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Bible Dictionaries
Gospel (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or GOSPEL.—‘Gospel’ is the modern form of the Anglo-Saxon word ‘godspell,’ representing the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον. Formerly it was thought to be the literal translation, meaning ‘good-story.’ But now it is generally accepted as meaning ‘God-story.’ εὐαγγέλιον was originally used for ‘the reward of good tidings,’ and traces of this usage are found in LXX Septuagint; cf. 2 Samuel 4:10. But the word came to denote the ‘good tidings’ themselves; and this is the Christian usage. It may be noted here that Dalman (The Words of Jesus, p. 103) says: ‘In the verb בִּשַׂר, which must be assumed to be the original Aramaic expression, the idea of glad tidings is not so inherent as in the Greek εὐαγγελίζεσθαι. Even in the OT (1 Samuel 4:17) בִּשַׂר is used of mournful tidings.… It thus appears that the sovereignty of God is the content of a “message” or “tidings,” and not without further qualification of “a message of glad tidings.” ’ It would seem, however, that the choice of the Greek verb εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, as well as the contexts of the word in the Gospels, provide that ‘further qualification.’
1. The source for the Christian usage is found in Isaiah. In Isaiah 61:1 the prophet describes the function of the Servant of Jahweh (or perhaps his own function) in these words: ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.…’ The word is εὐαγγελίσασθαι. The meek are the exiles in Babylon. Good tidings are announced to them. God is coming to save them, and He is near. It is the acceptable year of the Lord, when He shall deliver His people from their enemies and restore them to their native land. A similar reference occurs in Isaiah 52:7. A messenger hastens to Jerusalem, as she sits in the dust of her ruins, bringing ‘good tidings.’ The exiles are to return to her, and she shall be inhabited again by her long-lost children. These instances exhibit clearly the meaning ‘good tidings’; and both are claimed in NT to describe the Christian message. St. Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7 in Romans 10:15; and Jesus makes Isaiah 61:1 the text for His sermon at Nazareth (Luke 4:18).
This use of the word by Jesus stamps it at once with its Christian significance. ‘He began to say, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears.’ He claimed to be a preacher of good tidings to the poor. The poor, the captives, the blind, the bruised, are no longer political exiles. They are the bond-servants of sin, those who waited for the consolation of Israel, the poor and outcast to whom Judaism had no message of hope. He is Jahweh’s Anointed sent to bring good tidings of great joy to all the people (Luke 2:10). This description of His mission seems to have endeared itself to the heart of Jesus. He made frequent use of the word, and soon after the rejection in Nazareth He described His Messianic function by it: ‘I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for therefore was I sent’ (Luke 4:43). In particular, Jesus appropriated the name ‘gospel’ for the contents of His message. This was His description of it from the beginning of His ministry. St. Mark sums up that beginning thus: ‘Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe in the gospel.’ There are many proofs that Jesus used this word ‘gospel’ to describe His message; cf. Matthew 24:14; Matthew 26:13, Mark 1:15; Mark 8:35; Mark 10:29; Mark 13:10, Luke 7:22 ||. It is not surprising, therefore, that the word came into general Christian use to describe the contents of the preaching of Jesus. All the Synoptics reflect this usage. In Acts and the Epistles it is an established custom. ‘The gospel’ became the normal Christian title for the message which Jesus came to proclaim, and which He sent forth the Apostles to preach to every creature.
2. But closer examination shows that the term was not used by the Evangelists to describe all that Jesus said; nor was the verb ‘preach good tidings’ descriptive of all His work. In Mt. this sentence occurs twice: ‘Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people’ (Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35). It seems to be an accepted formula summarizing the work of Jesus. It contains three main words—‘teaching,’ ‘preaching,’ ‘healing.’ The same distinctions are noticed elsewhere. St. Luke distinguishes ‘teaching’ and ‘preaching the gospel’ (Luke 20:1); and in Luke 9:2 he tells that the Twelve were sent forth ‘to preach the kingdom and to heal the sick.’ St. Mark does not contrast the two words ‘teach’ and ‘preach the gospel’ in the same verse; but in Mark 1:14; Mark 1:21, he ascribes to Jesus ‘preaching the gospel’ and ‘teaching.’ In the latter case the effect produced by His ‘teaching’ is different from that due to His ‘preaching.’
