What is the Gospel?

The gospel is the good news about what God has done to reconcile sinners to himself.


Here’s the Whole Story...

The one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know him (Gen. 1:26-28).


But we sinned and cut ourselves off from him (Gen. 3; Rom. 3:23).


In his great love, God sent his Son Jesus to come as king and rescue his people from their enemies—most significantly their own sin (Ps. 2; Luke 1:67-79).


Jesus established his kingdom by acting as both a mediating priest and a priestly sacrifice—he lived a perfect life and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law himself and taking on himself the punishment for the sins of many (Mark 10:45; John 1:14; Heb. 7:26; Rom. 3:21-26, 5:12-21); then he rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted his sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted (Acts 2:24, Rom. 4:25).


He now calls us to repent of our sins and trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness (Acts 17:30, John 1:12). If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God (John 3:16).

We can summarize the Gospel like this...

God, Man, Christ, Response

God. God is the creator of all things (Gen. 1:1). He is perfectly holy, worthy of all worship, and will punish sin (1 John 1:5, Rev. 4:11, Rom. 2:5-8).


Man. All people, though created good, have become sinful by nature (Gen. 1:26-28, Ps. 51:5, Rom. 3:23). From birth, all people are alienated from God, hostile to God, and subject to the wrath of God (Eph. 2:1-3).


Christ. Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, died on the cross to bear God’s wrath in the place of all who would believe in him, and rose from the grave in order to give his people eternal life (John 1:1, 1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 7:26, Rom. 3:21-26, 2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Cor. 15:20-22).


Response. God calls everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and trust in Christ in order to be saved (Mark 1:15, Acts 20:21, Rom. 10:9-10).


(This article was originally published here.)

I believe!

What now?

If you believe the gospel outlined above, please know that we as a church are rejoicing! It’s a miraculous thing anytime sinners like you and me are brought from spiritual death to spiritual life through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:1-10).


However, the Christian life doesn’t end there. As a follower of Jesus, you’re now called to at least four things:

  • Baptism

    Baptism is publicly professing your faith in Jesus and identifying with his people (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:37-41).

  • Church Membership

    Church Membership is our mutual commitment to follow Jesus together in the context of a local church (Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12).

  • Discipleship

    Discipleship is walking together in life and helping one another follow Jesus faithfully.

  • Service

    Service to the church and the world is what characterizes Jesus’ followers as we seek to make him known.


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