The Gospel

What is the gospel?

The gospel is the primary message of Christianity. It is quite literally “what it’s all about.”

As our righteous creator, God gave us life, and we are obligated to live the way He wants us to live.

The good news is that the life for which He made us is an infinitely better life than we could ever make for ourselves—an eternal loving relationship with Him.

However, we still try to make our own way and live the way we want, sinning against Him.

God cannot tolerate our rebellion because to do so would cause Him to violate His own holiness.

For that reason, we are disqualified from the eternal life He wants us to have, and we are condemned to the death that we have earned by our sin.

For us to escape that condemnation a price must be paid—a life sacrificed for the life that we ruined.

The bad news is that only a human can pay for human sin, but only God can take the wrath of God and live.

So, God became a human. His name is Jesus.

Jesus lived a righteous life, no sin and, therefore, no condemnation. In other words, He did not deserve to die. Yet, His death is perhaps the most famous death in all of history.

He died so that we could live. Our sin was placed on his account, and His righteousness was placed on ours. His life was ruined so that we could be reborn into new life.

But, that is not all. To prove that He was who He said He was and that He did what He said He would do, He did more than pay the death payment. He defeated death altogether. He rose from the dead.

In doing so, He showed us that He had the power, not only to take our sin but also to give us life—the life God wanted for us from the beginning.

The good news is that Jesus gives us life, an eternal loving relationship with Him.

So, we turn from our sin, admitting that it only brings death, and trust in Jesus, believing that His death brings us life.

That is the gospel. It is not ultimately about what we do for God. It is the good news of what He has done for us.