I recently went browsing on the Internet to find out what the churches and ministries think the Gospel is. There are countless presentations of the Gospel available, but with a very few exceptions the samples I tested give rise to concern.
Many of the sites began with such words as “There is widespread confusion amongst Christians even about what the Gospel is…” But the remedy offered was less than satisfactory for this one reason: On almost no occasion were the words of Jesus appealed to for a definition of the Gospel.
Imagine it. Hundreds of earnest presenters of the Gospel do not resort to the words of Jesus to define the Gospel!
Anyone joining my search for information about the most crucial of all questions, what is the Gospel, would be struck by this amazing fact: Apparently ministries and churches do not think Jesus was the author of the Gospel.
The main purpose of our magazine is to call your attention to this dreadful situation and invite you to take steps to put things right, both for yourself and for your friends.
Is there any possible justification for the appalling fact that Jesus is not thought to be the principal exponent of the Gospel? In Scripture, none whatsoever. There appears to have fallen over churches an inexplicable blindness to the most obvious of biblical facts: Jesus came preaching the GOSPEL. Listen to him: Luke 4:43: “I must preach the Gospel about the Kingdom of God to the other cities also; that is the reason why God commissioned me.” Matthew, Mark and Luke could not have gone to greater lengths to inform us that Jesus was the great evangelist. To him we must look if we want to be informed and reformed by the saving Gospel. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, came “preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom” (see Matt. 3:2). Jesus came preaching exactly the same message: “Repent because the Kingdom of God/Heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:23). “Believe the Gospel about the Kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14, 15). “From the time of John the Baptist the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been preached” (Luke 16:16). “When anyone hears the Word/Gospel about the Kingdom of God…” (Matt. 13:19). “This Gospel about the Kingdom will be preached in all the world and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).
It is a biblical fact that hearing the Gospel means hearing the Message of the Good News about the Kingdom. “Believe that Gospel of the Kingdom,” Jesus declares, in the summary statement of his whole ministry (Mark 1:14, 15).
We invite our listeners to consider a crisis situation in churches. The facts are that the Gospel as Jesus preached it is not the Gospel offered by the churches. Is this not cause for utmost concern? Can we be deceived? Surely the Bible is full of such warnings. Have we really conducted a Berean exercise in our search for the True saving Message? It would appear not.
Do not by any means take it from us. Proceed to the Internet and see for yourself. Ask in a variety of circles for a definition of the Gospel and wait for a response. Do not ask in a way to condemn, but seek to be informed. Ask respectfully. But if your correspondent turns to the opening of the ministry of Jesus to define the Gospel, we think you will have met a rare person. Let us know what you find. We will publish the results.
Hebrew 2:3 states that the Gospel of salvation “first began to be preached by the Lord.” Romans 10:17 declares that faith is awakened by contact with the Message of the Messiah — Jesus’ own Gospel preaching relayed first by the apostles after the death and resurrection of Jesus and handed down to posterity. The Great Commission, about which we hear much, demands that the very Gospel of Jesus about the Kingdom be passed on to all nations till the end of the age and the return of Jesus.
Is all this complex? Does it make any sense that Christians would call themselves followers of Jesus and then bypass his Gospel preaching? Is it in any way safe or methodologically sound to skip over the repeated definitions of the Gospel as it came from the mouth of Jesus and rush to isolated verses in the letters of Paul?
But that is exactly what the approximately 50 websites I consulted on the Gospel have done. There is a faithful copying of each other — the same use of the same verses from Paul, but no reference to Jesus as the preacher of the saving Gospel.
It is plain common sense to realize that the words “the Gospel” without further explanation do not tell you what the Gospel is about. It is plain common sense that if you want an explanation of the content of the Gospel you look for the phrase “Gospel of…” The Bible is most generous with this phrase, and it occurs early on in the New Testament records so that we should not be able to miss it. But miss it we certainly have.
The Gospel is defined 18 times as the Gospel of (=about) the Kingdom of God. That is the first “ABC” fact of the Christian faith. Matthew never uses the noun Gospel without its qualifying explanation “of the Kingdom” (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14). Mark sets up his whole story with a summary, programmatic statement of the activity and career of Jesus. “The Kingdom of God is at hand: Repent and believe the Gospel” (1:15). Luke records the words of Jesus indicating the secret of his heart: “I must preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to the other cities also; that is the reason why I was sent” (4:43). Jesus sent the twelve out to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus sent out the 70 to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom (Luke 8:1; 9:2). Jesus described the Christian faith as the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom (Luke 16:16).I trust that our readers will not find us unduly critical if we suggest that among believers today the phrase Gospel of the Kingdom has all but disappeared. Do you share our alarm? Write and tell us if you do. It can be a lonely business pointing out the obvious and the simple, but there seems to be a need for this basic task. We are encouraged by those of you who write and tell us that the Bible is coming alive for you in a new way now that you see what the Gospel is as Jesus preached it.
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