Robert N. Wilkin
Associate Editor
Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society

I. INTRODUCTION

The word gospel is part of modern Christianese. “I shared the gospel with my parents this past weekend,” means, “This past weekend I told my parents how they could be born again.” The same truth is conveyed by, “I gave the gospel to…”

I quickly adopted that way of speaking after I believed in Jesus for everlasting life. Every Jesus person I knew (we called ourselves Jesus people in the early seventies) used the term gospel to refer to the message of life, the saving message.

Looking back at my early writings, I see that I often used the word gospel to refer to the saving message.

But is that accurate? Is the expression the gospel equivalent to the saving message in the NT?

It wasn’t until long after I received my doctorate that I changed my thinking about the gospel. But once I did, I found the change to be very helpful.

The NT rarely uses the expression the gospel to refer to the message of life—the saving message. The primary place where gospel means “the saving message” is the Book of Galatians.

Paul told the Galatians, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:6-7).

What is the gospel that Paul preached to the Galatians and that was being perverted by men we now call Judaizers? We will consider that soon.

What if I’m correct, and the term gospel rarely refers to what we might call “the saving message” (which in itself is potentially misleading) or to what the Scriptures call the “word of life” or the “promise of life”?¹ Paul spoke of himself “as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life” (1 Tim 1:16, emphasis added).

My thesis about the word gospel is simple: It means good news.

The NT’s primary use of the word gospel is in reference to Paul’s total ministry, which included evangelism and discipleship. Other major uses concern Jesus’ death and resurrection, justification by faith alone, and the good news to Israel that the kingdom of God was at hand.

We err if we think there is only one NT gospel. There are many different gospels in the NT. We are also mistaken if we think that all who believe in only the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection are born again.

I realize that this is a major paradigm shift for many people and that there will be many questions.

I hope, however, that you don’t reject what I’m saying simply because it doesn’t fit your current understanding. I also hope that you won’t accept what I say as being true simply because I say it is. You need to examine what is said in light of Scripture, as the Bereans of Acts 17:11 did. The Bible alone is God’s infallible Word and our only way of knowing what He has revealed to us.

This article is essentially a concordance study of the word gospel (euangelion). For our study’s starting point, we will look at how the word gospel is used in the Gospel of John, the only Bible book designed to tell the unbeliever what he must believe in order to be born again.

II. THE WORD GOSPEL IS NOT FOUND EVEN ONCE IN THE BIBLE’S ONLY EVANGELISTIC BOOK

The word gospel is not found anywhere in the text of the Gospel of John–the only evangelistic book in the Bible. The Lord Jesus did not tell Nicodemus that whoever believes the gospel has everlasting life (see John 3:14-16).

The Lord Jesus did not tell the woman at the well that whoever drinks the gospel will never thirst again (see John 4:10-14).

He did not tell Martha that the person who believes the gospel shall never die (see John 11:26).

I am using the words evangelize and evangelistic as they are commonly understood, that is, in connection with the proclamation of the message of everlasting life. Of course, any time we share any of the good news messages, we have evangelized. However, in order to avoid cumbersome detailed explanations, I will, for the purposes of this study, restrict the words to the sense of sharing the message of everlasting life by faith in Christ.

The term gospel does, of course, appear in the title the Gospel of John. But the word gospel, when referring to the first four books of the NT, does not mean good news. Rather, it means something like holy biography.² In this sense, Gospel refers to a genre or type of literature–a holy biography of Jesus Christ.

When the Lord identified Himself as the bread of life, the water of life, the life, and so forth, He called for faith in Himself for everlasting life. He never said that the gospel is the way, the truth, and the life, or that the gospel is the Good Shepherd.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus always called for faith in Himself. He said, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47; see also John 3:14-16; 4:10-14; 5:24; 6:35; 11:25-26).

In John’s Gospel, the object of faith is always Jesus and His promise of everlasting life. The object of faith is never something called the gospel.