It would seem, therefore, that the work of Jesus was threefold: He preached the gospel, He taught, and He healed. If this distinction is valid, the term ‘gospel’ did not apply to all that Jesus said and did. It was reserved for the ‘good tidings’ that He preached. In addition to these ‘good tidings,’ there was ‘teaching’ that belonged to another category. Listeners would hardly describe such teaching as Matthew 5:19-48 by the title ‘good tidings,’ nor could the word apply naturally to Matthew 10:34-39; Matthew 12:31-37; Matthew 19:9-12; Matthew 21:33-44; Matthew 21:23-24. It seems clear that Jesus distinguished the gospel that He preached from the teaching that accompanied it.
3. What then was implied by the term ‘gospel’? It was essentially ‘news’ or ‘tidings.’ It was the proclamation of a fact rather than instruction in the art of living well. It was offered to belief, and its acceptance must be preceded by repentance (Mark 1:15). It is called ‘the gospel of God’ (in Mark 1:14 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885); the ‘gospel of the kingdom’ (in Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 24:14). St. Luke uses the compound phrase, ‘the gospel of the kingdom of God’ (Luke 4:43; Luke 16:16). These phrases must be studied, and in addition it must be noted that Jesus connected the gospel with His own person.
(a) The phrase ‘the gospel of God’ indicates a message from God and about God that is good news to men. It is certain that Jesus gave the world a new idea of God; and this gospel of Jesus was the revelation of God as ‘our Father in heaven.’ He did not discover the category of Fatherhood in its relation to God. This had been done under the Old Covenant. But He invested the idea with such radiance as to make it a new revelation. More specifically, He illumined the Fatherhood of God by teaching ‘the infinite value of the human soul.’ God is not merely the Father of a people. He is the Father of each individual soul (cf. ‘thy Father,’ Matthew 6:4-18). His Fatherhood extends to all sorts and conditions of men (Matthew 12:50). In particular, the Father seeks each sinner (Luke 15:1-10), and welcomes even the prodigal to His home (Luke 15:11-32). This ‘gospel of God’ includes, further, the good news to the heavily laden Jew that ‘the Father seeketh true worshippers to worship in spirit and in truth’ (John 4:23; cf. Matthew 11:28), and that the Father is willing to forgive sins without sacrificial offerings (Matthew 9:2 ||). And when the child of God has entered into this blessed relationship with his Father in heaven, that Father may be trusted implicitly (Matthew 6:25-34). Prayer must be offered to this Father continually (Luke 18:1). The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9) ‘shows the gospel to be the Fatherhood of God applied to the whole of life; to be an inner union with God’s will and God’s kingdom, and a joyous certainty of eternal blessings and protection from evil’ (Harnack).
The Johannine tradition lays special emphasis upon this Divine Fatherhood in its relation to Jesus; the relation between the Father and His children is referred to in terms of love. Indeed, St. John sums up this aspect of the gospel in the immortal words, ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). Jesus Himself spoke chiefly of love as the duty of man. To love God and to love one’s neighbour are the supreme laws for human conduct (Matthew 22:37-39 ||). But by His constant speech about the Father, Jesus taught also God’s love to men. This relation of love between God and man has been pointed to as the distinguishing feature of the gospel. Thus Réville writes:
‘The Christian gospel is essentially characterized by its declaration that the bond between God and man is one of love. God is the Heavenly Father; man is the son of God; God loves man; man ought to love God; the relation between the principle of the universe and the individual is one of love, in which the two terms subsist. God and man—man not losing himself in God, God not remaining aloof from man—meet in a living communion, so that man’s dependence on God should no longer be one of compulsion, but of free and joyful self-consecration, and that the sovereignty of God over man should no more appear a tyranny, but a rule which we love and bless. Such is the distinctive mark of the Christianity of Jesus, differentiating it from the other great religions.’* [Note: Liberal Christianity, pp. 69–70.]
