The Gospel - The Good News!

442 the gospel the good newsEveryone has an idea of ​​right and wrong, and everyone has done something wrong—even in their own mind. "To err is human," says a well-known proverb. Everyone has disappointed a friend, broken a promise, hurt someone's feelings at some point. Everyone knows feelings of guilt. So people don't want to have anything to do with God. They don't want a judgment day because they know they can't stand before God with a clear conscience. They know they should obey him, but they also know they didn't. They are ashamed and feel guilty.

How can their debt be redeemed? How to purify consciousness? "Forgiveness is divine," concludes the keyword. God himself will forgive. Many people know this saying, but they don't believe that God is divine enough to give their Süto forgive. You still feel guilty. They still fear the appearance of God and the day of judgment.

But God has appeared before - in the person of Jesus Christ. He came not to condemn, but to save. He brought a message of forgiveness and he died on a cross to guarantee that we can be forgiven.

The message of Jesus, the message of the Cross, is good news for those who feel guilty. Jesus, the divine human, has taken our punishment. All people who are humble enough to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ will be forgiven.

We need this good news. Christ's gospel brings peace of mind, happiness, and personal victory. The real gospel, the good news, is the gospel that Christ preached. The apostles preached the same gospel: Jesus Christ crucified (1. Corinthians 2,2), Jesus Christ in Christians, the hope of glory (Colossians 1,27), the resurrection from the dead, the message of hope and redemption for humanity that is the gospel of the kingdom of God.

God has commissioned his church to sell this messageünd the Holy Spirit to accomplish that task. In the letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes the gospel that Jesus gave to his church: "But I do it to you, Brühe who announces the gospel that I have preached to you, that you have accepted, that you are also in, by whom you also are saved, if you record with what speech I preached it to you, unless you have come to faith in vain. For I have delivered to you above all what I have also received: that Christ for our Südied after the writings; and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day after the scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that he appeared more than füfive hundred brüall of a sudden, most of which have remained until now, but some have also fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles; but in the end of all, as it were of the untimely birth, he appeared to me too "(1. Corinthians 15,1-8 Eberfeld Bible).

Paul states "above all" that according to the Scriptures, Jesus is the Messiah or Christ, that he is responsible for our Südied, was buried and rose again. He also emphasizes that many can attest to Christ's resurrection should someone question it.

Paul makes it clear that it is the gospel "through which you are saved". Our goal should be how to pass on to Paul what we have received and what "above all else" is to others.

What we have received and therefore need to pass on is in line with what Paul and the other apostles received, especially what others say, "that Christ is for our Südied after the writings; and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day after the scriptures ... ".

All other teachings of the Bible are based on these fundamental truths. Only the Son of God could for our SüWe are dying, and it is only because he did so and rose from the dead that we can look forward to his return and our heritage, eternal life, with unswerving faith.

Therefore, John could write, "If we bear witness to men, the testimony of God is greater, for it is God's testimony that he bore witness to his Son." Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony in himself God does not believe that makes him the Lüliar; because he does not believe the testimony that God gave from his Son.

“And this is the testimony that God hath given us eternal life, and that life is in his Son. Whoever has the son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1. John 5,9- 12).

The gospel preached by Jesus

Some may, it seems, üHeat on Bible prophecies, but it is difficult for them, füto inspire the central message of the Bible - salvation through Jesus Christ! God has made Christians the most precious of all gifts and has made them obligate to sell to othersüas well as they can receive this gift!

When Peter described to captain Cornelius the role of the apostles, he said, "And he [Jesus] commanded us to preach and testify to the people that he is God-given judge of the living and the dead Prophets that by his name all who believe in him, forgiveness of the Süshould receive "(Acts 10,42-43).

This is the most important message; the good message revealed to the apostles was the central message of all the prophets - that God judges Jesus Christ üWho made the living and the dead, and everyone who believes in him, Süforgiveness through his name!

The central truth

Luke wrote that Jesus had his Jünger, just before he ascended to heaven, to the central GüThe message of his message reminds us: "Then he opened their understanding to them, so that they understood the Scriptures, and said to them," It is written that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that preaching will be in his name. " [Repentance] for forgiveness of the süamong all peoples. Start in Jerusalem and be thereür witnesses "(Luk. 24,45-48).

