What Is the “Gospel”?

🎯 Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• explain what the word “gospel” means and where it comes from;
• recognize how the good news was already promised by the prophets and is fulfilled in Jesus;
• describe what kind of book a gospel is and why the Church received four of them.

📖 Receive

Read two passages slowly. The first is the opening line of the Gospel of Mark:

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” — Mark 1:1 (KJV)

The second is the scene of Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth: read Luke 4:16-21. Jesus opens the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, reads the promise of a messenger sent to bring good news to the poor, and then says something that leaves everyone breathless: today this Scripture has been fulfilled.

Keep these two scenes in mind: in this lesson we will see why they are the starting point of the whole course.

🔍 Examine

A word with a long history

The word “gospel” translates the Greek euangelion, made up of eu (“good, well”) and angelion (“announcement, news”). Literally it means good news. The English word itself comes from the Old English gōdspel, “good story” or “good tidings”.

Long before Jesus, in the Greek world, this word had several uses. It referred to:

• the reward given to the messenger who brought joyful news;
• the thanksgiving sacrifice offered to the gods for that news;
• and finally the news itself: a military victory, the birth of an heir to the throne, the accession of a new emperor.

Picture a courier running into the city shouting, “We have won!” That cry was a euangelion. It was not a piece of advice or a theory: it was the announcement of something that had already happened, and it changed the lives of those who heard it.

📌 Three meanings in one word

In the ancient world euangelion could mean the reward for the messenger, the thanksgiving for the news or the news itself. In the New Testament the meaning focuses on the last: the announcement of what God has done in Jesus Christ. Later the same word would also come to mean the books that tell this news.

The good news announced by the prophets

The New Testament does not invent the idea of good news: it receives it from the Old. The prophet Isaiah speaks of a messenger running over the mountains towards Jerusalem: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings” (Isaiah 52:7). His announcement is simple and powerful: God reigns, God is coming to save his people (see also Isaiah 40:9).

In Isaiah 61:1-2 the promise becomes even more personal: someone will be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to bring good news to the poor, freedom to the captives, sight to the blind.

That is why the scene in Luke 4 is so striking. Jesus reads this very passage and then declares that it is being fulfilled today, before their eyes. In other words: “I am the promised messenger. The good news has arrived.”

From voice to book

At first the Gospel was a voice: the apostles proclaimed what they had seen and heard. For a few decades the good news spread mainly through preaching, teaching and the memory of the communities.

Then the time came to write. Luke explains how he worked (read Luke 1:1-4): many had already tried to put the events in writing; he made careful investigations, starting from those who had been eyewitnesses from the beginning, and wrote an orderly account so that Theophilus might know the certainty of what he had been taught.

This tells us two important things:

• the Gospels are born from testimony: they are rooted in people who had seen Jesus;
• the authors work seriously: they select, arrange, verify. The Holy Spirit inspired them through this human work as well.

What kind of book is a gospel?

A gospel resembles the ancient biographies, which told the life and words of an important person. But it is not a modern biography: it tells us almost nothing about Jesus’ childhood, does not describe his physical appearance and devotes a huge part of the story to the last week of his life, the cross and the resurrection.

A gospel is at the same time:

• history: it tells events that happened in specific places and times;
• proclamation: it tells those events so that the reader may believe. John says so openly: these things are written “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31).

There is no contradiction between the two. An honest witness can tell the facts accurately and hope that those who listen will make a decision.

From promise to book

Let us line up the stages we have seen. The good news was not born in a publishing office: it crosses the centuries, passes from mouth to mouth and only at the end becomes a book. The diagram helps you see the whole journey.

flowchart LR
  A["The prophets' promise<br/>(Isaiah 52:7)"] --> B["Jesus proclaims the Kingdom<br/>(Mark 1:14-15)"]
  B --> C["The apostles preach<br/>(Acts 2)"]
  C --> D["The written Gospels<br/>(Luke 1:1-4)"]
  D --> E["The Church reads today"]

Notice two things. First: the content does not change along the way. What Isaiah awaited, Jesus fulfills; what Jesus fulfills, the apostles bear witness to; what they bear witness to, the evangelists put in writing. Second: between the voice and the book there is a living community, carefully repeating the words and deeds of Jesus. When you open a Gospel, you step into this chain of witnesses and become its latest link: you too are called to receive the news and pass it on to others.

Four Gospels, one Gospel

Why not just one account? Because the early Church received four testimonies: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The ancient titles already help us: people did not say “the gospel of Matthew”, but the gospel according to Matthew. The Gospel is one; the accounts are four. Each author writes for different readers and highlights different aspects of Jesus. Like four windows onto the same house, they help us see better, not to be confused.

In the coming lessons you will discover that Matthew, Mark and Luke are very similar, while John follows a path of his own. For now hold on to this idea: the variety of the accounts is a treasure, not a problem.

The Gospel is a person

Read Mark 1:1 again: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ”. The Gospel is not first of all a set of rules, nor a method for feeling better. It is the news of what God has done in Jesus: his life, his death for our sins, his resurrection, his kingdom.

That is why every gospel account revolves around one question: who is Jesus? Everything else, the miracles, the parables, the discourses, serves to answer that question.

🔗 Connect

The “good news” runs through the whole Bible:

• Genesis 3:15: already after the fall God promises that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head. It is the first announcement of hope.
• Isaiah 52:7 and 61:1-2: the prophets announce a messenger and an anointed one who will bring salvation.
• Luke 4:16-21: Jesus declares the promise fulfilled.
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-4: Paul sums up the Gospel he received and passed on: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
• Romans 1:16: the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

Notice how the same news is promised, fulfilled and then proclaimed to the world. This is the thread we will follow through the whole course, all the way to the book of Acts.

🙏 Apply

Take a few minutes to answer, on your own or with your group:

1. If someone asked you today, “What is the Gospel?”, what would you answer in three sentences?
2. In what sense is the Gospel news and not just advice? What difference does that make in your life?
3. Luke writes so that Theophilus may know the certainty of what he has learned. Is there an aspect of faith about which you long for more certainty? Bring it to God in prayer.
4. Isaiah 61 speaks of the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed. Who around you needs to hear good news this week?

📚 Go Deeper

• Read Mark 1 and Luke 4 in full. Note Jesus’ first words and first actions in each account.
• Compare the openings of the four Gospels: Matthew 1:1, Mark 1:1, Luke 1:1-4 and John 1:1-5. What does each want to stress from the very first line?
• In the next lesson we will step into the world of Jesus: Pharisees, Sadducees, temple and synagogue. Knowing that world will help you understand why his words sounded so new.