Of course, we know from Mark 1:15 that the Lord Jesus called upon Israel to repent and believe the gospel of the kingdom. However, Mark 1:14 makes clear that the Lord was speaking about the good news that Messiah King, Jesus Himself, was present, and that He was ready to give Israel her kingdom. It was good news for the Nation of Israel that her Messiah King was here and that His kingdom had drawn near.

Even in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the Lord Jesus never said that the one who believes the gospel (or the gospel of the kingdom) has everlasting life.

It should be noticed that this is not an argument from silence. This is an argument about silence.

This alone should cause us to reject the idea that the word gospel is a special word that always means the message we must believe in order to have everlasting life.³

III. VARIOUS USES OF THE EXPRESSION THE GOSPEL

The English word gospel occurs 103 times in 97 verses in the NKJV. However, the underlying Greek word, euangelion, only occurs 77 times in 74 verses. The cognate verb, euangelizein, occurs an additional 55 times. It refers to preaching many different things, including the kingdom,⁴ peace,⁵ the gospel,⁶ the word,⁷ Jesus [or Him],⁸ and the faith.^9,10 Sometimes it just refers to a proclamation with no object stated.

We will focus on the uses of euangelion as a noun. Here is a breakdown of the word’s uses in the NT, in order of prevalence.

A. Gospel Is Christian Ministry (52%)

The word gospel is most commonly used to refer to Christian ministry (good news ministry about Christ), including both evangelism and discipleship, especially in Paul’s ministry. This gospel ministry is to both believers and unbelievers and is by far the number one use of the gospel.

Slightly over half––40 of 77––of the NT uses of euangelion are general references to Christian ministry or instruction.¹¹

Paul said in Rom 1:15 that he wanted to come to Rome “so that I might preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.” He was talking about preaching the gospel to the believers in Rome. He longed to give them Christian instruction. They had already believed in Jesus for everlasting life.

Believers in Jerusalem glorified God because of the believers in Corinth “for the obedience of [their] confession to the gospel of Christ, and for [their] liberal sharing with them and all men” (2 Cor 9:13). The expression gospel of Christ refers to their confession of sound doctrine.¹²

Paul had a right to be paid for his ministry. But when he was in Corinth he did not exercise that right, “lest we hinder the gospel of Christ” (1 Cor 9:12). It would have hindered Paul’s ministry to the believers in Corinth if he had appealed to them to support his ministry financially.

The church in Philippi supported Paul’s ministry. Paul thanked them “for [their] fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil 1:5). That is, they shared in his ministry by sending him financial help.

Paul reminded the Thessalonians that “our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit…” (1 Thess 1:5). Our gospel refers to the ministry that Paul and Silas brought to them, especially concerning discipleship, as the following verses show (vv 6-10).

In 1 Thess 2:2-3, Paul equates his preaching of “the gospel of God” with “our exhortation.”

Timothy was “our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ” (1 Thess 3:2).

Paul wrote to Philemon, asking that he allow his servant Onesimus to “minister to me in my chains for the gospel” (Phlm 13). Paul was imprisoned for his ministry of both evangelism and discipleship.

B. The Gospel of the Kingdom (15.5%)

This expression is found three times in Matthew (4:23; 9:35; 24:14) and seven times in Mark (1:14, 15; 8:35; 10:29; 13:10; 14:9; 16:15). It refers to the good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is not the message that all who believe in Jesus have everlasting life.

Twelve of the 77 uses of euangelion, or fifteen percent, refer to the gospel of the kingdom.

The gospel of the kingdom was the message preached by John the Baptist, Jesus, and His apostles. They proclaimed the good news that the kingdom had drawn near for Israel.

It was a message directed to Israel. The conditions the nation had to meet in order for the kingdom to come at that time were to believe in Jesus and to repent of their sins (cf. Mark 1:15). This was not a faith-alone message.