What should the apostles understand from the content of Scripture when Jesus made sense to them?ür opened? In other words, according to Jesus, what is the central and most important truth to be understood from the Old Testament writings?

That Christ will suffer and be resurrected from the dead on the third day, and that penance [repentance] for the forgiveness of the süis preached to all peoples in his name!

"And there is no salvation in anyone else, nor is there any other name given to men under heaven through which we are to be saved," preached Peter (Acts of the Apostles 4,12).

But what is Init's gospel of the kingdom of God? Did not Jesus preach the good news of the kingdom of God? Natürlich!

Is the gospel of the kingdom of God different from what Paul, Peter and John are üpreaching about salvation in Jesus Christ? Not at all!

Let us realize that entering into the kingdom of God is salvation. Being saved and entering the kingdom of God is the same! Receiving eternal life is the same as experiencing salvation [or salvation], because salvation is synonymous with the salvation of the deadly Sühands.

In Jesus is life - eternal life. Eternal life requires the forgiveness of the Sühands. And the forgiveness of the Süor justification, one learns only through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is both judge and savior. He is also king of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom of God is the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus and His apostles preached the same message - Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only way to attain salvation, salvation, eternal life, and entry into the Kingdom of God.

And when the senses are opened to be able to understand the Old Testament prophecies, just as Jesus opened the apostles to understanding (Luk 24,45), it becomes clear that the central message of the prophets was also Jesus Christ (Acts of the Apostles 10,43).

Let us continue. John wrote, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will remain üover him" (John 3,36). That is clear language!

Jesus said: "... I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14,6). What we absolutely understand of the Word of God müis that a person without Jesus Christ can neither come to the Father nor know God, neither inherit eternal life nor come into the Kingdom of God.

In his letter to the Colossians Paul wrote: "With joy says thanks to the Father, who tühas done to the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has saved us from the power of darkness and has transposed us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have salvation, the forgiveness of the Sünd" (Colossians 1,12- 14).

Notice how the heritage of the saints, the kingdom of light, the kingdom of the Son, the salvation, and the forgiveness of the süto unite a seamless garment of the Word of Truth, the Gospel.

In verse 4, Paul speaks of "the faith [of the Colossians] in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints". He writes that faith and love spring from "the hope ... that für is ready for you in heaven. You have heard of her before through the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you ... "(verses 5-6). Again the gospel is at the center of hope for eternal salvation in the kingdom of God through faith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, through whom we were redeemed.

In verses 21 through 23, Paul continues, "Even to you who were once strange and hostile in evil works, he has now been reconciled by the death of his mortal body, that he may place you holy and blameless and immaculate before his face; you only stay in faith, foundedüBe firm and firm, and do not depart from the hope of the Gospel that you have heard and that is preached to all creatures under heaven. I became his servant, Paul. "

In verses 25 through 29, Paul continues to address the gospel, i11 whose ministry he was set to, and his goal of selling itüends. He wrote, "You became servants through the ministry that God has given me, that I am to preach to you his word abundantly, namely, the mystery that was hidden from eternal times and generations, but now it is revealed His saints, to whom God wished to proclaim, what is the glorious wealth of this mystery among the Gentiles, Christ in you, the hope of gloryüLet us preach and exhort all men, and teach all men in all wisdom, that we may make every man perfect in Christ. DafürmüI distance myself and wrestle in the power of the one who is powerful in me. "

What the gospel is about

The whole gospel is about Jesus Christ. It is about his identity and his work as the Son of God (Joh. 3,18), as judges of the living and the dead (2. Timothy 4,1), as Christ (Acts 17,3), as a Savior (2. Tim. 1:10), as high priest (Hebrews 4,14), as Füspeaker (1. John 2,1), as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14), as firstborn among many Brüdern (Romans 8,29), as a friend (John 15,14-15).

