Q: What is the Gospel?
A: The gospel is the good news of salvation that Jesus preached while He was on Earth.
When looking at Matthew 4:23 in different translations of the Bible, we can see “the gospel” and “the good news” used interchangeably.
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”
The gospel is the good news of the kingdom. But what is this good news that Jesus Christ preached?
The Gospel is the New Covenant
Apostle Paul explains what exactly the gospel—the good news—is in his multiple letters to the churches recorded in the New Testament.
“This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant [minister, NASB].”
Here, Apostle Paul shares with the Colossian church that he is a servant or a minister of the gospel. But when writing to the Church of God in Corinth, he explains that he is a minister of the New Covenant.
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
Paul described himself as a servant and minister of the gospel as well as a minister of the New Covenant. Through this, we can conclude that the gospel is the New Covenant.
Jesus Christ gave His body and blood through the New Covenant Passover (Lk 22:19-20). Through it, we become one body in Jesus (1Co 10:16-17), receive the promise of eternal life (Jn 6:53), and become heirs of God (Ro 8:16-17). And this is the good news—the gospel—of the kingdom that Jesus Christ proclaimed.
