The word “gospel” translates the Greek term euaggelion (pronounce the first “g” like an “n”). It consists of two parts: “good” (eu) and “announcement” or “message” (aggelion). In other words, “gospel” means “good news.”
So, then, what’s the good news?
A recent tweet by Pastor Tim Keller tells us: “Salvation belongs to God alone, to no one else. If someone is saved, it is wholly God’s doing. It is not a matter of God saving you partly and you saving yourself partly. No. God saves us. We do not and cannot save ourselves. That’s the gospel.”
For Keller the good news is salvation by the grace of God. Forgiveness of sins and deliverance from it’s control certainly deserve celebration.
Seminary professor Scot McKnight labels this interpretation a “soterian gospel.” That funny-looking adjective stems from the word “soteria” which means “salvation” in Greek. This understanding of the gospel emphasizes justification by faith in the finished work of Christ. In a word, salvation.
But McKnight believes this redirects the gospel’s focus: It “reshapes the Bible and the gospel so that it is driven by the plan for personal salvation.” Instead, he opts for what he identifies as The King Jesus Gospel.
In McKnight’s view, “The gospel . . . is declaring the story of Israel as resolved in the Story of Jesus” (loc 1146 of 3110). All that God did through His people and, in supreme fashion, through His Son, constitutes the full account of the gospel.
So is the gospel salvation or story?
In his article, McKnight presents three passages to promote the latter. In reviewing them, I noticed each connects to salvation, too.
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’” – Romans 10:9-11
Paul reduces the story of Jesus to two simple points: Christ’s status and His resurrection. If you believe these pillars of the story, you will be saved.
This tells us that salvation is the purpose of the gospel.
“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
In this passage, Paul recounts, almost in liturgical form, the main points of the story of Christ: His death, burial, and resurrection. But Paul adds the role of the apostles in the saga. He even includes himself.
But again, what’s the purpose of the gospel? This passage says the gospel saves us. Jesus died for our sins which is what the Scriptures, the record of God’s story, declares. Story and salvation; the gospel has both.
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” – 2 Timothy 2:8-10
Paul makes it simple, doesn’t he? The two holidays we Christians celebrate the most–Easter and Christmas–the apostle treats as highlights of the good news.
He serves the ministry so those whom God chooses and reaches may receive salvation. Yes, story and salvation go together.
I appreciate the lengths to which Bible scholars like Scot McKnight and others have gone to stress the significance of the context of the gospel. Salvation carries little meaning unless we understand what God has been doing for millennia to bring us to Himself.
What’s the gospel? It’s the story of salvation which culminates in Jesus Christ.
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