What is the "Gospel" Exactly

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What is the “Gospel”?- I have never really seen a good explanation- not really even from scripture- I’ll explain in a minute.

Growing up Anglican- I always thought of the Gospel as the entire life and times of Jesus- the story of Jesus with ultimately the good news being that we can be reconciled with God because of Jesus’s death on the cross.

Then during my fundamentalist years- It was truncated to just the plan of salvation as they saw it by hopscotching through the scriptures and pulling some concepts and ignoring others - Typically using this as the Gospel
  1. acknowledge that we are all sinners in need of God’s forgiveness.
    2.) we recognize that only God can save us.
    3.) acknowledge Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins and to bring us to God.
    4.) the final step is that each individual accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior to be saved.”
I had major problems with this because it ignores Baptism and doesn’t explain what kind of faith it takes -a faith that is intrinsically connected to action.

To me this is a slick marketing tool invented for street and tent evangelism. EWhen I look at how one became a Christian I never see this method used to convert someone. Yse these steps are all mentioned but they are only parts of a larger story.

Now I re-read the book of Matthew the other day. A lot of the parables talk about God’s Kingdom and It talks of preaching the Kingdom. I was reflecting on this and the Kingdom is twofold. It is here now but I think also means later in heaven. I realized I didn’t have a good grasp of the “Kingdom”. Because you can belong to the Kingdom, you can be shut out of the Kingdom and I think you can lose the Kingdom. See I don’t have what I read in Matthew sitting in front of me this morning so I am fuzzy. The Kingdom doesn’t seem to be just about Salvation although that is part of it. The Kingdom I would think is about becoming part God’s family. I definitely think I need clarification.

So is the Gospel?
  1. The entire life and times of Jesus including who he is, plus how we can be reconciled to God through his sacrifice on the Cross and now can receive God’s grace if we have a faith that compels us to action. (Leaning toward this)
    2.) The truncated plan of Salvation (I’ve pretty much ruled this one out)
    3.) Preaching the Kingdom ? and what exactly is the Kingdom
On a side note one of the members of our boyscout troopp has a cool bumper sticker. In big letters it says hear the “Full” Gospel then beneath at the Catholic church. I would love to get a bumper sticker like that.
 
In a nutshell, the Gospel (good news) is that Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sins, rose again from the dead to conquer death for us, and ascended into Heaven in His humanity to open the gates of Heaven to the human race.

We enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, and by means of prayer - not in any sense of empty following of rituals, but in the sense of fully engaging one’s whole mind, spirit, sense, and body in the gifts that Christ through the Church has to offer us, through the powerful intercession of the Saints in prayer, and through active, personal engagement with the struggle to know and communicate with God Almighty. 🙂
 
deanarrca said:
What is the “Gospel”?- I have never really seen a good explanation- not really even from scripture- I’ll explain in a minute.

Growing up Anglican- I always thought of the Gospel as the entire life and times of Jesus- the story of Jesus with ultimately the good news being that we can be reconciled with God because of Jesus’s death on the cross.

Then during my fundamentalist years- It was truncated to just the plan of salvation as they saw it by hopscotching through the scriptures and pulling some concepts and ignoring others - Typically using this as the Gospel
  1. acknowledge that we are all sinners in need of God’s forgiveness.
    2.) we recognize that only God can save us.
    3.) acknowledge Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins and to bring us to God.
    4.) the final step is that each individual accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior to be saved.”
I had major problems with this because it ignores Baptism and doesn’t explain what kind of faith it takes -a faith that is intrinsically connected to action.

To me this is a slick marketing tool invented for street and tent evangelism. EWhen I look at how one became a Christian I never see this method used to convert someone. Yse these steps are all mentioned but they are only parts of a larger story.

Now I re-read the book of Matthew the other day. A lot of the parables talk about God’s Kingdom and It talks of preaching the Kingdom. I was reflecting on this and the Kingdom is twofold. It is here now but I think also means later in heaven. I realized I didn’t have a good grasp of the “Kingdom”. Because you can belong to the Kingdom, you can be shut out of the Kingdom and I think you can lose the Kingdom. See I don’t have what I read in Matthew sitting in front of me this morning so I am fuzzy. The Kingdom doesn’t seem to be just about Salvation although that is part of it. The Kingdom I would think is about becoming part God’s family. I definitely think I need clarification.

