Drippings from the Honeycomb
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)
There are a lot of words and ideas in the Bible that are taken for granted. One such word in Christianese is ‘the Gospel.’ What is the Gospel (or Good News)? Before we get the Gospel out we must first get the Gospel right. As Paul warned the Galatians of “a different gospel” we must first note that there are false gospels (Gal 1:6). Often there is enough truth in these to make them believable. Some common examples include: As the RCMP used to train officers to identify fraudulent bills by memorizing the facets of a real bill, so too we must know the true Gospel because there are endless counterfeits. In this way we will always be able to identify other gospels. Our energy should be devoted to knowing the one true Gospel.
So what then is the Gospel? Gospel (original god spell, or good news in old English) comes from the Greek word euaggelion (εὐαγγέλιον). It is a proclamation, a message. In the Greco-Roman word the gospel was a proclamation of good news when a new King/Emperor was crowned, a son born to such a man, or a decisive victory won in battle. In the Jewish world the Gospel was God’s intervention to save His people, particularly in His promised Kingdom. Of course, in both cases, it was only good news depending on what you did with the message (c.f. 1 Cor 1:18; 2 Cor 2:15–17). Jesus is God’s King (“the Christ”) who broke into history to bring salvation for His people. Through His life, death and resurrection He won a spiritual victory over sin and death and hell and Satan. Charles Hodge said, “The gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.” Paul defined the Gospel this way: 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, (1 Cor 15:3–4). Mark spoke of the Gospel call that is closely associated with the Gospel (for every message must be responded to, positively or negatively): “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15b). When we turn and trust in who Jesus is and what He has done, all the benefits the King won (forgiveness [Cross] and life [Resurrection]) are credited to us through faith; our relationship with God is restored and we enter into the New Covenant with Him. The Gospel is a message with a corresponding call to respond. The Church is called to publish these glad tidings universally and without discrimination. We need to get the Gospel right and then get the Gospel out. Comments are closed.
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