You’ll hear Christians speak of the “Gospel of Christ.” That word “gospel” has taken up several meanings in our day. When we hear that word, most of the time we conjure up images of fiery evangelists preaching fire and brimstone sermons at an animated audience. We imagine a preacher with a southern accent shouting words like, “heaven and hell, salvation, redemption, and the blood of Jesus.” This is just a stereotype and is not really accurate. Don’t get me wrong, as a believer I am not against fiery sermons, if biblically based and biblically balanced I have no problem with them, and can actually enjoy them myself. But the original meaning of the word gospel is not a type of preaching. It’s a message.
Actually the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning “good news” or “glad tidings”, and is a calque (word-for-word translation) of the Koine Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion (eu- “good”, -angelion “message”). Koine Greek is the original language of the New Testament. Modern translations are derived from that. So, in short gospel means good message or good news. So when you hear Christians speak of the Gospel of Christ they mean the “good news of Jesus.”
So what is that good news? It is this: Jesus came down from heaven so that everyone who wanted to, could reconnect with GOD, (the way Adam and Eve were connected to God before the fall) and experience His love. Now, anyone (with a conscience) who genuinely experiences God’s love will fall in love with God and follow Him for the rest of their lives. And God promises us that that new relationship we have with Him will continue even after we die. We will be taken to Paradise (Heaven) were we’ll see God face to face to directly experience and reciprocate His love forever and ever. That’s it. It’s that simple.
Now, unfortunately, a lot of times Christians communicate the gospel as more along of the lines of, “you are sinner and you need a Savior.” While technically true, in my opinion that puts the cart before the horse. Now, if you tweak that to say, “There is a Savior who came to save us from our sins” now that’s good news. Now I’m not trying to be nit-picky or difficult. I am simply trying to be precise. It is important to get the details right sometimes and this is a time to do that.
You see, at its essence, the Gospel is a love story – that is what the Gospel is. The Gospel is the account of how the Prince of Peace, a title for Jesus, left His throne to come down from Heaven to ransom and rescue His bride. Seriously – that’s what happened. That’s the truth. You see, in the Bible, Jesus’ followers, when taken together, are called “the bride of Christ.” Jesus said he “came to seek and save the lost.” Do you get it? Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” came to save His “bride.”
The purpose of this blog is to give non Christians a clearer understanding of Jesus and His teachings. It’s to give you a chance to respond to God’s invitation to receive His love and relax into His divine hug. God has asked Christians to pass on His love to you. This is my attempt to do that. God loves you and wants be connected to you; so He has made a Way. That way is found in Jesus, by becoming one of His followers. His love is beyond measure, His sacrifice for you incomprehensible. You need to come to an intimate understanding who He is, what He has done for you, and what He has planned for you. If you do that, I guarantee you’ll want to become one of his followers. And He will change your life forever.