This is something I've often thought about before. Christians often use the terms "gospel" or "good news" in their discussions, but what exactly do they mean by these terms?
I remember when I looked into Christianity last year (read books by John Shelby Spong, NT Wright, CS Lewis), it got rather disorienting and confusing to see how "the gospel" or "the good news" could mean such vastly different things to different people. In the end it always left me wondering, so what exactly do these terms mean then, if they are to have any inherent meaning at all?
Anyhow, I thought it would be cool to set up a thread where people could offer their own explanations or share links/articles to some of their favorite "explanations" of the gospel/good news.
Thanks
Others have already explained the etymological meaning of "Gospel," coming from Greek "Evangelion", meaning "good news."
But, what makes the "good news" good news? What IS the good news?
The good news, is that God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him might have life everlasting (John 3:16.) The Word, Who is God, became flesh and dwelt among us, becoming one with us. He came to us as "Jesus," or "savior." He came to save us from death and sin, things we had been enslaved to for millennia. He experienced all that we are tempted with, taking on all our human experiences and redeeming them all to Himself. He taught us and showed us the way to God. But showing us the way to God wasn't enough--there was a chasm between us and God that needed to be bridged, a chasm caused by the rift in our relationship with God through sin.
So Jesus allowed Himself to be betrayed, beaten, abandoned, mocked, persecuted, tempted. He suffered the most miserable fate imaginable--forsaken by His friends, abandoned by His apostles, mocked by His enemies, spat upon and scourged and beaten, and executed in the most gruesome way devised by man. By all accounts, He died as the most disgraced and pitiable of people. But His death was in fact a victory--He used Himself as bait and dragged out the devil, sin and death. He entered Hades in the guise of a bondservant, just as every other person before Him. And then the trap was sprung.
What Death and Satan thought was just a normal man now chained forever to the dark world of death, turned out to be God, the Unchainable. One in the guise of a slave revealed Himself to be the Lord and God of all. One who appeared as a creation was, in fact, the Uncreated. Death couldn't handle Him, and the grave couldn't hold Him. Nothing can contain God, and so He burst free of Hades from the inside, busting open the gates of iron and brass, and giving humanity a way out of death. As Christ rose from the dead, He re-opened the gates of Paradise, enabling us to do likewise. To quote the Paschal Tropar in the Orthodox Church:
Christ is risen from the dead! By death He trampled death, and to those in the tombs, bestowing life!
The good news is that Christ is risen--and if we unite ourselves to Him, if we become new creations in Him, then we will be risen to new life as well. The iron grip of Death and sin over mankind has been broken by the death and Resurrection of Christ, and now we can really fulfill our mission of becoming more and more like God, being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), and becoming partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), an unending process we in the Orthodox Church call "theosis."
And, to sum all of that up with the end of St. John Chrysostom's Paschal Sermon:
Let none lament his poverty;
for the universal Kingdom is revealed.
Let none bewail his transgressions;
for the light of forgiveness has risen from the tomb.
Let none fear death;
for death of the Saviour has set us free.
He has destroyed death by undergoing death.
He has despoiled hell by descending into hell.
He vexed it even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he cried:
Hell was filled with bitterness when it met Thee face to face below;
filled with bitterness, for it was brought to nothing;
filled with bitterness, for it was mocked;
filled with bitterness, for it was overthrown;
filled with bitterness, for it was put in chains.
Hell received a body, and encountered God. It received earth, and confronted heaven.
O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
Christ is risen! And you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is risen! And the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is risen! And the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen! And life is liberated!
Christ is risen! And the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power, now and forever, and from all ages to all ages.
Amen!
