THE Gospel Defined

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Roman Catholics, what is THE Gospel?

Almost everyone in the world should at least know that that word is used to refer to the four biographies of Jesus, and that it means “good news.”

But I wanna read your explanation of what the good news is. Is it a response to bad news? What’s the full story?
 
That if we die to the secular world and terrestrial desires in life, we go onto live in Jesus.
Jesus gives us life.

Jesus replaces those terrestrial desires, terrestrial life makes us sin. But if we turn away from its persuasion, the full grace of the Crucifixion of Jesus works within us.
 
God created mankind with sanctifying grace. He gave them a test of obedience and it was failed. They lost sanctifying grace. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became man and suffered and died for us, and rose from the dead! Jesus, Incarnate God, is the good news. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If we pick up our cross and follow Jesus, we will die to ourselves and rise on the last day.
 
News2urEars said:
Roman Catholics, what is THE Gospel?

Almost everyone in the world should at least know that that word is used to refer to the four biographies of Jesus, and that it means “good news.”

But I wanna read your explanation of what the good news is. Is it a response to bad news? What’s the full story?
Click to expand...
The Gospel, at its most basic, is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners. It is a call to repentance (recognition of the fact of our own sinfulness) and conversion (a deliberate reordering of our life on the model of Jesus Christ in response to our acceptance of the gift of God’s grace).

All of us are fallen from grace due to the original sin of our first parents Adam and Eve, and the Gospel message is a response to that bad news. But because through repentance and conversion we are still able to receive God’s grace and achieve the purpose for which God created all of us - eternal life filled with joy - the Gospel message is good news indeed.
 
The four canonical gospels of Christ does contain elements that are commonly found in a person’s biography: (1) the life of the person. (2) the death of the person.

However, a biography would not contain divine events of a person, such as the returning back from the dead. The four gospels teach about the life and death and resurrection of Christ, primarily during the days of his ministry. Such teachings, which do not include the biographical accounts of Christ for the majority of his earthly days, should not be considered a biographical account of a person, let alone a divine person.

We should not consider any of the four canonical gospels to be a biography of Christ. We should acknowledge the four gospels to be a divine revelation from God, about the life and death and resurrection of Christ.
 
The Gospel is nothing more and nothing less than the person of Jesus Christ, true God and true (hu)man. The human race was lost. The fall from grace would be permanent unless…
(Jn 3:16) God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son… The Gift beyond all others… The Truth incarnate…Love beyond all telling…
 
bcuster said:
The Gospel is nothing more and nothing less than the person of Jesus Christ, true God and true (hu)man. The human race was lost. The fall from grace would be permanent unless…
(Jn 3:16) God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son… The Gift beyond all others… The Truth incarnate…Love beyond all telling…
Click to expand...
Yes. , Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
 
News2urEars said:
Roman Catholics, what is THE Gospel?

Almost everyone in the world should at least know that that word is used to refer to the four biographies of Jesus, and that it means “good news.”

But I wanna read your explanation of what the good news is. Is it a response to bad news? What’s the full story?
Click to expand...
I think you should ask first: what does the word euangelion come from?

Back in those days, euangelion was used for any information which is perceived to be ‘good’, something like birthdays, marriages or anniversaries. It eventually also becane part of the official vocabulary of the Roman emperors, denoting a message predicated on an action accomplished by the ‘divine’ Caesar or a proclamation connected to him. Simply put, news of an emperor’s birth, his accession to the throne, any military victories he might achieve, or any proclamations that he might publish are all euangelia (regardless of whether the news was actually pleasant or cheerful in nature). Such ‘good’ events were ascribed to the reigning emperor’s superhuman power: it was his genius which assured victory, peace and prosperity. Since the emperor is officially the lord, savior, and redeemer of the world, messages from or about him were considered to be extremely important, to be “good news.”

A contemporary inscription triumphantly proclaims the birth of Augustus Octavian in very lofty, exalted language:

Since providence, which has ordered all things of our life and is very much interested in our life, has ordered things in sending Augustus, whom she filled with virtue for the benefit of men, sending him as a savior both for us and for those after us, him who would end war and order all things, and since Caesar by his appearance surpassed the hopes of all those who received the good tidings (euangelion), not only those who were benefactors before him, but even the hope among those who will be left afterward, and the birthday of the god was for the world the beginning of the good tidings through him; and Asia resolved it in Smyrna.

Jesus and the early Christians are thus doing something very radical here. They appropriate this imperial language for the imminent arrival of God’s kingdom, the real “good news.” Caesar the Roman emperor is thus not the one in charge: Yhwh the God of Israel is. Christians then also applied this to Jesus, who is after all in their eyes the real Master and Savior. That is why the term euangelion soon came to be applied to ‘news’ about Jesus and His message. And since the Gospels contain this ‘news’ in written form, they were also labeled as euangelion, the real good news that saves the world.
 
Yes, what is the Good News that Jesus proclaimed?
Was it him? Maybe in the Gospel of John but in the synoptics he spoke more of the Kingdom of God. That is the Gospel, the Good News.

**Luke 4:43 **
But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.”

Its nearness:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Mark 1:15

What it is like:
“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?" Mark 4:30

Who it belongs to:
“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs." Mark 10:14

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." Luke 6:20

What is required:
“Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” John 3:3

But it is also connected with healing:

**Luke 9:2 **
“and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”

**Luke 9:11 **
“When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.”

and healing is usually connected with forgiveness of sin.

“and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47

The Gospel, the Good news is that the Kingdom of God is near and availible.

The Gospel of Mark is the most primative, the most stark. It starts with healings and parables. But the Gospel of John, coming latter has much more about Him, “I am”.
 
It can be answered concisely and it can be articulated into a whole book. In short its the good news of Jesus Christ, that He died for our sins and rose again. The Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed also is a developed explanation. But my favorite answer is that the Catholic Faith is the FULLNESS of the Gospel, the Church teaches us what the Gospel is and how to live it in its intended form.
 
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