If I were to ask most church members to define the gospel, they might say that it has something to do with the death and resurrection of Christ. But what is that “something”? Gravity has something to do with it too; Jesus’ blood fell to the ground. Yet gravity is not nearly as important as human sin or God’s sovereign purposes. Others might say that the gospel changes lives. Indeed it does. So does a toothache or having a new baby. But what makes the gospel different from other life-changing experiences? Is the gospel another kind of experience?
The gospel begins with the truth of God. It is news, doctrine, food for the mind. And it is not just news; it is good news. If you’re wondering what makes it so good, the answer is many things. It is good news because it originates with God himself and is therefore reliable (Rom. 15:16; II Cor. 11:7; I Thess. 2:2, 8–9; and I Pet. 4:17). It is also about good things: grace (Acts 20:24), peace (Acts 10:36; Rom. 10:15), hope (Col. 1:23), light (II Cor. 4:4; II Tim. 1:10), glory (I Tim. 1:11), and salvation (Eph. 1:13). The gospel is good because it tells us about Jesus Christ (Acts 5:42; 11:20; II Cor. 2:12; 10:14; Phil. 1:27; I Thess. 3:2) and how he opened the kingdom of God to all believers (Matt. 24:14; Luke 4:43; Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). But to say that the gospel is good news is a gigantic understatement. It is the best news ever!
To appreciate just how good the gospel is, we have to first understand how bad man is. That man plunged himself into misery and ruin is not good in itself. But just as firemen have to know a house is burning before they can put it out, so we must grasp how awful our sin is before we can seek redemption in Jesus Christ. A real awareness of our sin will drive us to the cross.
How did we come to be in such an awful state? By Adam’s transgression in the Garden of Eden. If Adam’s sin had affected only himself, it would have been bad enough. But Adam represented all his natural posterity in his rebellion (Rom. 5:12–19; I Cor. 15:21), rendering mankind completely helpless as far as the things of God are concerned. Every human being, except the Lord Jesus Christ, comes into the world with a predisposition to hate God and other men. We are born dead in our trespasses and sins (Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13). There is no one who does good, no, not one (Ps. 14:3).
To remedy this, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead, agreed to take upon himself our flesh with all its infirmities, except sin, and redeem his people. He agreed to do what Adam failed to do (keep God’s law perfectly) and also to do what Adam could never have done (offer himself as a sacrifice for sin and impute his own righteousness to his people).
Here’s what this means. God’s justice demands perfection. He requires us to satisfy his justice, which requires either that we keep his law perfectly, which we cannot do, or to suffer the punishment that his law prescribes. We can sort of do the latter, but there’s a big problem with it. Because our sins are offenses against the most high majesty of God, we would have to suffer for them eternally. That’s what his justice requires. So, trying to pay for our own sins doesn’t really help.
That’s where the Lord steps in and does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God the Father sent his Son to satisfy the demands of his law in our place. As our substitute, Jesus Christ kept the law of God perfectly. He suffered the consequence of breaking it for us (though he had never sinned). Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath to its bitter dregs. The only satisfaction that meets the demands of God’s law is the blood of Jesus Christ, shed to redeem sinners. And now he imputes his own perfect obedience and righteousness to us so that God now looks on us as if we had never sinned.
The Bible uses the word propitiation to help us see how this works (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; I John 2:2; 4:10). A propitiation is that which satisfies the anger of an offended party. In the Old Testament, animal sacrifices pictured the removal of God’s wrath, though they never actually took it away. Instead, they taught God’s people to look to Jesus Christ, who alone can satisfy God’s anger in their place. But Jesus’ death on the cross did what thousands of bulls and goats could never have done. It pleased the Father and reconciled sinners to himself. And his triumphant resurrection from the dead testifies to the success of his work. God the Father accepted his sacrifice as the only payment for human sin.
So, how do we appropriate the finished work of Christ for ourselves? There’s only one way: by true faith. We need to understand and embrace what Jesus did for sinners. Acts 16:31 says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. We’re not saved because we believe, but believing is how we lay hold of Jesus’ precious sacrifice for our sins and his perfect obedience.
And when we believe, God’s Word assures us that he has separated us from our sins as far as the east is from the west. Our transgressions are ours to bear no more. On the contrary, Jesus has completely restored us to God’s favor, and we look forward to unending fellowship with God and his people.
Excerpts modified by the author from What Is The Gospel? A Summary of Christian Faith by Frank H. Walker