The Gospel is not just part of the biblical story, it is the biblical story. The Old Testament Scriptures all pointed to Jesus and the redemptive work He was to do. The biblical narrative gives us the back-story, preparing the way for and pointing God’s people toward the redemption He was going to bring through the Messiah (Jesus). The prophets proclaimed the good news of what God would one day do to bring redemption and restoration to His people and His creation. We also see many pictures of the Gospel through out the Old Testament, glimpses of Christ and His redemptive work. When Jesus began His ministry, His message was summed up as the Gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God and ultimately He was the good news because He was the one that came to accomplish what God had promised to do. The first christians went out to proclaim the Gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, and the gentile world. Then we have multiple letters written to the church, these letters were written to remind the church of the Gospel and to lead the church to live their lives in light of the awesome ramifications of the Gospel of Christ.

 

The Gospel is not just one of the messages in Bible. It is the message of the Bible. In the same way the Gospel is not just one part of our christian formation, it is the whole of our formation. It is through the hearing of the Gospel in faith that we become children of God, heirs to the promise. It is also through the application of the Gospel by the Spirit that we are formed into the people God created us to be.

The good news of God’s work to save His people accomplished by Jesus and applied by the Spirit is not just the beginning of our salvation; it is the whole of our salvation. Through the Gospel the punishment for sin has been removed (justification), the sin that is destroying us is being removed (sanctification), and one day we will be perfectly restored, free from sin (glorification). This is all the work of God, which is referred to as the Gospel.

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As the church, the Gospel forms us as a people, because it is through the Gospel that we have been brought into the people of God. But we are also a people being formed by the Gospel as our lives are transformed by the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit, being brought in line with the Gospel, learning to live in light of the exhaustive ramifications of the Gospel.