It is about him as the shepherd of our souls (1. peter  2,25), as the Lamb of God, which the S.ütakes away from the world (Joh. 1,29), as für Passover lamb sacrificed to us (1. Corinthians 5,7), as the image of the invisible God and as the firstborn before all creation (Col.1,15), as the head of the church and as the beginning and as the firstborn from the dead (verse 18), as a reflection of the glory of God and the image of his being (Heb. 1,3), as revelator of the Father (Matt. 11,27), as way, truth and life (John 14,6), as Tür (John10,7).

The gospel is about Christ as the originator and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 1 Cor2,2), as ruler üAbout God's creation (Revelation 3,14), as the first and last, beginning and end (Revelation 22,13), as a scion (Jer. 23,5), as the corner stone (1. Petrus 2,6), as God's power and God's wisdom (1. Corinthians 1,24), as the adultüneeds of all nations (Haggai 2,7).

It is about Christ, the Faithful and True Witness (Revelation 3,14), heir of everything (Hebr. 1,2), the horn of salvation (Luk 1,69), the light of the world (John 8,12), living bread (Joh. 6,51), the root of Jesse (Isa. 11,10), our salvation (Luk. 2,30), the sun of righteousness (Mal. 3,20), the word of life (1. John 1:1), the Son of God instituted in power through his resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1,4) - and so forth.

Paul wrote, "No one can lay any foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1. Corinthians 3,11). Jesus Christ is the fulcrum, the central theme, the foundation of the gospel. How could we preach anything else without contradicting the Bible?

Jesus said at the time to the FüJews, "You search the Scriptures, thinking that in them you have eternal life; and it is she that testifies of me, but you do not want to come to me that you might have life" (John 5,39-40).

Message of salvation

The message to sell the Christiansüthose who are called, is about salvation, that is, about eternal life in the kingdom of God. The eternal salvation or the kingdom of God can only be reached through the one true Tür, the only true way - Jesus Christ. He is the king of that kingdom.

John wrote: "Whoever denies the son has not the father either; whoever confesses the son also has the father" (1. John 2,23). The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, namely the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself für all for salvation that this may be preached in due time "(1. Timothy 2:5-6).

In Hebrews 2,3 we are warned: "... how can we escape if we do not respect such a great salvation, which began with the Lord's preaching and was affirmed in us by those who heard it?" The message of salvation was first proclaimed by Jesus himselfüIt was Jesus' own message from the Father.

John wrote down what God himself is üTestified about his Son: "And this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God has life not" (1. John 5,11-12).

In John 5,22 up to 23, John again emphasizes the importance of the son: "For the father judges no one, but has everything judgment for the son üso that they may all honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. "Therefore the Church preaches so steadily üAbout Jesus Christ! Isaiah prophesied, "Therefore saith God the Ren: Behold, I will lay in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious, foundational cornerstone. Whoever believeth shall not be ashamed" (Isaiah 28,16 Zurich Bible).

As we walk in the new life to which we are called in Jesus Christ, trusting in Him as our sure good, and daily hope for His return to glory and power, we can rejoice in our eternal inheritance in hope and confidence.

A call to live the future here and now

But after John was taken prisoner, Jesus came to Galilee and preached the gospel of God, saying, "The time is fulfilled."üllt, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent [repent] and believe the gospel "(Mark 1: 14-15).

This gospel Jesus brought is the "good news" - a powerful message that changes and transforms life. The gospel üBerfünot only hears and converts, but in the end all the bestümake him refuse himüberstehen.

The gospel is "a power of God that saves all who believe in it" (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is God's invitation to us to live a life on a completely different levelülead. It is the good news that there is an inheritance waiting for us that will come into our possession when Christ comes again. It is also an invitation to an invigorating spiritual reality that can already be ours.

Paul calls the gospel "gospel of Christ" (1. Corinthians 9:12), "gospel of God" (Rom. 15:16) and "gospel of peace" (Ephesians 6:15). Starting from Jesus, he begins that jüredefining the idea of ​​the kingdom of God, focusing on the universal significance of the first coming of Christ.

The Jesus who üPaul teaches that he who walked the dusty roads of Judea and Galilee is now the risen Christ, who sits at the right hand of God and is "the head of all powers and authorities" (Co. 2:10).