(b) The phrase ‘the gospel of the kingdom’ describes the good news brought by Jesus in its relation to that Kingdom of God or of heaven which He proclaimed. It implies that the Kingdom has ‘a gospel.’ The gospel and the Kingdom are not co-extensive any more than the gospel and God are. But there is good news concerning the Kingdom, and this good news is an essential part of the message of the Kingdom. In brief, this gospel was that the Kingdom of heaven is opened to all believers. The message of Jesus was that the Kingdom was not for select classes or nations, but for all. All Jews were summoned to share it; even the publicans and sinners may come (Matthew 21:31, Mark 2:15 ||). Nor are Jews alone to walk in its light. All nations must be invited to sit at its hospitable table (Matthew 8:11; Matthew 26:13, Mark 13:10). The conditions of entrance make it accessible to all. It is offered not to the rich or to the wise, but to all who will become as little children (Matthew 11:25; Matthew 18:3, John 3:3). Moreover, this Kingdom, which is offered to all, is a far higher good than men dreamed (cf. Matthew 13:31; Matthew 13:44-46). It is a spiritual blessedness, infinitely transcending the ceremonial righteousness secured by legalism, and the political supremacy envied by the patriots. The Kingdom, as Jesus preached it, offered the highest conceivable good to all men. It satisfied the religious instincts of the race; and because these are the deepest and most universal instincts, the message that they can be satisfied is indeed ‘good news’ (cf. Matthew 13 ||). Men had never found true satisfaction in the material forms of a ritualistic religion. These were the husks that contained no nourishment for the soul. Jesus preached ‘the gospel of the kingdom’ when He offered the highest spiritual good to all penitent and humble souls.
(c) But these two forms of the gospel do not exhaust its fulness. The presence of Jesus in the world was itself a gospel. He connected the good tidings with His own person. As the good news Rhoda brought to the praying Church was that Peter himself was at the door (Acts 12:14), so the presence of Jesus in the world was ‘glad tidings of great joy to all people’ (Luke 2:10). This was due to the significance attached by Jesus to Himself. He was the Messiah (Matthew 16:16). His use of the title ‘Son of man’ implies His special significance for the race. In several of His parables He referred to Himself as the Son of God (Luke 20:13), as the Judge and King of men (Matthew 25:31), as the bridegroom (Matthew 9:15; Matthew 25:6); these and other titles indicate the peculiar value of His person. The interest was not metaphysical but religious. His presence in the world manifested the love of God (John 3:16). It proved that God had not forgotten men, but had come to their help.
In this connexion the significance of Jesus’ offer of pardon must be noted. He raised much opposition by claiming ‘power on earth to forgive sins’ (Mark 2:10 ||). Nevertheless He exercised the power (Luke 7:47, John 5:14; John 5:22). There is a close connexion between this ‘good news’ and the good news about God and about the Kingdom. The barrier between God and the soul is sin. It is sin that hinders enjoyment of the Kingdom. Therefore the best news that men can have is a message of full and free forgiveness for all repentant, trustful souls. And this was the message preached by Jesus. He removed pardon out of the sphere of material sacrifices in the temple, which limited the scope of forgiveness to a few, and He made forgiveness a possible boon for everybody. Thus He opened the way into the Kingdom even to the publicans and sinners.
