Before going any further, let me show you from Scripture why I think both the questions I mentioned in the previous post are legitimate and biblical.

As I read it, the Bible seems to use the word “gospel” in two different, but highly related, ways. Sometimes it uses “gospel” in a very broad way, that is, to describe all the promises that God intends to fulfill in Christ, including not only forgiveness of sin, but also everything else that flows from it—the establishment of the kingdom, the new heavens and new earth, etc. There are other times, though, where it uses “gospel” in a very narrow way, that is, to describe specifically the forgiveness of sins through the substitutionary death and resurrection of Christ. In those places, the broader promises don’t seem to be so much in view.

Here are some of the clearest places, I think, where the Bible uses the word “gospel” in the narrow sense:

1. ^ESV Acts 10:36-43 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ ( he is Lord of all), . . . To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Peter says that the gospel he preaches is that of “peace through Jesus Christ,” by which he means specifically the good news “that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

 

2. ^ESV Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

Paul defines the gospel in terms of “salvation” and the righteousness of God being revealed through faith. It becomes clear through the rest of the book that he’s talking here about forgiveness of sins (justification) being through faith, not works. His focus in Romans is not on the coming kingdom, but on how one becomes a part of it. And that he calls “gospel.”

 

3. ^ESV 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. ¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The gospel Paul is sent to preach is “the word of the cross.”

 

4. ^ESV 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain. ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

The gospel Paul preached to them and which they received was that “Christ died for our sins . . . was buried . . . [and] was raised.” The continuing references to the appearances shouldn’t be taken as part of “the gospel,” as if we have to tell someone that Jesus appeared to Peter, the Twelve, and James or we’re not telling them the gospel. Those references are meant to establish the resurrection as real and historical.

 

And here are some of the clearest places, I think, where it’s used in the broad sense:

1. ^ESV Matthew 4:23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

This is the first mention of the word “gospel” in Matthew’s account, so we should expect some contours to be given to the term. To fill in the content of the “gospel of the kingdom” which Jesus preached, we look back to verse 17, the first mention of “kingdom.” There, Jesus is recorded as preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

The gospel of the kingdom that Jesus preached was the message that a) the kingdom had dawned, and b) those who repent could enter it.

 

2. ^ESV Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

With the exception of the very first verse, this is the first use of the word in Mark’s account. The “gospel of God” which Jesus proclaimed was: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

The gospel of God is the message that a) the kingdom has dawned, and b) those who repent and believe can enter it.

 

3. ^ESV Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

This is the OT passage from which Jesus launches his public ministry. The word “good news,” as it’s used in Isaiah 61, is I think referring to the full-orbed establishment of God’s kingdom-rule.

 

4. ^ESV Acts 13:32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, ³³ this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, . . .

Verse 38 is very clear that the good news Paul brought was that forgiveness of sin comes through “this man.” But also, in verse 32 the “good news” is said to be “that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled . . . by raising Jesus.” Surely God’s promises to the fathers, now fulfilled in Jesus, included but were not limited to forgiveness of sins?

 

So looking carefully into the New Testament, it seems to me that the word "gospel" is used in both a broad way and in a more narrow way.  Broadly, as in Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4, and Acts 13, it refers to all the promises made to us through the work of Jesus—not only forgiveness of sins, but also resurrection, reconciliation with both God and others, sanctification, glorification, coming Kingdom, new heavens and new earth, and so forth.  You might say that in those cases, “gospel” refers to the whole complex of God’s promises secured through the life and work of Christ. In the narrow sense, such as we see in Acts 10, the whole book of Romans, 1 Corinthians 1 and 1 Corinthians 15, “gospel” refers specifically to the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus and the call to all people to repent and believe in him.

Now let me make two other things explicit. First, the broad use of the word “gospel” necessarily includes the narrow. Look at those examples from Matthew and Mark. Jesus doesn’t just proclaim the onset of the kingdom, as many have said. He proclaims the onset of the kingdom and proclaims the means of entering it. Look closely: Jesus did not preach the gospel saying “The kingdom of heaven has come!” He preached the gospel saying, “The kingdom of heaven has come. Therefore repent and believe!” This is crucial, the difference indeed between Gospel and not-Gospel: To proclaim the inauguration of the kingdom and the new creation and all the rest without proclaiming how people can enter it---by repenting and being forgiven of their sins through faith in Christ and his atoning death---is to preach a non-Gospel. Indeed, it is to preach bad news, since you give people no hope of being included in that new creation. The broad sense of “gospel” is not merely the proclamation of the kingdom. It is the proclamation of the kingdom together with the proclamation that people may enter it by repentance and faith in Christ.

Second, it’s worth noting explicitly, again, the fact that the New Testament calls the specific, narrow message of forgiveness of sins through Christ “The Gospel.” Therefore, those who would argue something like, “If you’re just preaching the forgiveness of sins through Christ, and not God’s intention to remake the world, you’re not preaching the gospel,” are wrong. Both Paul and Peter (just to grab names from the above examples) seem quite happy to say that they have preached “The Gospel” if they have told people about the forgiveness of sins through the substitutionary death of Jesus, full stop.

So the NT uses “gospel” in two different, but highly related, ways. How are we supposed to pull all that together?  How do those narrow and broad senses relate, beyond the fact that the narrow is necessarily included in the broad? Is the narrow sense a part of the broader, the heart of the broader, peripheral to the broader, or what? And why does the NT seem fine with calling the promise of forgiveness of sins through Christ’s death “the gospel,” but it’s not fine calling any other particular blessing or promise “the gospel?” Why does that one promise, in particular, get the name “Gospel?”

And why does that mean that the evangelistic and pastoral priority—in the NT and for us—should be on the narrow sense, on the forgiveness of sins through Christ?

All that, as I said, is for another post……..