So is the Gospel?
  1. The entire life and times of Jesus including who he is, plus how we can be reconciled to God through his sacrifice on the Cross and now can receive God’s grace if we have a faith that compels us to action. (Leaning toward this)
    2.) The truncated plan of Salvation (I’ve pretty much ruled this one out)
    3.) Preaching the Kingdom ? and what exactly is the Kingdom
On a side note one of the members of our boyscout troopp has a cool bumper sticker. In big letters it says hear the “Full” Gospel then beneath at the Catholic church. I would love to get a bumper sticker like that.
Click to expand...
In a short explanation the Gospel means good news. The Good News is Jesus Christ. The whole Bible is about Jesus Christ. The Gospel isn’t something but a someone. It is Jesus Christ the word incarnant.
 
*In a nutshell, the Gospel (good news) is that Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sins, rose again from the dead to conquer death for us, and ascended into Heaven in His humanity to open the gates of Heaven to the human race.
*
Ok- I have always equated the “good news” as “we now can be reconciled with God” Which is in essence Salvation. So if i am following you have narrowed “The Gospel” from his whole life to simply the message of his atonement for our Sins–His sacrificial death on the cross for us and the fact he rose as a proof of his divine nature/ being God himself.

OK I get that-- but then what? One has to be instructed on how to obtain the Salvation that Christ attained for us?

So Hence your second part
*We enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, and by means of prayer - not in any sense of empty following of rituals, but in the sense of fully engaging one’s whole mind, spirit, sense, and body in the gifts that Christ through the Church has to offer us, through the powerful intercession of the Saints in prayer, and through active, personal engagement with the struggle to know and communicate with God Almighty.
*
Is that correct? So you have shortened it to the essentials of salvation

where as tobinatorstark
said In a short explanation the Gospel means good news. The Good News is Jesus Christ. The whole Bible is about Jesus Christ. The Gospel isn’t something but a someone. It is Jesus Christ the word incarnate.

So I think agrees with what I essentially said in #1) The entire life and times of Jesus including who he is, plus how we can be reconciled to God through his sacrifice on the Cross and now can receive God’s grace if we have a faith that compels us to action. (Leaning toward this)"

I do like this from the CCC

1846 The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.113 The angel announced to Joseph: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."114 The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."115

So the above is the starting point –
But then the CCC Goes on to say a lot more- ie. what is some, our need to realize that we are sinners, kinds of sins, then onto explain how those sins can be forgiven and much more.

OK
Now where does preaching the Kingdom come in?- How does it go hand in hand with preaching the Gospel.

So far I’ve got the Gospel is the “Good News” that we can be reconciled to God and includes the entire “why” and “how” . Now preaching the Kingdom is what we get on our faith journey of being reconciled with God and then being full partakers of the Kingdom in Heaven assuming we are in a state of saving Grace?

Or am I muddying the waters?
 
deanarrca said:
The Kingdom doesn’t seem to be just about Salvation although that is part of it. The Kingdom I would think is about becoming part God’s family. I definitely think I need clarification.
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Becoming part of Gods family is salvation-because the alternative is to stay out of Gods family, the condition we were born into as a result of the fall.
 
Becoming part of Gods family is salvation-because the alternative is to stay out of Gods family, the condition we were born into as a result of the fall.

They way I understand it (Please coreect if I don’t have it quite right) - Not exactly- From a Catholic point of view, Baptism brings brings one into God’s family. Infants are Baptized into God’s family- But as older (beyond being a baby/small child) Christians may or may not be in a state of saving grace-

The Prodigal son was still a member of the family even when he was away.
 
deanarrca said:
Becoming part of Gods family is salvation-because the alternative is to stay out of Gods family, the condition we were born into as a result of the fall.

