The Gospel
Paul opened the letter with salutations and greetings. He commended the believers in Rome for how their faith was being spoken of throughout the world. Then, after expressing his desire to visit them, he summarized the message of the entire book:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16-17).
The first five chapters of Romans communicate how the Gospel is the power of God. It’s what produces the life of God in people.
Before we go into all of this, we need to define the word Gospel. It’s become a religious term that has actually lost a lot of its meaning today. Many people associate “Gospel” with anything that has to do with religion—specifically the Christian religion, but the word “Gospel” literally means “good tidings,” or “good news.”
The Greek word euaggelion, which was translated “gospel” in seventy-four New Testament verses, was so rare in writings outside of the New Testament that it’s only found twice in the extra-biblical manuscripts we have access to. The reason for this is because this word not only meant “good news,” but was actually describing “nearly-too-good-to-be-true news.” There wasn’t much in the world that was nearly too good to be true before Jesus came, but the biblical writers adopted this word because it was very descriptive of what the Lord did for us.
The Gospel is good news—not bad news! That definitely limits what we mean by the word “Gospel.” Many things have been promoted as “the Gospel” that aren’t good news. For instance, quite a few people in the so-called “Christian culture” of the United States associate the Gospel with teaching that says, “You’re a sinner. If you don’t repent, you’re going to hell!” Now, these are true statements. There is a heaven and a hell, a God and a devil, and you will go to hell if you don’t repent and receive salvation. But even though all of that is truth, it’s not good news.