This message will also be preached during the Tribulation (Matt 24:14).¹³

C. The Gospel of Justification by Faith Alone (14.3%)

The message of justification by faith alone is called the gospel seven times in Galatians (1:6, 7, 11; 2:2, 5, 7, 14), twice in Acts (15:7; 20:24), and once in 1 Corinthians (4:15) and 2 Corinthians (11:4).¹⁴

D. The Gospel Regarding the Rapture, Kingdom, and Bema (10.3%)

Eight times, the expression the gospel refers to the good news of the Rapture, the Bema, or the kingdom. The Bema is evident in Rom 2:16 and Rom 14:24 (=16:25 NKJV, KJV).

In Rom 2:16, Paul wrote, “…God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel” (emphasis added). Notice that Paul’s gospel includes the message of the coming judgment of believers at the Bema and of unbelievers at the Great White Throne Judgment.

First Corinthians 15:1-11 is probably the most famous gospel passage. It is also one of the most misunderstood gospel passages. Paul used the gospel in this passage to refer to the good news about our guaranteed bodily resurrection and future judgment at the Bema (see the final verse of the chapter, 1 Cor 15:58). He said that we must cling to that message in order to remain spiritually healthy (“if you hold fast,” 1 Cor 15:2). This is a sanctification passage, not a justification passage.

However, because the word gospel is widely understood in Christendom today as referring to the saving message, most people understand 1 Cor 15:1-11 as delineating that message.

There are three reasons why this is incorrect.

First, the NT rarely uses the word gospel to refer to justification by faith alone (less than fifteen percent of the time).

Second, 1 Cor 15:1-11 is not about justification by faith alone.

Third, the issue in 1 Cor 15:1-11, as in the whole chapter, is the glorious future for believers. Believers who are spiritually healthy remain that way if they hold firmly to the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

N. T. Wright sees the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection in 1 Cor 15:3-11 to be the good news of a new creation. He says:

For Paul, it’s quite clear again and again that the goal of the whole thing is a new creation with renewed humans playing their full part within that new creation. Paul never talks about people going to heaven when they die. The closest he comes is Philippians 1 when he says, “my desire is to depart and be with the Messiah, which is far better.” But by the end of Philippians 3, it’s clear that the real goal is when Jesus restores the whole creation and gives His people new bodies to live within that new creation. And this is, of course, the great climax of Romans 8, which we’ll get to later. All of this is attained by the death and resurrection of Jesus and, as we quoted yesterday, 1 Corinthians 15:3: “the Messiah died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; He was buried; He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and was seen by people.”¹⁵

E. The Gospel of Jews and Gentiles United in One Body (5.2%)

In Ephesians the word gospel refers to Jews and Gentiles being united and at peace in one body, the Church (Eph 1:13; 3:6; 6:15, 19). Notice that in Eph 6:19 Paul spoke of the mystery of the gospel. The promise of everlasting life by faith in Christ was not a mystery in the OT (John 5:39-40). What was a mystery was that the Church–in which Jews and Gentiles would be united in one body–was coming.¹⁶

F. The Everlasting Gospel (1.3%)

The “everlasting gospel” in Rev 14:6 relates to Jesus since He is the One who pours out judgment on the wicked. But it is not good news about who is born again and how they became so. Instead, it is the good news that all who do not fear God and worship Him will be judged.

It is interesting to see how the otherwise very helpful Nelson Study Bible views this as an offer of everlasting life to all who fear God and worship Him.

14:6, 7 The angel who preaches the gospel to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people helps to fulfill God’s promise that the gospel “will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations” (Matt. 24:14) before Christ returns…[God] continues to offer everlasting life to the world (see John 3:16). The gospel message at this point beseeches unbelievers to fear God and give glory to Him and to escape the hour of His judgment.¹⁷

The Nelson Study Bible teaches elsewhere that the sole condition of eternal life is believing in Jesus, not fearing God and worshipping Him. The note at Rev 14:6,7 is therefore confusing.

