Holy Gospel!
Being raised an Evangelical, I knew what the Gospel was and wondered why some denominations didn’t teach it. I hear some of my brothers and sisters say they have never heard the Gospel in “such in such” church. I am inclined to think there is an overall miscomprehension over what this Gospel is in the first place.
I grew up understanding the Gospel to be that Jesus died for our sins. He took upon himself our penalty. The gospel is the cross. It ends God’s wrath, our sins can be forgiven and we can go to heaven when we die. Thus, the reason for the phrase, “I’m Saved.” But, over the last 10 years my understanding of Gospel isn’t so narrowly focused. I would welcome any suggestions towards the meaning of the “Gospel”.
This Gospel message of atonement (God’s wrath over our sins being forgiven) is definitely part of the Gospel message, but is that what Jesus was proclaiming as the Gospel? Definitely, not only in those terms. Actually, I think that is the product of human restoration to communion with God. I think we as Evangelicals have clung tightly some some of what Paul was preaching because it creates a method of salvation (rite) instead of a process as the Gospel.
And the more I read Scripture, the more convinced I am we should start with the Gospel of the Kingdom and the story of Jesus (life, teaching, ministry, death and resurrection) and then move to Paul… not the other way around. Paul, it seems, was merely interpreting the Gospel of the Kingdom for the Gentiles and those he was teaching, NOT creating a formula to then be read back into the Gospels and the Jesus story.