Introduction

Our word gospel comes from the Old English godspell meaning "good news."  It is a transliteration of the Greek word eu)agge/lion which is a combination of   "good" Greek eu} and "message" or "news" Greek a)ggeli/a.  Basically, the "gospel" is what God has said to the human race regarding how we can have a relationship with him.  God has proclaimed the gospel throughout history.  The response to the gospel by man in order to have a relationship with God has always been the same, i.e. faith. According to Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."  In this same chapter are many examples of men and women who apprehended God by faith.  Faith has always been the means of salvation. Thus the writer to the Hebrews says,

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  For by it the men of old gained approval" (Heb. 11.1-2).

However, while the means of apprehension has remained the same, the content of the gospel has changed over time as God has added to his revelation.

The Gospel Through the Ages

The clearest presentation of the gospel is in Paul's letter to the Corinthians.  Paul wrote,

"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve" (1 Cor. 15.1-5).

Therefore, in our day, the way to have a relationship with God is by believing that Christ died for your sins and was resurrected as proof of God's acceptance of his substitutionary sacrifice.  It's as simple as that.  When one does that he is in the words of the Scriptures, "saved".

The above verses may be diagramed like this:

The gospel for our day is a gospel of grace.  It consists of the message that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.  The question for every individual is, "Do you believe it?", "Are you willing to take God at his word and trust your life to his declaration?"  To do so is to be, what the Bible calls, "saved."  Tragically, preachers, "gospel" tracts, and other well-intentioned witnesses often confuse the simple gospel. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, period. Adding to the simple message of the gospel such statements as "invite Christ into your heart" only creates confusion. Such statements are the gospel! The message needs to remain as simple as the Bible presents it. The gospel is that Christ died for my sins and rose from the dead. Will I believe it? If so, the matter is settled. It is that simple.

This gospel (the gospel of the grace of God) is different from the gospel John the Baptizer, Jesus, or the Twelve proclaimed. They preached the "gospel of the kingdom".  In Jesus' day, the good news was that the King was present and the nation of Israel was to accept him as such.  That was the focus of faith.

Paul's gospel was distinct from any previous gospel (Gal. 1.6-12, 2.1-9). Paul received his gospel by direct revelation from the risen Christ.  He referred to the gospel he preached as "the gospel which I preached to you" (1 Cor. 15.1-5), "my gospel" (Rom. 2.16, 16.25, 2 Tim. 2.8), "our gospel" (2 Cor. 4.3; 2 Thes. 2.14), "that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles" (Gal. 2.2), "the gospel of the uncircumcision" (Gal. 2:7), "the gospel of Christ"(Rom 15.19; 1 Cor. 9.12; 2 Cor. 2.12, 9.13, 10.14; Gal. 1.7; Phil. 1.27; 1 Thes. 3.2), "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), "the gospel of your salvation" (Eph. 1.13), "the gospel of peace" (Eph. 6.15), "the gospel of his Son (Rom. 1.9), "the gospel of the glory of Christ" (2 Cor. 4.4), "the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thes. 1.8), "the glorious gospel" (2 Tim 1.8), and "the gospel of God" (Rom. 1.1, 15.16; 2 Cor. 11.7; 1 Thes. 2:2, 8, 9).  Unlike John the Baptizer, Jesus, and the Twelve, Paul did not preach "the gospel of the kingdom".  The "gospel of the kingdom" was preached by John the Baptizer, Jesus, and the Twelve. It had to do with the establishment of the reign of Christ on the earth and fulfillment of the Jewish covenants.  It required not only individual repentance but national repentance (cf. Rom. 11.25-27).  Paul's gospel of grace was a new revelation which he received from the risen Lord.

Paul wrote the Galatians,

"Even so Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.  Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'All the nations shall be blessed in you'" (Gal. 3.6-8).

While faith has always been the means of salvation, the content of faith has changed through the ages.  It should be obvious that since Christ had not gone to the cross and been raised from the dead, men and women prior to this event believed something different for salvation than what Paul declared as the gospel--the death and resurrection of Christ for our sins.  We know from reading the Gospels that the Twelve had no clue about the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection. In Luke we read,

"And He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. 'For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.' And they understood none of these things, and this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said" (Luke 18:31-34).

Men are justified by faith in what God has revealed in their own time frame. Thus, we read about Abel,

"By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks" (Heb. 11.4).

Implicit from the Old Testament account is that God had revealed that righteousness was to be obtained through the offering of a blood sacrifice.  According to Genesis,

"So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.  And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.  And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard" (Gen. 4.3-5).

Why did God not accept Cain's offering?  Because God had revealed that to come to him one had to offer a blood offering.  Cain chose to disobey and disbelieve God.  He wanted to come to God and be accepted by God his own way.  He refused God's revelation.  Abel, on the other hand, believed what God had said.  Because he believed, he obtained righteousness.

Abraham is another example of one who was accepted by God and who obtained righteousness.  Faith was the means of Abraham's apprehending God.  God justified Abraham because Abraham believed him.  What was the content of the "gospel" which Abraham believed?  According to Genesis 15, Abraham asked God,

"O Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?  And Abram said, 'Since Thou hast given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.'  Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 'This man will not be your heir, but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.'   And He took him outside and said, 'Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.'  And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.'  Then he believed in the LORD and He reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Gen 15.2-6).