Similarly, the Ryrie Study Bible has excellent notes, but at Rev 14:6 follows this same line of thinking: “An eternal gospel to preach. God’s last call of grace to the world before the return of Christ in judgment.”¹⁸

This comment by the late Dr. John Walvoord is helpful in explaining the actual meaning of gospel in Rev 14:6:

Because of the word “gospel,” some have felt that this was a message of salvation or the good news of the coming kingdom. The context, however, seems to indicate otherwise, for the message is one of judgment and condemnation. The angel announced, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of judgment has come.” So the “eternal” message seems to be a message of God’s righteousness and judgment rather than a message of salvation (emphasis in original).¹⁹

G. The Four Gospels about the Lord Jesus Christ

The titles of the four Gospels are not part of the NT itself. Hence those four uses are not considered because they are not part of the 77 NT uses of euangelion. However, as mentioned previously, the word Gospel in this case refers to a biography of the Lord Jesus Christ.

IV. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

All believing parents long to know that their children are born again. This leads them to evangelize their children.

However, if the parents don’t know precisely what their children must believe in order to be born again, they will not really know whether they are born again.

If the parents are wrong about what one must believe in order to be born again, they will not actually be able to lead their children to the new birth.

Let’s say the parents think that all who believe the gospel as laid out in 1 Cor 15:1-11 are born again. They teach their children this passage. They have their children memorize it. They are convinced that their children believe it. So, they are happy that their kids are born again.

But they do not seek to convince their children of the promise of everlasting life, since they themselves do not believe it. Only if they themselves are convinced it is true will parents share the message that whoever believes in Jesus has everlasting life and will never perish.

The message we share regarding what people must believe in order to be born again makes a big difference. Whether we are witnessing to our own children, our parents, our siblings, our neighbors, our friends at school or work, or total strangers, we must get the message right. If we tell people that anyone who believes X is born again, and that isn’t true, then we are misleading people whom we care about. And we are misleading them on the most important issue in life!

It is my experience that this is the reason many parents entrust the evangelization of their kids to someone else. They hope the youth pastor knows what to tell them. After all, he went to Bible college or seminary.

Many people don’t evangelize their friends, but instead invite them to church where they hope the pastor will tell them how to be born again.

I suggest that the main reason people shirk evangelism is not, as is often taught, that they don’t care or are unwilling to risk persecution. Instead, they don’t evangelize because they don’t know what to say and believe it best not to evangelize without knowing what to say.

The Gospel of John is written to tell the unbeliever what he must believe in order to be born again. It shows us how to lead people to faith in Christ. John 3:16 is simple.

Many tracts hop all over the Bible and include lots of seemingly unrelated teachings. People therefore conclude that evangelism should only be done by the professionals.

Confusion about the meaning of the word gospel greatly contributes to people’s not knowing whether or not they are born again; therefore, they do not know how to tell others how they can be sure that they themselves are born again.

If we know that the good news of Jesus Christ is meant to lead people to faith in Christ for everlasting life, then we need to be clear about what that good news is.

Many people who say they believe that Jesus died for everyone (unlimited atonement) actually say the opposite when they evangelize. They will say something like this:

You are a sinner, and your sins separate you from God. See Rom 3:23. But the good news is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, died on the cross in your place, paying for all your sins–past, present, and future.
If you believe that He died on the cross for your sins, then He will remove your sins so that they are no longer a barrier to your being saved.
You see, He potentially paid for your sins at the cross. But His blood is ineffective until you apply it to your life (like the Jews applying the blood of lambs on the doorposts in Exodus 12). If you do not believe that He died on the cross for your sins, then you remain separated from God due to your sins.
But if you do believe that He died on the cross for your sins, then you are saved forever, even if you do not believe that salvation is secure prior to death.

