The Christian Gospel

The Christian Gospel centers on Jesus Christ and the divine plan of redemption fulfilled in his life, death, resurrection and renewal of creation[1]. At its heart lies a transformative message about God’s initiative toward humanity.

The gospel is the good news that God became man in Jesus Christ. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died—in our place. Three days later He rose from the dead, proving that He is the Son of God and offering the gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins to those who repent and believe in Him.[2] This represents a fundamental distinction from other world religions: most religions of the world call men to ascend and work their way to God. Christianity explains that God came down to us.[2]

The Gospel addresses humanity’s condition through grace rather than human achievement. Every human since then has been a sinner, and all have fallen short of God’s glory[3], yet God so loved the world that he sent his Son Jesus—who was himself fully God and fully human—as the Savior, the sacrifice, the ransom, and the propitiation for sins.[3] Salvation comes not through personal effort but through faith: it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8–9).

The Gospel’s scope extends beyond individual conversion. Growing theological appreciation of the link between gospel and kingdom over the past century or so has led most Christian bodies to articulate a broader understanding which relates the gospel to social justice, communal well-being and ecological stewardship, as well as to personal salvation.[1] Yet what has not altered, and cannot alter, is that the gospel is personified and centred in the Lord Jesus Christ.[1]

Biblical passages affirming the Gospel message: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16) (John 3:16). Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:3–4) (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom 10:9–10) (Romans 10:9).

[1] D. H. K. Hilborn, “Gospel,” in New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic, ed. Martin Davie et al. (London; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press; InterVarsity Press, 2016), 374–375.
[2] Rice Broocks, The Human Right: To Know Jesus Christ & to Make Him Known (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2023), 29–30.
[3] Charles (Chuck) E. Lawless, “Theology, Evangelism, and Missions,” in Theology, Church, and Ministry: A Handbook for Theological Education (B&H, 2017), 358.