According to Paul, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are "first" in the gospel; they are the schlüevents in God's plan (1. Corinthians 15:1-11). The gospel is the good news füthe poor and the oppressorückten. The story has a goal. In the end, justice will triumph, not power.

The pierced hand has üOver the armored fist triumphed. The kingdom of evil gives way to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, an order of things that Christians are already experiencing in part.

Paul countered this aspect of the gospelüAbout the Colossians: "With joy says thanks to the Father who tühas done to the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has saved us from the power of darkness and has transposed us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have salvation, the forgiveness of the Sünd" (Colossians 1,12-14).

FüFor all Christians, the gospel is and was the present realityüfuture hope. The risen Christ who is Lord üTime, space and everything that happens down here is the fighter für the Christians. He who was taken up into heaven is the omnipresent source of power (Ephesians 3,20-21).

The good news is that Jesus Christ is every obstacle in his earthly life ühas overcome. The Way of the Cross is a hard but victorious path into the kingdom of God. Therefore, Paul can bring the gospel to the brief formula, "For I thought it was für right to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ, crucified "(1. Cor. 2,2).

The big reversal

When Jesus appeared in Galilee and preached the gospel earnestly, he expected an answer. He also expects an answer from us today.

But Jesus' invitation to enter the kingdom was not kept in a vacuum. Jesus call füThe kingdom of God was accompanied by impressive signs and wonders that made a country that was under Roman rule sit up.

That is one reason why Jesus needed to clarify what he meant by the Kingdom of God. The Jews at the time of Jesus were waiting for an Füwho brought back to their nation the glories of David and Solomonüwould recommend. But the message of Jesus was "doubly revolutionary," as Oxford scholar NT Wright writes. First, he took the common expectation that a jüdischer Superstaat throw off the Roman yoke wüand transformed it into something completely different. He made of the widespread hope for political liberation a message of spiritual salvation: the Gospel!

"The kingdom of God is at hand, he seemed to be saying, but it is not what you imagined it to be" (NT Wright, Who Was Jesus ?, p. 98).

Jesus shocked people with the consequences of his good news. “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Matthew 19,30).

"There'll be howls and teeth chattering," he said to his jüIndian countrymen, "when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you are cast out" (Luk 13:28).

The great Last Supper was für all there (Luk. 14,16-24). The Gentiles were also invited into the kingdom of God. And a second was no less revolutionary.

This prophet from Nazareth seemed to spend a lot of time für to have the rightsless - from the lepers and Krüpimp up to greedy tax collectors - and sometimes even füthe hated Roman Unterdrücker.

The good news that Jesus brought contradicted all expectations, even those of his faithful Jünger (Luk. 9,51-56). Again and again Jesus said that the kingdom that they awaited in the future was already dynamically present in his work. After a particularly dramatic episode he said: "If I drive out evil spirits through God's fingers, the kingdom of God has come to you" (Luk. 11,20). In other words, the people who saw the ministry of Jesus saw the present of the future. In at least three ways, Jesus turned current expectations upside down:

  1. Jesus taught the good news that the kingdom of God is a gift--the rulership of God that brought healing. Jesus instituted the "year of favor of the Lord" (Luk 4,19; Isaiah 61,1-2). But the Müsleazy and loaded, the poor and beggars, delinquent children and penitent customs officers, penitent whores and outsiders of society. FüHe declared himself a shepherd to black sheep and lost sheep.
  2. The good news of Jesus was also füthe people there, who were ready to turn to God through the painful purification of true repentance. This sincerely repentant Süwübecome a big in GodüFind a good father who searches the horizon for his wandering sons and daughters and sees them when they are "still far away" (Luk. 15,20). The good news of the gospel meant that anyone who says from the heart: "God be me Sünder gracious "(Luk 18,13) tmd sincerely thinks that he is part of Godüto find a hearing aid wüearth. Always "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you" (Lk 11,9). F.üFor those who believed and turned away from the ways of the world, this was the best news they could hear.
  3. The gospel of Jesus also meant that nothing could stop the victory of the kingdom that Jesus had brought, even if it looked the opposite. This kingdom wüfierce, merciless resistance, but ultimately wüput it in übernatüpower and glory triumph. Christ said his Jünag: "But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all the peoples will be gathered before him. And he will separate them from one another as a shepherd does a sheep part from the goats "(Matth. 25,31-32).