In reality, we should say just the opposite:

You and I are both sinners. Indeed, every living human being is a sinner. See Rom 3:23. But the good news is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, “[took] away the sins of the world,” as John the Baptist said in John 1:29. The Apostle John said the same thing in 1 John 2:2.
So, neither of us is blocked from God and from His kingdom because of our sins. He has removed the sin barrier so that now we are all savable. All we need to do to have everlasting life—life with God that can never be lost—is to believe in Jesus Christ. Look at John 3:16. Jesus says that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Because of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, all who simply believe in Him for everlasting life have that life and will one day be physically raised from the dead to live forever in perfect, glorified bodies.
I am sure I have everlasting life, and I know it has nothing to do with how good or bad I am. It is all about Jesus’ faithfulness to His promise.

Those two messages are radically different! The second message proclaims true unlimited atonement. Jesus didn’t potentially die for the sins of the whole world. He actually did die for the sins of the whole world. No one will be condemned because of his sins.

Revelation 20:11-15 shows that the basis of condemnation is a person not being found in the Book of Life. Since the way people get into that Book is by believing in Jesus, unbelievers are not in the Book.

Believers are in the Book.²⁰

V. THE GOSPEL IS THE GOOD NEWS THAT RUNS FROM EDEN TO THE NEW EARTH

In one sense, everything from Creation to the New Earth is part of the good news. That is how many in New Tribes Mission (now called Ethnos 360) evangelize people who have never heard about Jesus. They gradually present the good news over the course of thirty or more sessions. But it is not until the last session that they talk about the cross and the promise of everlasting life.

I would suggest telling people at each session that Jesus guarantees eternal life to all who simply believe in Him. I wouldn’t wait until the last of scores of messages to explain the message of John 3:16.

But I do agree that the Creation, the call of Abraham, the birth and growth of Israel, the prophets, John the Baptist, and the ministry of Jesus are all part of the good news.

A person, of course, need not know every aspect of the good news in order to be born again. A person could be born again without knowing about Mary’s anointing Jesus for burial (Matt 26:13), or Judas’s betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, or Jesus’ being born in Bethlehem or being buried in a rich man’s tomb.

But that is all part of the good news.

The gospel’s first goal should be that the hearer will believe in Jesus for eternal life. Once a person believes that Jesus died on the cross for his sins and rose bodily from the dead, he is a great candidate for believing that he has eternal life simply by faith in Him (John 3:16) and that he is justified (Gal 2:16). The gospel message should lead people to believe in Jesus for eternal life.

But that is not all. The gospel message should also lead a person to live for Christ in light of His soon return. Because He died for us, we ought to love Him and seek to please Him in all we say and do (1 John 3:16) so that when He returns, we might hear, “Well done, good servant,” (Luke 19:17a) and might be given the privilege of ruling with Him (Luke 19:17b). There should be excitement and anticipation about the prospect of living in Jesus’ eternal kingdom.

Of course, once a person comes to faith in Christ for eternal life, there is certainly much more of the good news to learn and apply. The longer we live with and for Christ, the more precious the good news of Jesus Christ should become to us.

VI. CONCLUSION

What is the gospel?

There are multiple gospels in the NT.

About half the uses of the word gospel refer to Christian ministry, which includes both evangelism and discipleship.

The gospel of the kingdom was the announcement by John the Baptist, Jesus, and His apostles that the kingdom had drawn near and that Israel could enter that kingdom if the nation both believed in Jesus and repented of its sins.

Justification by faith alone, apart from works, is called the gospel by Paul in Galatians.

The coming Rapture, kingdom, and Judgment Seat of Christ are sometimes called gospel as well. Possibly the most famous gospel passage, 1 Cor 15:1-11, comes under this category. The good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection is that one day soon we will be resurrected, glorified, and rewarded by Christ for our labor in the Lord.

The gospel in Ephesians is the good news that Jews and Gentiles are united and on equal footing in the church.

There is one reference to “the everlasting gospel,” a gospel of coming judgment on the wicked (Rev 14:6).

Whenever you see the word gospel in the NT, ask yourself which particular good news is in view.

