It would seem quite confusing even to the average churchgoing person today to define this very basic doctrine of the Christian faith. The confusion is not because of the teaching of the Bible itself, but because of the way that Scriptural truth has been handled by men. We must submit to the Word of God, because it is in it alone that we hear God’s voice. This means a serious study of the Biblical text. We must be able to develop our thinking in precisely the way that the Bible prescribes. The tendency is to merely imitate what we have heard, or to repeat what seems entirely plausible because it has been uttered by someone we consider admirable. The outcome of this approach may be simply inadvertent error, with the best of intentions. However, good intentions do not preserve the integrity of the truth. It is necessary to base our doctrinal beliefs on the plain teaching of Holy Scripture. The question still remains, ‘What is the Gospel?’

First of all, we recognize that the Gospel is essential to the work of evangelism. The very words themselves demonstrate their relationship. The word ‘Gospel’ in NT Greek is “euangelion”. (Romans 1:16) The preaching of the Gospel is denoted in Romans 1:15 by the word “euangelisasthai” from the root word “euangelizo”. We get our word ‘evangelism’ from this. Evangelism, then, is the activity of proclaiming the ‘evangel,’ or the Gospel of Christ.

It is common for us to learn the truth in contrast to what is not true. That method is also useful here. If anything is clear, evangelism must be conducted by means of preaching the Gospel. Otherwise it wouldn’t be evangelism. This is the reason for absolute clarity on the definition of the Gospel.

In much of what is called evangelistic activity the emphasis is on the new birth, and therefore, “You must be born again” is viewed as an exhortation rather than as a statement. In this kind of preaching, the new birth is presented as the most desirable state, since the Lord Jesus says that unless “you are born again, you cannot see ... nor enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, 5) Now, it is indisputable that you must be born again. The question that remains, however, is this: is the statement “You must be born again,” the Gospel? Our point is that no matter how true it is that “you must be born again,” it is NOT the Gospel. New birth centered preaching is not Gospel preaching. There are several reasons for this. First, the Gospel is not about anything done in you or me. It is not something that has been done, is being done, or will be done, by you or me. The Gospel is something that God alone has accomplished in and by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: 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.1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Now there are also other evangelical substitutes for the Gospel which are NOT the Gospel. These include: “Ask Jesus into your heart,” “Surrender your life to Christ,” “Invite Christ into your life,” “Come forward to the altar,” “Make a decision for Christ,” etc. None of these are the Gospel. They call you to do something. The Gospel is not about what you do with Christ, but about what He has done for you. The Good News is what Jesus has done for us who are sinners. The truth of the matter is that Christ has done everything in his life, death, and resurrection to give sinners right standing with God. Nothing can be added to it. It is complete. And we must understand that the Gospel is about an event outside of us, not in us.

What the people were to believe was the record of Christ’s accomplishment. The Gospel was something that gave content to their faith. That content was about what Christ had done. It was not about what they did or would do, not about what was done in their hearts, but what God had done in Christ FOR sinners.

God calls everyone everywhere to believe in his Son and what he has done. Christ is still gathering a church for himself out of the world. He does it through the preaching of his Word, and in particular the preaching of the Gospel. Christ is the Evangelist and he uses his people in his church-gathering work. It is by the hearing of the Word of Christ that God gives the new birth to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. (1 Peter 1:23) It is through the proclamation of the Gospel that faith is given to sinners. (Romans 10:17) While the new birth, faith, and repentance are the fruit of Gospel preaching, they are not the Gospel itself.

Are these distinctions relevant? Are we simply being too precise? The great danger is that if we should put anything in the place of Christ and what he has accomplished, no matter how ‘good’ that thing may be in itself, we will have lost the Gospel. No matter what we may think, if we trust in anything that we have done, or in what has been done in us, we have ceased to trust in the Savior Christ and what he has accomplished.

This is the issue that brought about the Reformation of the sixteenth century, ignited by a thoughtful Augustinian monk named Martin Luther. An infused (in-the-heart) righteousness is not what gives a man right standing with God, but the perfect righteousness which is found outside of him in Jesus Christ. That perfect righteousness cannot be ours (that is, accounted to us), except through faith in him. It is not the medieval ‘Christ in my heart’ that gives me justification before God, but Christ FOR me in his perfect life, atoning death and resurrection.

The Gospel demands the response of faith. What it doesn’t do is to leave us nervously seeking to establish our own righteousness before God – to earn right standing with him by our good works or by our repentance. This is what is called “legalism.”¹ It would then cease to be good news. What the Gospel tells us is that all is done. The righteousness which is acceptable to God is found in Christ, his only begotten Son — alone. (Romans 1:17)

The Gospel calls us to faith and repentance and gives us the promise, “that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We find life by looking outside of ourselves by faith to the One who is our faithful Savior — the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, by his Spirit, he makes us thankful and willing, to live no longer for ourselves, but for him who died and rose on our behalf. ²