(d) But the core of this aspect of the gospel is reached only when it is connected definitely with the redeeming work of Jesus. He was conscious of a profounder mission than preaching the gospel. More than once He gave utterance to words that touch the deepest mysteries of redemption. He came to give His life a ransom (Matthew 20:28). He was the Good Shepherd giving His life for the sheep (John 10:11). He foretold His death and resurrection, directly He had brought His disciples to confess His Messiahship (Matthew 16:21). On the betrayal night in the upper room, He gave the cup, saying, ‘This is my blood of the covenant which is shed for many’ (Mark 14:24). It was impossible for Jesus to connect the gospel chiefly with His death, before He was crucified. But it seems unquestionable that He referred to His death as achieving a wonderful deliverance for men in respect of sin. The sacrificial element was not introduced into His life for the first time when He offered Himself to die. ‘The Son of man came to minister’; and all through His ministry He was giving Himself up for others. Nevertheless, He looked upon His own death as having a peculiar significance, awful for Himself (cf. Mark 14:32-39 ||), but blessed for men (John 14:3). It is certain that His followers accepted this interpretation of the cross. At once the death of Jesus, followed as it was by His resurrection, was made the main theme of Apostolic preaching (Acts 2:23; Acts 3:14; Acts 4:10 etc.). So central was this preaching about the death of Christ, that St. Paul identifies ‘the gospel’ with the message about ‘Christ crucified’ (1 Corinthians 1:17).
The meaning of the term ‘gospel’ as used by Jesus may now be summed up. It seems to describe the message He taught concerning—(a) the fatherly nature of God; (b) the inclusiveness and spirituality of the Kingdom; and (c) God’s provision for men’s deliverance from sin through His own mediation. This gospel was not only the theme of His preaching, but was exemplified continually in His manner of life. He revealed the Father by His own attitude to men. He illustrated the spirit of the Kingdom by seeking the lost. He mediated the grace of God by His unsparing self-surrender. In particular, He accepted death upon the cross in obedience to the Father’s will, in order that thereby the scattered sons of God might be gathered again to their Father (John 11:52).
4. We must return now to the distinction between ‘preaching the gospel’ and ‘teaching.’ Much of the teaching of Jesus could not be directly classed under the ‘gospel’ as sketched above. It was ethical teaching. It rested upon the gospel as its foundation. It appealed ultimately to the nature of God for its sanctions. It was connected with the Kingdom, being the legislation that befitted such a Kingdom of grace. Nevertheless it was an ethical code, intended to guide those who have previously accepted the gospel. The teaching of Jesus is the law-book of the Kingdom. The gospel of Jesus is the manifesto of the Kingdom, explaining its nature and inviting all to become its citizens.
This probably explains the subsequent use of the term ‘gospel.’ Wonderful as the teaching of Jesus was, the gospel seemed still more marvellous. At any rate, that gospel seemed of first importance. It had to be preached before the teaching of Jesus could follow; and whilst points of contact could be found between the teaching of Jesus and other ethical systems, there was nothing in the world like the gospel of Jesus. And thus the term ‘gospel’ was most frequently on the lips of the Apostles; and by a natural process it was extended to cover the entire contents of their report of Jesus, including His teaching. All that the Apostles had to tell about Jesus was called ‘the gospel.’ This usage is reflected in Mark 1:1, where the word refers to the whole story of Jesus Christ.
5. Two points need a further reference. The gospel brought by Jesus was not entirely new. It had its roots in the past. The preaching of Jesus was in historic continuity with the preaching of the prophets and of the Mosaic law (Matthew 5:17). But that earlier preaching was the faint light of dawn: His words are the strong light of noonday (John 8:12). Hitherto men had only heard rumours of varying trustworthiness; He brought official news that was full and final. Some keen-eyed spirits had caught sight of the Fatherhood of God, as the Alps may be seen from the terrace at Berne on a fine evening. But Jesus led men into the heart of the mountains. The hopes of the nation had hovered for centuries round a kingdom. But only Jesus disclosed the true nature of the shining city of God. Prophets had encouraged lonely exiles with the cry, ‘Behold your God cometh!’ But it was not until Jesus appeared that one who waited for the consolation of Israel could say, ‘Mine eyes have seen thy salvation’ (Luke 2:30). The gospel preached by Jesus gave full substance and final form to the faint and tremulous hopes of centuries. For this reason the gospel must be the unchanging element in the Church’s message. Being ‘news’ about God and the Kingdom, it cannot change until they change.
