Genre of "Gospel"

Here is a short paper a I wrote last Spring about what a "Gospel" is. Enjoy and comment if you would. Please notify me if you would like to reproduce what follows. God bless

What is a “Gospel?”

According to New American Standard Strong’s Concordance, the word “gospel,” euaggelion in Greek, appears 19 times in the synoptic gospels of the New Testament. Taking a cross-section of these references, they refer to “good news” which is vocally proclaimed, preached, and in which someone believes and participates. The “good news” is also always taken somewhere where it is currently unknown (Rom 15:20), for until it is preached, the gospel remains hidden (2 Cor 4:3). Its spreading begins with Jesus and is intrinsically tied to Him although it has a “sake” of its own (Mark 8:35). It is also mentioned in reference to the Kingdom of God and accompanied by God healing listeners through the preacher.

Moving in canonical order and starting with Matthew 4:23, Jesus preaches the gospel of the kingdom of God all throughout Galilee. Later in Matthew 9:35, Jesus is “going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” We find that where the gospel is being preached, such as in Matthew 11:5, “the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up.” This phraseology harkens back to Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) and the Prophet Isaiah. In Chapter 35, Isaiah prophesies what would be considered good news, that there is a hope for restoration and the hope is God. Isaiah says the Messiah for which the Jews waited will come and do the things listed in Matthew 11:5 (Isa 40:9). Matthew, therefore, writes this in order to reveal to his readers that the “good news” of God’s promise to restore Israel Himself has come. Jesus was and is this good news. The other Gospel writers similarly appear to consider “everything Christ” as gospel. For instance, Mark beginning his Gospel with, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” seems to show how his entire Gospel is intended as more that just good news about “good news.” Rather, he was intending for readers to grasp that the entirety of the divine occurrences was “gospel.” This ranges from the teachings and the healings to the example set by Christ Himself in sacrificial love. All of it was good news, because God’s grace toward mankind is good news, Jesus Christ’s sacrificial life being the ultimate climax of the “good news.”

From Scripture we can see that the “gospel” is grander than just a set of instructions for being saved. When believed and followed, the Gospel – that God’s grace is necessary for man and available to him – is salvation. It is Jesus Christ Himself, and as Paul writes, it is Christ crucified. Christ’s life is everlasting and so those who take part in the Gospel, have His life through the sealing of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13). At the end of the Scriptures, in Revelation, an angel is flying in midheaven spreading an eternal gospel everywhere. The angel says, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters (Rev 14:7). The call is to turn from wickedness toward God, and one can only heed this call because of Jesus’ life and death which allows for our hearts’ regeneration by the Spirit.

As a side note, according to the Ancient Hebrew word picture letters, the “good news” refers to “What comes from the house of the prince; those who are a part of His house share in the Good News.” From this we can understand that Christ is the good news (He is the prince), and that those who are joint-heirs with Him share in the Gospel – God’s grace toward man making the way for eternal communion with God through Jesus.