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Bible Dictionaries
Gospel
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Gospel. From the Anglo-Saxon God-spell, "good tidings," is the English translation of the Greek euaggelion, which signifies "good" or "glad tidings." Luke 2:10; Acts 13:32. The same word in the original is rendered in Romans 10:15 by the two equivalents "gospel" and "glad tidings." The term refers to the good news of the new dispensation of redemption ushered in by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The "good news" is denominated either simply the "gospel," Matthew 26:13, or else "the gospel of the kingdom," Matthew 9:35; of "Jesus Christ,"
Mark 1:1; "of peace," Romans 10:15 A. V., but omitted in R. V.; Ephesians 6:15; of "salvation," Ephesians 1:13; of "God," 1 Thessalonians 2:9; and of grace. Acts 20:24. The four Gospels were issued probably during the latter half of the first century—those of Matthew and Mark and Luke before the destruction of Jerusalem; and that of John towards the close of the century. Before the end of the second century, there is abundant evidence that the four Gospels, as one collection, were generally used and accepted. In the fourth Gospel the narrative coincides with that of the other three in a few passages only. The common explanation is that John, writing last, at the close of the first century, had seen the other Gospels, and purposely abstained from writing anew what they had sufficiently recorded. In the other three Gospels there is a great amount of agreement. If we suppose the history that they contain to be divided into 89 sections, in 42 of these all the three narratives coincide, 12 more are given by Matthew and Mark only, 5 by Mark and Luke only, and 14 by Matthew and Luke. To these must be added 5 peculiar to Matthew 2:1-23 to Mark 9:1-50 to Luke, and the enumeration is complete. But this applies only to general coincidence as to the facts narrated—the amount of verbal coincidence, that is, the passages either verbally the same or coinciding in the use of many of the same words, is much smaller. The First Gomel was prepared by Matthew for the Jew. He gives us the Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews, the Messianic royalty of Jesus. Mark wrote the Second Gospel from the preaching of Peter. Luke wrote the Third Gospel for the Greek. It is the gospel of the future, of progressive Christianity, of reason and culture seeking the perfection of manhood. John, "the beloved disciple," wrote the Fourth Gospel for the Christian, to cherish and train those who have entered the new kingdom of Christ, into the highest spiritual life. See Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Paul says: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Romans 1:16. To the Corinthians he writes: "I came not to you with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:1-2.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Gospel'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/g/gospel.html. 1893.