A distinction has been drawn between the gospel which Jesus preached and His ethical teaching. The Church’s teaching of the Christian ethics must be a changing message. It is the application of the principles of Christ’s teaching to present circumstances. The Christian ethic of the last generation is out of date in presence of to-day’s problems. The Church must study the ethical principles enunciated by Jesus, in order to apply them to modern needs. But whilst the Christian ethic develops and is modified by circumstances, the Christian gospel cannot change. It is good news about facts. It must be stated in modern phraseology, that men may hear it in their own tongue and understand it. But it remains an ‘Old, old Story’ through all time. If this distinction is remembered, it will explain the confusion that is felt in modern times as to the Church’s true function. All are agreed that this is to preach the gospel. But very different views are held as to what is included under the term. In particular, there is an increasing demand for a social gospel, whilst some maintain that the gospel cannot be concerned with social conditions. Probably the term ‘gospel’ is being used in two senses. As Jesus used it, ‘the gospel’ is a definite message, distinct from the Christian ethic, and also distinct from the work of healing practised by the Lord. But from Apostolic days onward the term ‘gospel’ has been used to cover the threefold function—preaching the gospel, teaching the ethic, and healing the sick. In its original and more limited sense, ‘gospel’ is simply the ‘news’ brought by Jesus. In its historical and broader sense, ‘gospel’ is the whole ‘God-story’: it includes the entire record of Jesus Christ’s life and work. Thus used, the term covers the ethic that Jesus Christ taught, and the social service that He practised. In this sense ‘gospel’ includes all ethical teaching and social service that are in accordance with the mind of the Master. It is open to question, however, whether the Church has not suffered loss by broadening the reference of this word. Jesus used it to describe the ‘good news’ He brought to the poor and the meek of the earth; and this ‘gospel’ must ever be the foundation upon which the Church builds, though the foundation is not to be confused with the fabric erected upon it.
6. A brief space must be given to the consideration of the gospel in the rest of NT in so far as it is connected with Christ. In one sense this would involve an exposition of many chapters of Acts and of all the Epistles, for He is ‘the head-stone of the corner,’ and the gospel is only ‘complete in Him.’ But all that can he attempted is an indication of the place occupied by Christ in the gospel as preached by the Apostolic, Church.
When we pass from the Gospels to the Acts and the Epistles, we are conscious at once of a change of standpoint. In the Gospels, Christ’s disciples are a group of learners. They stand beside their Master at the very centre of truth, and they try to follow His gaze as it sweeps the horizon of the love and the kingdom of God. In the Epistles the relative positions are altered. The disciples have become teachers; but they do not stand by their Master’s side at the centre. Christ alone is at the centre; the disciples are on the circumference of the circle and are gazing at Him. Their efforts are directed towards the Lord, whom they would persuade everybody to know (Acts 2:38, 1 Corinthians 2:2). The Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and those who have been gathered into the Kingdom of God worship Him (Revelation 5:6). The Apostles are seeking to obey their Lord’s injunction to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). But their interpretation of this command was to urge their hearers to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
This identification of ‘the gospel’ with Christ Himself may be accounted for partly by the experience of the Apostles. They went forth as witnesses (Luke 24:48), not as philosophers. They had to tell what great things God had done for their souls. They could do this only by talking of Jesus. For He had become to them the mediator of God’s redeeming love (Mark 8:29, John 1:41). They could not be witnesses concerning repentance and remission of sins without filling their lips with the one ‘name given among men wherein we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12).
But another point must be considered. The Apostles were commanded to ‘preach the gospel.’ The instruction had a definite meaning because of their Master’s use of the words. Jesus Christ preached the gospel of the fatherly love of God, establishing a Kingdom into which all men might be admitted, and He offered Himself as the authoritative proof of that love (cf. Mark 12:6 || John 8:42). The presence in the world of the Son of man, the Messiah of prophecy, demonstrated God’s love in providing for men’s deepest needs. Now it is evident that the crucifixion of Jesus shook such a gospel to its foundations. If the life of the Messianic Son of man ended with the cross, His speech about God’s fatherly love and a heavenly Kingdom seemed worse than idle talk. How could the gospel preached by Jesus survive His death? Only if He Himself survived His death. To rehabilitate His gospel, His authority must be rehabilitated. This result was secured by the resurrection of Jesus and by His ascension. When they had seen Him ‘alive after his passion,’ His disciples were prepared to go and ‘preach the gospel to every creature’ (Acts 1:3).
