What is the Gospel?

Much chatter these days is centered around the concept of "sharing the Gospel".  It would behoove us to first ask the question "what is the Gospel?"  If we are not careful, we can turn the Gospel into something cheap and contrary to the Holy scriptures.  The word "gospel" is first mentioned in the New Testament in Matthew 4:23 and describes Jesus going about Galilee teaching in synagogues and preaching "the gospel of the kingdom" while healing the sick and diseased.  What is the Gospel of the kingdom?  Is it not that the long awaited Messiah has arrived to restore the nation of Israel with a new level of spirituality and vigor?  Is it not that the time of healing has arrived?  Is it not that all tribes and nations should now embrace the Savior, Prophet, and King, Jesus himself?  Is it not a new set of standards, ethics, and laws that will hasten the day when God himself will reign in the new earth?  Is it not the glorious revelation of Yahweh's love that sinners are now beckoned to mercy, experience conversion, given a new heart for obedience, and passionately look forward to the resurrection of the dead?  Is it not the tangible, abundant life which can be the lot of those who embrace Jesus as Lord?

If we don't understand the Gospel by first looking to the Gospels of Christ we may end up with a narrow view of God's perfect plan of salvation.  If we build our theology around the Epistles first, we may inadvertently make Jesus actual teachings complicated, awkward, or worse, obsolete, and we run the risk of turning the Gospel into nothing more than a formula for forensic justification ("getting saved").  Sadly, the Gospel has become compatible with and acceptable to all sorts of carnality and worldly living.  The Gospel of Jesus (found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) suggest otherwise; the Gospel is actually contrary to the ways of the world and the ways of the earthly kingdoms because it is against the natural disposition of man.

While the 'Roman's Road' does indeed contain scriptural truths and may be helpful in some situations, the Church should not start with it as the fundamental basis for our understanding of the Gospel.  We must start with Jesus and His teachings.  We must start with the good news that the King has arrived and its high time for any and all to save themselves from this wicked generation.  We must understand that Jesus offers us the unimaginable: a love-trust-obey relationship with Almighty God 'without the works of the law'!  We must understand that submission to His rule and doctrine through faith is paramount to being restored to the Father and rescuing mankind from sin.  

Consider the Great Commission described in Matthew 28:16-20:

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Think about it!  Jesus spoke these words before Paul was converted or any of the epistles were written.  What is the Great Commission compelling us to do?  "Go and tell people they can be saved and go to heaven!"  No...we are to go, teach all nations, baptize them, and teach others to observe all things whatsoever he has commanded us.  In other words, we are to make disciples of Jesus who seek to obey His teachings and live the Gospel Kingdom values.  We are to teach all nations, starting in Jerusalem, what Jesus actually said as recorded in the Gospels.  Embracing the Kingdom vision of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the broader context into which we should share the Good News that Jesus does indeed desire to redeem individuals for His purposes and there is freedom from the temporal and eternal bondage of sin.    

(None of the above is to imply that the rest of the New Testament is sub-par, less inspired, or less valuable than the Gospels.  When we have a properly focused theology on the Kingdom message of Jesus the Acts, Epistles, and Revelation become rich and profitable passages for encouragement, doctrine and instruction.)