The good news of Jesus had a dynamic tension between the "already now" and the "not yet". The gospel of the kingdom referred to the rulership of God, which already existed - "The blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead rise, and the poor are preached to the gospel" (Matt. 11,5). But the kingdom was "not yet" there in the sense that its full resultüstill to come. To understand the gospel means to understand this twofold aspect: on the one hand the promised presence of the king, who already lives in his people, and on the other hand his dramatic return.

The good news of your salvation

The missionary Paulus helped initiate the second great movement of the gospel - its spread from tiny Judea to the highly civilized Greco-Roman world of the mid-first century. Paul, the converted Christian persecutor, directs the blinding light of the gospel through the prism of everyday life. As he praises the glorified Christ, he is also concerned with the practical consequences of the gospel.

Despite the fanatical resistance, Paul conveys to the other Christians the breathtaking significance of Jesus' life, death and resurrection:

"Even you, who were once strangers and enemies in evil deeds, he has now atoned for by the death of his mortal body, so that he may set you before his face holy and blameless and spotless, if you only continue in the faith, established and steadfast , and do not despair of the hope of the gospel, which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven: I, Paul, became his minister" (Colossians 1,21-23).

Reconciled. Flawless. Grace. Salvation. Forgiveness. And not just in the future, but here and now. This is the gospel of Paul.

The Resurrection, the climax to which the Synoptics and John drove their readers  (John 20,31), unleashes the inner power of the gospel for the daily life of the Christian. The resurrection of Christ confirms the gospel. Therefore, Paul teaches, those events in distant Judea give hope to all people:

“...I am not ashamed of the gospel; for it is the power of God that saves everyone who believes in it, the Jews first and also the Greeks. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God, which is from faith to faith..." (Romans 1,16-17).

The apostle John enriches the gospel with another dimension. It shows Jesus how the "Jüthe one he loved "(John 19,26), remembered him, a man with a shepherd's heart, a church leader with a deep love for people with their worries and fears.

"Jesus did many other signs before his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name " (John 20,30:31).

John's account of the gospel has its core in the remarkable statement, "... that you may have life by faith."

John miraculously conveys another aspect of the gospel: Jesus Christ in moments of greatest personal closeness. John gives a living account of the personal, serving presence of the Messiah.

A personal gospel

In the Gospel of John we encounter a Christ who was a powerful public preacher (John 7,37-46). We see Jesus warm and hospitable. From his inviting invitation "Come and see!" (Joh. 1,39) up to the challenge to the doubting Thomas to put his finger in the wounds on his hands (John 20,27), the person who became flesh and lived among us is portrayed in an unforgettable way (John 1,14).

People felt so welcome and comfortable with Jesus that they had a lively exchange with him (Joh. 6,5-8th). They lay beside him while they ate and ate from the same plate (John 13,23-26).

They loved him so dearly that they swam to the bank as soon as they saw him to eat fish together that he had fried himself (John 21,7-14).

The Gospel of John reminds us how much the gospel revolves around Jesus Christ, his example and the eternal life we ​​receive through him (John 10,10). It reminds us that it is not enough to preach the gospel. We have to live it too. The apostle John encourages us that others might be won by our example to share the good news of the kingdom of God with us. Such was the case with the Samaritan woman who met Jesus Christ at the well (John 4,27-30), and Mary of Mandala (John 20,10:18).

The one who wept at the tomb of Lazarus, the humble servant who taught his disciples the Füsse was still alive today. He gives us his presence through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: "Whoever loves me will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him... Do not be troubled and füdo not fear” (John 14,23, 27). Jesus is actively leading His people today through the Holy Spirit. His invitation is as personal and encouraging as ever: "Come and see!" (John 1,39).

Brochure of the Worldwide Church of God