THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

The gospel, which literally means “good news”, is the biblical message that God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to live a perfect life and die for the world so that the world can have eternal life and be reconciled with God. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” While God created the world perfect with no brokenness, pain, or death, all people, starting with Adam, the first human, have disobeyed God. This is called “sin”, and is fundamentally the failure to love God and neighbor. Romans 5:12, 17, 18 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…For if, because of one man’s [Adam’s] trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.”  God sent Jesus, called the “last Adam” in the Bible (1 Corinthians 15:45), to reverse what the first Adam did in his disobedience to God that led to death and judgment for all. Jesus died a horrific death on a cross about two thousand years ago to satisfy God’s justice and wrath over humanity’s sin: the wrong humanity has committed against God and others. While God is love (1 John 4:8) and wants no one to experience suffering and death, in His justice, all the sins people have committed since Adam must be paid for. Humanity owes a debt to God for the sins we all commit. Jesus paid that debt on the cross. Without Jesus, humanity would suffer both physical death and spiritual death apart from God forever. Jesus died to bring humanity back to God, defeating death on the cross. While people still die now, anyone who puts their faith in Jesus will experience eternal life and live eternally with God. Romans 10:9-10 says, “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” God promises eternal life for all who put their faith in Jesus, who died on a cross and rose again from the dead 3 days later. God promises that all who put their faith in Jesus, while they may physically die, will rise again like Jesus and live forever with God in a perfect place with no sin, death, or suffering, a new heaven and a new earth.

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This is described in the last two chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21-22. What is more, whoever puts their faith in Jesus and what he did for humanity on the cross, believing that God raised him from the dead, becomes a child of God. Galatians 3:26 says, “for in Christ Jesus you are children of God, through faith.” Christians are saved from death and judgment by Jesus and are given eternal life with God, fully forgiven by God and given the opportunity to have an intimate relationship with God. Upon becoming a Christian, Christians receive the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, which lives in them and transforms them to become exactly like Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:13, Romans 8:29). Christianity is not just about being saved from death but about becoming a new person, one that loves God and those around them (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ died to create a new humanity, one characterized by love of God and others, not sin and rebellion against God.