What Is the Gospel?

The Apostle Paul wrote that he was “not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God to save everyone who believes it” (Romans 1:16). That, indeed, is good news, very good news. But then, what IS the Gospel?

At the risk of over-simplifying, I propose that you can state the basic framework of the biblical Gospel in three simple sentences of three words each. Here it is.

God is holy. People are sinful. Christ is sufficient.

The first statement is “God is holy.” It’s only appropriate that the Gospel should start with God. After all, everything started with God: “For from Him and through Him and back to Him are all things,” as Romans 11:36 says.

But why start with His holiness? Because in Scripture, every time God discloses Himself to humanity, the first aspect of His self-revelation is His utter holiness. Over and over, God shows Himself as the Holy one. No wonder that Scripture says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10). And on those rare occasions when God gives us a glimpse into heaven, we hear the angels sing, “Holy! Holy! Holy is the Lord” (Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8).

So, we start – indeed, we MUST start – with the holiness of God. “God is holy.”

And whenever we remember the truth about God’s absolute holiness, the next thing to cross our consciences is always our sinfulness. So the next part of the Gospel is, “People are sinful.”

Since “God is holy,” and “People are sinful,” that means we are in eternal danger: sinful people can’t be admitted into God’s holy heaven. If God were to let people into heaven with their sin, heaven wouldn’t be holy any more, with the result that it wouldn’t be heavenly either.

So, who can solve this problem? That’s where the person and work of Jesus Christ come in: “Christ is sufficient.”

What Jesus Christ did for you is sufficient to take away your sin and establish you in a right relationship with God, Who is holy. By living a perfect life, Jesus satisfied the righteous requirements of the law. By dying as His Father’s appointed substitute for you, He took upon Himself God’s holy wrath against your sin. Thus, He is sufficient to save you from the due punishment of your sin and grant you admission to heaven forever.

Some innovative forms of the Gospel water it down a lot. Instead of “God is holy,” we get “God is pretty nice.” Rather than “People are sinful” we hear some nonsense like, “People are just incomplete, or sick, or misinformed, or even underappreciated.” In place of “Christ is sufficient,” we are being told, “Jesus is here to help you make the most of your potential.” Sadly, though that incomplete Gospel may make folks feel a little better for a while, it is utterly powerless to save anyone.

Only the biblical Gospel can do that.

God is holy; and people are sinful; but – praise be to Him! – Christ is sufficient! Hallelujah!