But it is evident also that these events themselves had profound importance. They did more than rehabilitate the authority of Jesus: they brought His own significance for the gospel into clear relief. Such unique events set the personality of Jesus in the heart of the gospel, investing Him with peculiar importance (Acts 2:22-36; Acts 3:13-26; Acts 5:31, 1 John 1:1-3, Romans 1:4; 1 Peter 1:3-8). Although they could not realize at once all that was involved in such events, the Apostles were compelled to take a new attitude to Jesus, and to adopt a fresh theory of His person. He had been their Master: now He becomes ‘the Lord.’ The primitive Christian community used the term before it was able to construct an adequate Christology. But it ‘called Jesus “the Lord” because He had sacrificed His life for it, and because its members were convinced that He had been raised from the dead and was then sitting on the right hand of God’ (Harnack). The significance of Jesus was decided religiously, though not metaphysically, at once. From the first, Jesus Christ had the religious value of God. Men were exhorted to believe in Him (Acts 2:38). The final expression of the Apostolic meditation upon the person of the Lord was given by John (John 1:1-18). But in Apostolic thought the gospel could never be preached apart from Jesus Christ, nor could the significance of Jesus Christ be understood apart from the gospel. In Him God’s redemptive purposes and the sinner’s acceptance of them may meet. Thus He is the central figure in history (Colossians 1:15-19). He is at once the Saviour appointed by the Father (Acts 2:23 ff., Romans 1:3; Romans 3:25, Galatians 4:4) and the Head of the redeemed race (1 Corinthians 15:22-45, Galatians 3:26, Ephesians 1:22).
But this conception of the person of Jesus gave a deeper meaning to the great events in His experience which had so affected His disciples. It may be said that the events and the person reacted upon one another. Such events glorified the person; the glorified person deepened the significance of the events. At the first the Crucifixion of Jesus was looked upon as the wicked act of the Jews, which God had frustrated and even turned to His own glory by raising Jesus from the dead (Acts 2:23-24; Acts 3:14-15; Acts 4:10; Acts 5:30). The Resurrection was accepted at once as a proof of Divine Sonship (l.c.). The Ascension not only sealed this proof of Jesus Christ’s Messianic dignity, but also exalted Him to a place of sovereignty over the world (Acts 2:33; Acts 3:16; Acts 3:21; Acts 4:12; Acts 5:31). But further reflexion upon them invested these unique events with profounder significance. His Death is the means whereby all men may be forgiven and may be reconciled to God—a sacrifice for the sins of the world (Romans 3:25, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21; 1 Peter 1:19, 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:2). His Resurrection is the earnest of the new life into which all those are introduced who are born anew by faith in Him (Romans 6:4, 1 John 3:2-3). He is the first-fruits of them that sleep: His Resurrection involves the resurrection to eternal life of all in whom He lives (1 Thessalonians 4:13 to 1 Thessalonians 5:10, 1 Corinthians 15). His Ascension is the pledge of the glorification of all who are united to Him (Romans 8:29-30, Philippians 3:20-21).
