What, exactly, is the Gospel?
https://www.dictionary.net/gospel
QUOTE |
Gospel \Gos"pel\, n. [OE. gospel, godspel, AS. godspell; god God + spell story, tale. See God, and Spell, v.] 1. Glad tidings; especially, the good news concerning Christ, the Kingdom of God, and salvation. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. --Matt. iv. 23. The steadfast belief of the promises of the gospel. --Bentley. Note: It is probable that gospel is from. OE. godspel, God story, the narrative concerning God; but it was early confused with god spell, good story, good tidings, and was so used by the translators of the Authorized version of Scripture. This use has been retained in most cases in the Revised Version. Thus the literal sense [of gospel] is the ``narrative of God,'' I. e., the life of Christ. --Skeat. 2. One of the four narratives of the life and death of Jesus Christ, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 3. A selection from one of the gospels, for use in a religious service; as, the gospel for the day. 4. Any system of religious doctrine; sometimes, any system of political doctrine or social philosophy; as, this political gospel. --Burke. 5. Anything propounded or accepted as infallibly true; as, they took his words for gospel. [Colloq.] |
Offtopic but, I will start a topic on this in the LDS Studies board to explain my understanding. |
The first phrase that slips into my mind when I hear 'The Gospel' is "The Good News." I don't know if that is a Southern Baptist term because that's where I've heard it, but I know I have grown up hearing it. To me, the Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ and what He came down here to do. He came to set us free and make a way for us to get to Heaven, and there is no news that could be better than that.
While there are the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) I do sometimes, and I'm not the only one, use the term 'Gospel' as talking about the entire New Testament, or even the Bible. A lot of it comes from how you are using it in context. But I still associate it more with the four books that outline the chronology of Christ.
Well, according to the definitions that I posted, "Good News" is exactly right. My question is - what is the substance of that "Good News"? What concepts, principles, doctrines, or ordinances are contained within it?