They way I understand it (Please coreect if I don’t have it quite right) - Not exactly- From a Catholic point of view, Baptism brings brings one into God’s family. Infants are Baptized into God’s family- But as older (beyond being a baby/small child) Christians may or may not be in a state of saving grace-

The Prodigal son was still a member of the family even when he was away.
Click to expand...
Becoming a member of the family doesn’t ensure we’ll keep that status so yes, in Catholic teaching we’re saved, being saved, and will be saved rather, than osas. My point was that there’s no point in becoming part of Gods family outside of salvation.
 
fhansen said:
Becoming a member of the family doesn’t ensure we’ll keep that status so yes, in Catholic teaching we’re saved, being saved, and will be saved rather, than osas. My point was that there’s no point in becoming part of Gods family outside of salvation.
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ok 🙂
 
deanarrca said:
*In a nutshell, the Gospel (good news) is that Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sins, rose again from the dead to conquer death for us, and ascended into Heaven in His humanity to open the gates of Heaven to the human race.
*
Ok- I have always equated the “good news” as “we now can be reconciled with God” Which is in essence Salvation.
Click to expand...
We could always be reconciled to God - that’s what the Sacrificial system was for. What we couldn’t do before Jesus came, was live eternally in Heaven, once we became reconciled with God. The good news of Jesus Christ is that the Sacrifice has been completed, eternal life is now possible, and we can go to Heaven.
So if i am following you have narrowed “The Gospel” from his whole life to simply the message of his atonement for our Sins–His sacrificial death on the cross for us and the fact he rose as a proof of his divine nature/ being God himself.
Click to expand...
The proof that He was divine was a side effect - what the rising from the dead did was actually conquer death - before that happened, when you died that was it - game over, your tokens have all been spent, thanks for playing.

Now, when we die, we move on to a new kind of life, either in Heaven or in Hell. Furthermore, all who had died up to that moment were raised to life - the most overlooked verse in the Bible is somewhere in the Gospel of Matthew, where on the morning of the Resurrection, all of the dead start to walk the earth - it must have been so startling to see all of the graves open up and the dead - everyone from Adam to Christ - rise up out of them, and they walked in Jerusalem until they were all taken up into Heaven.
OK I get that-- but then what? One has to be instructed on how to obtain the Salvation that Christ attained for us?
Click to expand...
So Hence your second part
*We enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, and by means of prayer - not in any sense of empty following of rituals, but in the sense of fully engaging one’s whole mind, spirit, sense, and body in the gifts that Christ through the Church has to offer us, through the powerful intercession of the Saints in prayer, and through active, personal engagement with the struggle to know and communicate with God Almighty.
*
Is that correct? So you have shortened it to the essentials of salvation
Click to expand...
Well, it’s the answer to “so what?”

God came as an infant to Mary and became Man. Neat trick. So what?

God/Man lived on the earth as a child and a man. So what? That was a long time ago.

God/Man preached for three years from 30 AD to 33 AD and did miracles. So what? I still have to do everything the hard way, anyway.

God/Man died on the Cross for your sins. AH. Now we’re getting somewhere.

God/Man rose from the dead and made eternal life possible. Okay, NOW, I’m getting interested. Eternal life, eh?

God/Man ascended into Heaven, making it possible for you to go to Heaven. Oooo, How do I join up … ?

The first part of the Gospel story is interesting, but not unlike a thousand other stories. It’s the last part - the dying for our sins, the rising from the dead, and the ascension into Heaven that make the story of Jesus entirely unique - and meaningful, and relevant to us here and now - something we can work with, and become a part of. That’s the point at which it moves beyond being a wonderful story, and actually becomes good news that has a real effect on real people.
 
*The proof that He was divine was a side effect - what the rising from the dead did was actually conquer death - before that happened, when you died that was it - game over, your tokens have all been spent, thanks for playing. *

Ok here I am fuzzy again
Heaven and Hell as opposed to Paradise and Prison in the Old Testament-

My understanding was that old testament saints were in Paradise or Hades awaiting Christ-- not exactly game over. OT saints did they have Eternal life? Conscious or Unconscious in Prison?

And what of Elijah taken to heaven (oh and something I never understood how is Elijah in Heaven with original sin unless an OT provision was made to take it away-- I realize God can operate outside the box but the rest of us had to wait for Christ’s atonement?)
 