The gospel for Abraham was that God would give him an heir from his own body and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.  Abraham responded to God by believing him.  This is what faith is, believing what God says.

What about those who lived under the Law of Moses?  What was the gospel for them?  The Law's purpose was never to make a person righteous. Rather, its purpose was to reveal a person's condition before God.  In effect, its purpose was to condemn.  Paul wrote,

"Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3.19-20). 

The Law's purpose was to show a person his sin and his need for God.  A large part of the Mosaic Law concerned the Levitical service and sacrifices.  A Jew under the Law was to believe and obey God with regard to these sacrifices. Thus, a believer in those days believed in and obeyed God by going to a priest, offering a sacrifice, and believing that God had covered his sin by means of the animal sacrifice. That was the "gospel" and the revelation which God had given to that point.

What was the gospel in Jesus' day?  John the Baptizer and Jesus preached the "gospel of the kingdom".  According to Mark,

"And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel'" (Mk. 1.14-15).

How did a person become a believer and obtain righteousness in Jesus' day?  First, it is clear that a person had to repent (cf. Mt. 3.2, 4.17; Mk. 1.15; 6.12; Lk. 13.3, 5).  Believing the gospel meant that one had to believe the good news that the Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, had come.  This gospel included the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that he was about to establish the long prophesied kingdom upon earth.  We also note from the ministry of John the Baptizer that one needed to be baptized in water as baptism was a sign of repentance (Mt. 3.5-6, 3.11; Mk. 1.4-5; Lk. 3.3, 3.12 cf. 7.29-30; Jn. 1.33, 3.23).  According to Matthew,

"Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins" (Mt. 3.5-6).

This requirement of water baptism continued throughout Jesus' ministry and into the ministry of the Twelve following Jesus' resurrection (see Acts 2.38). In John, we read,

"When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were)" (Jn. 4.1-2).

A teaching that has caused great confusion in Christianity is that the Church, i.e. the Body of Christ, began at Pentecost.  The Word of God clearly teaches that the Church did not begin at Pentecost, however.  The early chapters of Acts record not one word about the Body of Christ (the Church) or that Jews and Gentiles are equal in Christ.  One will search the Scriptures in vain to find any mention of the Body of Christ by any writer other than Paul. Indeed, Acts records that the Twelve preached the gospel only to Jews (cf. Acts 2.5, 10, 14, 22, 29, 36-37, 39, 3.12-13, 17) even after Peter had gone to the house of the Gentile Cornelius under God's direct command (Acts. 11.19). Only with the calling and commission of Paul did God reveal the "stewardship or dispensation of the grace of God" (Eph. 3.2) or of the "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20.24).

Prior to Paul, no one offered salvation through faith in the shed blood of Christ nor preached that the gospel of salvation had been sent to Gentiles.  The early chapters of Acts record that the prophetic program of the King and the kingdom that had been proclaimed in the Gospels was still in effect.  The audience remained all Jews.  On the day of Pentecost Peter did not address Gentiles.  He addressed Jews, i.e., "men of Judea" (Acts 2.14), "men of Israel" (Acts 2.22), and the "house of Israel" (Acts 2.36).  In response to his message his audience asked, "Brethren, what shall we do?"  Notice that Peter did not tell them to believe that Christ died for their sins and was raised from the dead.  That gospel was not revealed until God revealed it to Paul.  Peter's sermon in Acts 2 naturally focused on Jesus' death and resurrection. However, his intent (unlike Paul's) was not to present these facts as "good news". Notice the reaction to his sermon by his Jewish listeners:

"Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2.37)

Peter did not tell them to believe that Christ died and rose from the dead for their sins. What did he tell them?

"Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself" (Acts 2.38-39).

Whom does this sound like?  John the Baptizer!  Jesus the Messiah!  Baptism was a requirement under the gospel of the kingdom.  Again, whom is Peter addressing?  Gentiles?  No.  Jews.  Peter quoted from the Scriptures.  The Scriptures meant nothing to Gentiles but they meant everything to Jews.  He specifically said that the Holy Spirit was the promise for you and your children, etc.  This is what was prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer. 31.31-34), Ezekiel (Ezek. 37.14), and Joel (Joel 2.28-32).  Indeed, in his sermon Peter quoted Joel's prophecy (Acts 2.17-21) for what was then happening in Israel.  

Summary

The content of the gospel has changed throughout the ages according to the progressive revelation of God.  But salvation, however, has remained the same--by faith.

Today, because of the revelation of the message of grace to the apostle Paul, salvation is as simple as putting your trust in Christ's work on your behalf--that he died for your sins and rose from the dead for your justification.  Salvation is obtained by faith in Christ plus nothing.  Faith in Christ is not inviting Christ into your heart.  Such "invitations" are false gospels with no Scriptural basis.  Faith is believing what God has said, not inviting Christ into one's heart.  No one in this day is required by God to repent, to be baptized, to offer a blood sacrifice, or to do anything else that may have been necessary in an earlier age.  The gospel for us today is that Christ died and rose from the dead for you.  Christ's work is wholly sufficient and has paid for your sins.   At the moment you put your trust in Christ, you can be assured that you are a child of God and that God has given you eternal life. 

 a)gapw~nti h(ma~j kai\ lu/santi h(ma~j e)k tw~n a(martiw~n h(mw~n e)n tw|~ a(i/mati au)tou~.

©1998 Don Samdahl.  Anyone is free to reproduce this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold.

Updated May 27, 2007