Opening question: What verse or verses would you quote to define what the gospel is?
Opening question 2: What is your definition of the gospel?
Gospel Definition Short Version:
If I had to put the gospel into one phrase, it would be the highlighted portion of the following 2 verses:
Acts 16:30-31 ESV
30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Another succinct Gospel Definition Short Version:
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
English Standard Version
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
The Gospel as defined by the following sources:
https://apologist.ai/
asked “What is the Gospel?”
The gospel means “good news.” It is not mainly advice about how to become a better person or earn acceptance with God. It is the announcement of what the one true triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has done to save guilty sinners through Jesus Christ.
The bad news is that every person has sinned against God. Sin is not merely making mistakes; it is rebellion against our holy Creator. It offends His justice and separates us from Him. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23, BSB). And sin earns death and judgment: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, BSB).
The good news is that God acted in mercy. The eternal Son of God became truly human in Jesus Christ. He lived the sinless life we failed to live, died on the cross as the substitute for sinners, bore the judgment sin deserves, and physically rose from the dead. Paul summarizes the heart of this message:
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
— 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, BSB
Because Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient, forgiveness and reconciliation with God are offered freely—not earned by religious works, morality, or self-improvement. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, BSB).
The fitting response is to repent—turning from sin and self-rule—and to trust in Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior. “‘The time is fulfilled,’ He said, ‘and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel!’” (Mark 1:15, BSB). Those who receive Him are not merely given a second chance to save themselves; they are given new life, pardon, and peace with God.
As Ligonier’s What Is the Gospel? rightly emphasizes, the gospel is good news about what God has accomplished, not a set of instructions for making oneself acceptable to Him. Good works and obedience matter as the fruit of a changed life, but they are not the basis on which anyone is saved.”
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https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-the-gospel.html
asked “What is the Gospel?”
The word gospel literally means “good news” and occurs 93 times in the Bible, exclusively in the New Testament. In Greek, it is the word euaggelion, from which we get our English words evangelist, evangel, and evangelical. The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation.
The key to understanding the gospel is to know why it’s good news. To do that, we must start with the bad news. The Old Testament Law was given to Israel during the time of Moses (Deuteronomy 5:1). The Law can be thought of as a measuring stick, and sin is anything that falls short of “perfect” according to that standard. The righteous requirement of the Law is so stringent that no human being could possibly follow it perfectly, in letter or in spirit. Despite our “goodness” or “badness” relative to each other, we are all in the same spiritual boat—we have sinned, and the punishment for sin is death, i.e. separation from God, the source of life (Romans 3:23). In order for us to go to heaven, God’s dwelling place and the realm of life and light, sin must be somehow removed or paid for. The Law established the fact that cleansing from sin can only happen through the bloody sacrifice of an innocent life (Hebrews 9:22).
The gospel involves Jesus’ death on the cross as the sin offering to fulfill the Law’s righteous requirement (Romans 8:3–4; Hebrews 10:5–10). Under the Law, animal sacrifices were offered year after year as a reminder of sin and a symbol of the coming sacrifice of Christ (Hebrews 10:3–4). When Christ offered Himself at Calvary, that symbol became a reality for all who would believe (Hebrews 10:11–18). The work of atonement is finished now, and that’s good news.
The gospel also involves Jesus’ resurrection on the third day. “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). The fact that Jesus conquered sin and death (sin’s penalty) is good news, indeed. The fact that He offers to share that victory with us is the greatest news of all (John 14:19).
The elements of the gospel are clearly stated in 1 Corinthians 15:3–6, a key passage concerning the good news of God: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living.” Notice, first, that Paul “received” the gospel and then “passed it on”; this is a divine message, not a man-made invention. Second, the gospel is “of first importance.” Everywhere the apostles went, they preached the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Third, the message of the gospel is accompanied by proofs: Christ died for our sins (proved by His burial), and He rose again the third day (proved by the eyewitnesses). Fourth, all this was done “according to the Scriptures”; the theme of the whole Bible is the salvation of mankind through Christ. The Bible is the gospel.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). The gospel is a bold message, and we are not ashamed of proclaiming it. It is a powerful message, because it is God’s good news. It is a saving message, the only thing that can truly reform the human heart. It is a universal message, for Jews and Gentiles both. And the gospel is received by faith; salvation is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8–9).
The gospel is the good news that God loves the world enough to give His only Son to die for our sin (John 3:16). The gospel is good news because our salvation and eternal life and home in heaven are guaranteed through Christ (John 14:1–4). “He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3–4).
The gospel is good news when we understand that we do not (and cannot) earn our salvation; the work of redemption and justification is complete, having been finished on the cross (John 19:30). Jesus is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2). The gospel is the good news that we, who were once enemies of God, have been reconciled by the blood of Christ and adopted into the family of God (Romans 5:10; John 1:12). “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). The gospel is the good news that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
To reject the gospel is to embrace the bad news. Condemnation before God is the result of a lack of faith in the Son of God, God’s only provision for salvation. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:17–18). God has given a doomed world good news: the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Here is this article, associated with this question and webpage, in video form:
BOA Questions:
From 1 to 10 how would you rate your ability to present the gospel?
How important is The Gospel to Christianity?