To the original poster, both your #1 and #3 are correct. The Gospels tell us about Jesus (and the Trinity as a whole), but they also tell us about the Kingdom of God. These go hand in hand precisely because the kingship of Christ is inherent to His nature. I feel like many Protestants ignore this aspect of Christ as King and view him as “buddy”. That isn’t really a bad thing in itself. Christ really becomes our brother through the grace of baptism. But while He is our brother, He is also truly king. To truly love Christ is to love Him as He is, and the Kingship of Christ is only truly felt in the Catholic Church. Why? Because the Kingdom of God IS the Church.

Let me explain. Jesus is a descendant of King David. Not only this, but he fulfills the kingship of David. The Davidic Kingdom is the prefigurement of Christ’s kingdom, the Kingdom of God. Thus it is very important to understand the Davidic Kingdom. David’s kingdom was promised to last forever (Ps. 89) and cover all the earth (Ps. 2). David was promised that his heir would be a son to God (2 Sam 7). Obviously this is all fulfilled in Christ.

There is more to the Davidic kingdom than this, however. The Davidic kings, starting with David’s son Solomon, lend great honor and authority to the Queen mother (1 Kings 2:19). The Queen has a throne at the right hand of her son, who promises to refuse nothing she asks him. Ironically, Solomon promptly does refuse his mother, but Jesus being the anti-type of David and Solomon hardly means he picks up their failures as well. The important part is that the Davidic kingdom has such a Queen Mother that the King “pays her homage”. Only one Christian Church has such a Queen Mother: The Catholic Church with regards to Mary.

Another aspect of the Davidic Kingdom is the Prime Minister. A very important text about the Prime Minister occurs much further along in the Davidic Kings. Isaiah prophecies about the transference of that office from one man to another (Is. 22:15-24). The Prime Minister Shebna will be stripped of power, and it will be given to Eliakim. Eliakim will receive the KEY of the house of David, he will be a FATHER to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, what he opens, no one shall shut, and when he shuts, no one shall open. The parallels to the Pope (literally meaning “Papa”, or Father) should be obvious. Peter received the KEYS of the kingdom of heaven and what he binds on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever he looses on earth is loosed in heaven. No other Christian church has any such Prime Minister.

Finally, the thank offering (“todah”) earns a place of prominence in Jewish liturgy (see Ps. 50, 116 among others). The todah is an offering of unleavened bread and wine offered to God in gratitude for deliverance. I have also heard Scott Hahn quote some ancient Jewish teachers in saying that the todah would one day be the only sacrifice offered, but I don’t have the citation for that at the moment. Either way, it is obvious what the todah prefigures. In fact, todah is translated as “eucharistia” in the Greek. There are some other Christian Churches that have some form of eucharist, but we all know who has the real one.

As a final note, the “Kingdom of Heaven” isn’t just about heaven. Jesus is clear that the “Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). We in the Church are living in the Kingdom of God right now. Let us rejoice and celebrate with Jesus Christ, who is our brother and our king.
 
jmcrae said:
We enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, and by means of prayer - not in any sense of empty following of rituals, but in the sense of fully engaging one’s whole mind, spirit, sense, and body in the gifts that Christ through the Church has to offer us, through the powerful intercession of the Saints in prayer, and through active, personal engagement with the struggle to know and communicate with God Almighty. 🙂
Click to expand...
Hi jmcrae,

Jesus said, “I am the way.” If Jesus wanted us to enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, then He would probably have said something like, “I am the way, and the only way to me is by the Catholic Church.” Or He could have just said, “The Catholic Church is the way.” Remember the man who was crucified next to Jesus? My guess is that he probably had not been baptized at the local Catholic Church. Yet Jesus said to him, “today you will be with me in paradise.”
 
deanarrca said:
*In a nutshell, the Gospel (good news) is that Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sins, rose again from the dead to conquer death for us, and ascended into Heaven in His humanity to open the gates of Heaven to the human race. *

Ok- I have always equated the “good news” as “we now can be reconciled with God” Which is in essence Salvation. So if i am following you have narrowed “The Gospel” from his whole life to simply the message of his atonement for our Sins–His sacrificial death on the cross for us and the fact he rose as a proof of his divine nature/ being God himself.

OK I get that-- but then what? One has to be instructed on how to obtain the Salvation that Christ attained for us?