__________

¹ See Acts 5:20, “the words of this life”; Phil 2:16, “the word [or message] of life”; 2 Tim 1:1, “the promise of life.”

² Each Gospel has a Greek title that uses two words: the name of the author and the word kata, meaning “according to.” So, the word Gospel was not actually in the Greek titles. It is uncertain as to whether the authors wrote the titles (e.g., Kata Matthaion, According to Matthew) or if they were added later as the books were circulated. Mark’s Gospel is the only one of the four that gives itself a sort of title: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1).

³ Some have argued that John’s Gospel is actually no longer a valid means of determining the saving message. They argue that after Jesus ascended to heaven, the saving message changed. In this Dispensation, they believe that the Apostle Paul, not the Lord Jesus, tells us what one must believe in order to be born again. In this view, Paul taught that one must believe the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection in order to have everlasting life. I have dealt with this argument elsewhere. But it should be noted that John wrote long after the start of the Church Age for the purpose of leading people on this side of the cross to faith in Christ for everlasting life (John 20:30-31). In addition, never once does Paul say that the person who believes the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection has everlasting life. Rather, Paul says one must believe in Jesus for everlasting life (e.g., Acts 16:31; Eph 2:8-9; 1 Tim 1:16).

⁴ Luke 4:43; 8:1; 16:16; Acts 8:12.

⁵ See Acts 10:36; Rom 10:15; Eph 2:17.

⁶ See 1 Cor 9:18; 15:1; 2 Cor 11:7; Gal 1:11; Rev 14:6.

⁷ See Acts 8:4; 15:35, 36; Heb 4:2; 1 Pet 1:25.

⁸ See Acts 5:42; 8:12, 35; 11:20; 17:18; Gal 1:16.

⁹ See Gal 1:23.

¹⁰ There are also many other instances in the NT of preaching these concepts (the kingdom, peace, the gospel, the word, Jesus [or Him], and the faith), using verbs other than euangelizein (e.g.., laleō, katangellō, diangellō, and kērussō).

¹¹ Those forty uses include eight in Romans (1:1, 9, 16; 10:16; 11:28; 15:16, 19, 29), six in 1 Corinthians (9:12, 14 [2xs], 18 [2xs], 23), seven in 2 Corinthians (2:12; 4:3, 4; 8:18; 9:13; 10:14; 11:7), eight in Philippians (1:5, 7, 12, 17, 27; 2:22; 4:3, 15), six in 1 Thessalonians (1:5; 2:2, 4, 8, 9; 3:2), one in 2 Thessalonians (2:14), one in 1 Timothy (1:11), one in 2 Timothy (1:8), one in Philemon (13), and one in 1 Peter (4:17).

¹² David E. Garland, 2 Corinthians (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), p. 414.

¹³ Some Dispensationalists have wrongly thought the way to be born again during the ministry of Jesus (the gospel of the kingdom) was different from the way to be born again during the Church Age. However, they fail to consider the message of the Gospel of John. The Lord Jesus taught that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life and will never perish (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:35-40, 47; 11:25-27). That is precisely the same evangelistic message that Paul and the other apostles proclaimed (Acts 15:7-11; 16:31; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23).

¹⁴ I’ve included several places in which Paul refers to false gospels (Gal 1:6; 2 Cor 11:4) since these are gospels contrary to justification by faith alone.

¹⁵ N. T. Wright, “Paul and the Cross,” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUuDI2RkpgE. Time 25:49 to 26:51.

¹⁶ Second Corinthians 9:13 might have this sense as well. However, I counted it under “Christian Ministry” since I think it fits better there.

¹⁷ Nelson Study Bible, s.v. Rev 14:6.

¹⁸ Ryrie Study Bible, s.v. Rev 14:6.

¹⁹ John F. Walvoord, “Revelation” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament Edition (N.P.: Victor Books. 1983), 964.

²⁰ In a sense, the Book of Life is a book containing spiritual birth certificates.