This aspect of the gospel is reflected in the Apostolic preaching. The Apostles ‘preached Christ’ (1 Corinthians 1:23). All the sermons in the early chapters of Acts are full of Christ. The Epistles identify the gospel with Him (Romans 1:16). In particular, the preaching dwelt upon His Crucifixion, His Resurrection, and His Ascension, though the same ‘mind’ was discerned in the whole story of the Incarnation (Philippians 2:3). It should be remembered that all this reference to ‘Christ and him crucified’ as ‘the gospel,’ is shot through and through with Jesus Christ’s own message of the love of God in establishing the kingdom. Although the gospel as it was presented by the Apostles assumed a new aspect, becoming a message about Christ who died and rose and ascended to the Father’s right hand, this was not intended to divert attention from the fatherly love of God and the Kingdom into which He invited men. But it was only through this message about Christ that such a gospel could be offered authoritatively to the world. Moreover, the gospel was seen in its true glory only when viewed through the medium of Christ’s Death and Resurrection and Ascension. Without the interpretation of these events, God’s fatherly love was a vague dream, and the heavenly Kingdom was an impossible ideal (1 John 4:9-10, Ephesians 2:12-18; 1 Peter 2:4-10). Thus Wellhausen, IJG [Note: JG Israelitische und Jüdische Geschichte.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , p. 386, declares that St. Paul’s especial work was to transform the gospel of the Kingdom into the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that the gospel is no longer the prophecy of the coming of the Kingdom, but its actual fulfilment by Jesus Christ. In his view, accordingly, redemption from something in the future has become something which has already happened and is now present. He lays far more emphasis on faith than on hope; he anticipates the sense of future bliss in the present feeling of being God’s son; he vanquishes death and already leads the new life on earth. The presence of Christ among men is unceasingly emphasized as the supreme proof of the love of the heavenly Father (Galatians 1:3-5; Galatians 4:6-7, 1 Corinthians 1:9, Romans 3:24; Romans 11:33-36, 1 John 4:9; 1 Peter 1:3 etc.). ‘The kingdom’ is mentioned frequently as the objective of Christian effort (Acts 8:12; Acts 14:22; Acts 19:8; Acts 20:25; Acts 28:23; Acts 28:31, Romans 14:17, 1 Corinthians 4:20; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Corinthians 15:50, Galatians 5:21, Ephesians 5:5, Colossians 1:13; Colossians 4:11, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, 2 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 4:18, Hebrews 12:28, James 2:5; 2 Peter 1:11, Revelation 1:9; Revelation 12:10); and the ideas of Jesus about the Kingdom are woven into the texture of Apostolic preaching. But the primary interest of the Apostles was to preach the gospel of the Kingdom; and that meant the proclamation of Jesus Christ as the Divinely appointed Saviour, through whom all men may share the privileges of sonship with God.
Finally, it may be pointed out that although the term ‘gospel’ already in Apostolic times was used in the broader sense with which we are familiar, yet the NT does distinguish the gospel, as a glad message of life and peace that everybody is urged to accept at once, from the ethical teaching that the converts must obey. The ‘gospel’ is news about God and the Kingdom, which is maintained as true against the older conceptions enshrined in Judaism. The writer to the Hebrews emphasizes the Christian gospel as the fulfilment of the types of the Old Covenant. St. Paul, who was dogged by Judaizers, fought to keep the Christian gospel free from the trammels of Judaic sacramentarianism. The NT writers preach the gospel as a message of transcendent importance and of great joy to all people. But they do not rest content with preaching the good news. St. Paul spoke of a ‘wisdom of God’ which could be taught only to the spiritual (1 Corinthians 2). And most of the Epistles are attempts to explain that ‘wisdom,’ and to enforce obedience to it, on those who had already become Christians by accepting the gospel.
Literature.—Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, artt. ‘Gospel,’ ‘Jesus Christ,’ and on Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and Epistles to Romans and Corinthians; Commentaries on the Gospels by Godet, Swete, Gould, Plummer, Westcott, and in Expositor’s Gr. Test. For exposition of Christ’s teaching: Bruce, Kingdom of God, and The Training of the Twelve; Wendt, Teaching of Jesus; Beyschlag, NT Theology; Denney, Death of Christ; Dalman, The Words of Jesus; Harnack, What is Christianity?; Mackintosh, Essays Toward a New Theology; Réville, Liberal Christianity; Watson, The Mind of the Master. For transition to Apostolic teaching: Harnack and Beyschlag, opp. citt.; Weizsacker, The Apostolic Age; Bruce, Paul’s Conception of Christianity; Commentaries on Acts and Epistles. For general reference: Forrest, The Christ of History and of Experience; Newman Smyth, Christian Ethics; Briggs, New Light on the Life of Jesus.
J. Edward Roberts.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Gospel (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/g/gospel-2.html. 1906-1918.