So Hence your second part
We enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, and by means of prayer - not in any sense of empty following of rituals, but in the sense of fully engaging one’s whole mind, spirit, sense, and body in the gifts that Christ through the Church has to offer us, through the powerful intercession of the Saints in prayer, and through active, personal engagement with the struggle to know and communicate with God Almighty.

Is that correct? So you have shortened it to the essentials of salvation

where as tobinatorstark
said In a short explanation the Gospel means good news. The Good News is Jesus Christ. The whole Bible is about Jesus Christ. The Gospel isn’t something but a someone. It is Jesus Christ the word incarnate.

So I think agrees with what I essentially said in #1) The entire life and times of Jesus including who he is, plus how we can be reconciled to God through his sacrifice on the Cross and now can receive God’s grace if we have a faith that compels us to action. (Leaning toward this)"

I do like this from the CCC

1846 The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.113 The angel announced to Joseph: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."114 The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."115

So the above is the starting point –
But then the CCC Goes on to say a lot more- ie. what is some, our need to realize that we are sinners, kinds of sins, then onto explain how those sins can be forgiven and much more.

OK
Now where does preaching the Kingdom come in?- How does it go hand in hand with preaching the Gospel.

So far I’ve got the Gospel is the “Good News” that we can be reconciled to God and includes the entire “why” and “how” . Now preaching the Kingdom is what we get on our faith journey of being reconciled with God and then being full partakers of the Kingdom in Heaven assuming we are in a state of saving Grace?

Or am I muddying the waters?
Click to expand...
Jeff Cavins, a Catholic Bible scholar and teacher, explains the four sections of the CCC in this way:
Part I is the story (Gospel)
Part II is how do you become part of the story (Sacraments)
Part II is how to stay in the story (Commandments)
Part IV is how to grow in the story (Prayer)

Given this, I would say you are not muddying the waters.
 
Mick Taylor Said >>Jesus said, “I am the way.” If Jesus wanted us to enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, then He would probably have said something like, "I am the way, and the only way to me is by the Catholic Church.<<

Nope Mick-- you misunderstand that-- The Church is the Body of Christ. By means of his Church means that it is now through the Church (Universal- all members who make up the Body of Christ) that now spread and teach the Gospel. The Church is the means by which the world is evangelized.

CCC846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
 
Mick_Taylor said:
Hi jmcrae,

Jesus said, “I am the way.” If Jesus wanted us to enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, then He would probably have said something like, “I am the way, and the only way to me is by the Catholic Church.” Or He could have just said, “The Catholic Church is the way.” Remember the man who was crucified next to Jesus? My guess is that he probably had not been baptized at the local Catholic Church. Yet Jesus said to him, “today you will be with me in paradise.”
Click to expand...
Jesus is no longer here in person; so He left a Body for Himself, which is the Church. We are the hands and feet of Jesus in the earth.

When Saul was persecuting the Church in Damascus, Jesus (in Heaven) said to him, “Why persecutest thou Me?”

Saul was never attacking Jesus in Heaven (this would have been physically impossible); he was attacking the people on earth who belonged to His Church - yet Jesus calls this group of people “Me” - there is a clear identification here between Christ and His Church.

From 30 AD when Jesus began to gather disciples around Himself until 1517 AD, “the Church” was always the Catholic Church. 🙂
 
Mick_Taylor said:
Jesus said, “I am the way.” If Jesus wanted us to enter into the mystery of the Gospel by means of His Church, then He would probably have said something like, “I am the way, and the only way to me is by the Catholic Church.” Or He could have just said, “The Catholic Church is the way.”
Click to expand...
Mick, Jesus makes no distinction between Himself, and His Body. It is not a headless body!

When you disparage His Church, you disparage Him.
Mick_Taylor said:
Remember the man who was crucified next to Jesus? My guess is that he probably had not been baptized at the local Catholic Church. Yet Jesus said to him, “today you will be with me in paradise.”
Click to expand...
God can save whoever He wants, however He likes. I am bold enough to say to you that if you are crucified next to Him, and profess your faith while the two of you are bleeding to death, then you will go to heaven too. 😃

He commanded that we believe and be baptized (by water and Spirit). If you want to risk your salvation by being disobedient, then that is up to you.

I also recommend that you be careful about insulting the bride of a very protective man.
 
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