While most people believe that the word gospel is the “good news” concerning Jesus Christ and the way of salvation, I believe, that the phrase “good news” is a vast understatement. While it is true that the phrase, “good news,” appears many times in the gospels, in the NIV translation of the Bible, when referring to the coming of Jesus, I feel the word good doesn’t do justice to what salvation is all about.
Before getting into why the gospel is far better than good it is important to discuss why the gospel is so unique among all religions.
First, the gospel is unique in that no other religion, except Christianity, states that we are born in sin and that no matter how many good works we do we can never restore our relationship back with God. All other world religions talk about doing good works as a means of pleasing their concept of God. Only Christianity states that because of our sin nature there is nothing we can do on our own to find favor with God.
Second, all religions are man’s attempt to reach up to a holy god. Only Christianity is God reaching down to sinful man. Religion is man-made while Christianity is God ordained. And while religion states that we need to do good works to earn favor with god, Christianity states we need to repent and believe in God’s one and only sacrifice for our sins – Jesus Christ – in order to be accepted back into relationship with Himself.
Third, the gospel is unique, and quite frankly amazing, because in order for God to win you back from your hopelessly lost state, He had to send His Son Jesus, Deity incarnate, to die on your behalf!
And fourth, Pastor Louie Giglio shares a key aspect of the uniqueness of the gospel when he declared: “The Gospel is not about going from bad to good, it’s about going from dead to alive!”1 You see, we are born spiritually dead, hopelessly lost, and total rebels against God.
And this brings me to why the gospel is far more than just “good news.”
First, when we are born our passports are stamped, hell bound, and our medical prognosis is spiritually dead. Enter Jesus proclaiming the most wonderful message ever delivered unto humanity: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17). While the word repent is not a popular word it is the only way we can come to Jesus and have our passports restamped – heaven bound!
Second, God’s love is so fantastic, for we read in the Scriptures: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). Imagine, God didn’t wait until we got cleaned up to love us, but He lavished His love on us while we were still unrepentant rebels!
And third, the gospel is so, out of this world amazing, because while it is impossible to earn our way back to God, God gives us this incredible privilege to be reconciled back to Himself as a free gift. What a transaction. What a gospel. What a God!
1 100 QUOTES BY LOUIE GIGLIO [PAGE – 2] | A-Z Quotes (azquotes.com)