sinners. In fact, the good news is that Jesus bore to the cross every human condition that needs redemption.

The Bible nowhere gives a one sentence textbook kind of statement of what the Gospel is. The closest thing to that is I Cor. 15:1-4, where Paul says, “the gospel which I preached to you, . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” These verses say the Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but these verses do not expand on the meaning of and how to experience the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross for our remission of sin. We experience forgiveness of sins if we believe, repent, and follow Christ in life.

The same faith and repentance that regenerates necessarily results in justification; in other words, the faith and repentance that regenerates “cannot not” lead to justification in the same way that one cannot open the door without light entering the dark room. While regeneration and justification are not the same thing, the one cannot be true unless the other is true. It is important to view faith, repentance, and regeneration as preceding justification in the same way that when the door is opened to a dark room light floods into the room.

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