Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Full understanding of the gospel (meaning "good news") requires first being aware of the "bad news", which is that humans were created by a holy God to be perfect and immortal (as He is), but became universally opposed to God and condemned by Him as a result of sin (disobedience to Him), consigning them to physical (temporal) and spiritual (eternal) death.

The gospel is that God responded to this situation in love and mercy by becoming truly human in Jesus, who then made a reconciliation possible between God and humanity by living a sinless life, dying an atoning, substitutionary physical and spiritual death in humanity's place, and rising from the dead to live forever, allowing humans who place their faith in that reconcilation (rather than in their own actions) to live eternally in God's presence, instead of being eternally separated from Him.

July 20 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

James Kraft 74 year old retired pipeline worker

The gospel is given in First Corinthians 15:1-4 That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that He was buried, and rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. 

When we believe that gospel we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 1:13-14 And Ephesians 4:30. IT is our guarantee of eternal life. 

Romans 11:29 For the GIFTS, (eternal life) and calling of God are without repentance. Irrevocable. Can not be changed back. 

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace ye are saved, through FAITH, and that not of yourselves, it is the GIFT of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You can not boast in a free gift that we did nothing for. 

Romans 3:26-28 We have nothing to boast in. Jesus paid our sin debt in full, and we can no longer be condemned. John 3:18. 

The gospel. First John 2:2 And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. But, we have to believe it to receive the free gift of eternal life. John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE. 

Romans 4:5. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him who justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Faith alone in Christ alone apart from works. Our works can not save us. Only His finished work on the cross can save sinners which we all are. 

Romans 4:6-8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness apart from works. Blessed is the man whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. 

All our sin debt has been paid in full, past, present, and future sins we have not even thought of yet. And He gives us His perfect righteousness apart from works. The Gift of God is eternal life. Since it is a free gift, we have nothing to boast in. You can not boast in free. Romans 3:26-28.

July 24 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Grant Abbott Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

The gospel is the "good news" about Jesus Christ. The New Testament in the bible is the New Covenant that Jesus established through his birth, life, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection. In my view, every word in the New Testament is the gospel message. In fact, since Jesus, the Son of God, is the central character of the whole bible, everything we discover in the Old Testament about 1) the nature and character of God, and 2) the plan and purpose of God for human life, is amazing good news, it is the gospel message.

But it is interesting to reflect on what Jesus meant when he said "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15-16). The disciples didn't have any of the books of the New Testament to refer to, yet we always quote passages from the books that the apostle Paul wrote. But what did the disciples have? They had their eye witness testimony of the teaching of Jesus, the ministry (good works) that Jesus performed, the sacrifice he made (suffering and death on the cross), and his resurrection from the dead.

The four gospel books give us a glimpse into this eye witness testimony, but as the apostle John said at the end of his gospel book, "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

When the disciples shared the gospel, they told people what Jesus said and what he did during his mission on earth, but it also included their personal testimony, how Jesus had transformed their lives. The apostle Paul always included his personal testimony when he shared the gospel.

So, based on the content of the gospel books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, what gospel message did the disciples preach when Jesus sent them out into the whole world? What do we learn about: A) Jesus, his mission, what he accomplished, B) us, our spiritual need, our response to Jesus, C) the kingdom of God, what God plans for the world, what God plans for us?

All of this is the good news of the gospel message. There isn't sufficient space in this forum to fully answer these questions, so I'll leave it to other contributors to share what they have learned.

July 25 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report