What Is A Gospel?

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (Good News about God and His Son, Jesus Christ), for it is the power of God (Spirit at work) for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek (Gentiles or non-Jews). ¹⁷ For in it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God (how God makes us right in His sight) is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17, English Standard Version

As we study the Gospel of John, many people may ask, "What is a Gospel?" For centuries, scholars have debated the meaning of a gospel. In the New Testament, there are four kinds of literature: (1) Gospels; (2) book of Acts; (3) the Letters, also known as Epistles, from Paul and other authors; (4) the book of Revelation, also known as apocalyptic literature. The New Testament defines the "Gospel" as both the Gospel of God and the Gospel of Christ (e.g., see Romans 15:16; 2 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:2). God promised this Good News long ago through His Old Testament prophets because the Gospel is about God's only begotten Son, Jesus the Messiah (see Romans 1:2-4).

In the Old Testament, the word "bisar" is the Hebrew verb which means "to proclaim good news." Bisar was used to describe the report of victory in battle (e.g., see 2 Samuel 4:9-10). The ancient Israelites believed the living God reigns and rules as King (e.g., see Psalm 24:1-2, 7-10), and the living God was actively involved in their lives (including battles and wars) to deliver then out of all their troubles, hardships, and pain and to bring them into salvation and ultimate victory (e.g., see 1 Samuel 17:45-47; 2 Kings 6:16-18; Psalm 40:9-10; Isaiah 52:7). Then in the Old Testament, the Gospel also meant the coming deliverance, victory, and salvation of God through the Messiah (Christ, Anointed One)[1] (e.g., see 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Isaiah 11:1-10; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Ezekiel 34:23-24).

The Greek word most used for bisar was euangelizesthai. Like the Hebrew word bisar, euangelizesthai was a word used to announce and proclaim victory in battle. Christians increasingly used euanggelion (the noun derived from euangelizesthai) to describe the Good News of Jesus. The English editions of the Bible used the Anglo-Saxon word "godspell" to translate the noun euaggelion. Godspell was used because the story about Jesus was Good News. As English developed, the term was shortened to "Gospel." Today, the Gospel and the Good News are used interchangeably when referring to Jesus the Messiah (Christ). Christians use the word Gospel or Good News as the message of God's saving activity through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of God's unique Son, Jesus.

Through faith in Jesus the Messiah (Christ), the living God has given EVERYONE (Jews, Gentiles, blacks, whites, Muslins, Hindus, gay, straight, young, old, rich, poor, male and female) the privilege and power to become His children and to be made right in His sight (e.g., see John 1:12-13; Romans 1:16-17). Even more through Jesus the Messiah, we receive God's grace and connection to heaven (e.g., see John 1:14, 16-17; John 14:6; John 15:1-8).

Jesus announced this Good News when He came into the first century Roman-occupied Palestine. In Palestine, Jesus proclaimed that His Father, the living LORD God of heaven and earth, and God's Kingdom had come into the world through Him (e.g., see Mark 1:14-15; John 1:1-5, 18). Jesus the Messiah and His Father, the living LORD God, are One (e.g., see John 10:30; John 14:9-10). Furthermore, Jesus declared that everyone must REPENT (turn from their sins) and TURN to His Father, the living LORD God, who reigns and rules the whole universe (e.g., see Matthew 4:17). Then, Jesus announced that through faith in Him everyone would receive God and the goodness of God's Kingdom NOW, which includes God's healing, forgiveness, and salvation, and in the future at His second return to earth (e.g., see Matthew 4:23-25; Luke 6:17-20; Matthew 25:31-46).

The four Gospels were written primarily for first-century churches that were facing certain problems and hardships. Many of these issues in the first century are the same issues that today's churches are facing. The Gospels, then and now, are pastoral (caring) documents designed to encourage, teach, rebuke, as well as comfort believers in God and His Son Jesus dealing with everyday problems and situations. Thus, the message of the Gospels is timeless. 

There are four Gospels that declare the message of Jesus. These Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In the second century, Tatian sought to combine and harmonize the four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — into one story of Jesus's life and death and create one Gospel narrative. This collapsed Gospel written by Tatian was called the Diatessaron. The Diatessaron was widely circulated in the early churches. Eventually, the early churches rejected the Diatessaron by Tatian. They believed the Gospels about Jesus should not be collapsed and should be preserved as a four-fold collection of Jesus' life and death.

Throughout the years, the Gospel message about Jesus has been defined in many ways. For centuries, many scholars taught the Gospels were a straightforward biography of Jesus's life and history. But by the 18th century, many scholars began rejecting the notion that the Gospel was a biography of Jesus because the four Gospels omitted the first 30 years of Jesus' life. Even more, these scholars noted the four Gospels give little biographical information about Jesus. The four Gospels provide few details about Jesus' family life, and only two Gospels – Matthew and Luke, give Jesus' birth, and even then, Matthew and Luke's birth story about Jesus vary and differ.

Mark begins his Gospel with Jesus' public ministry in first-century Palestine, while John's Gospel begins his message about Jesus with eternity. John's Gospel begins his Gospel with the same words as Genesis with "In the beginning." For the most part, the public ministry of Jesus is where all four Gospels center their story starting with Jesus' baptism by John the Baptizer (see Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34) and ending with Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension as Savior of the world (see Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18).

However, some scholars argue that the four Gospels are simply a collection of the teaching and preaching of the church. Radical form critics such as Rudolf Bultmann, a German theologian, argued the Gospels have little historical value of Jesus as a historical person but only give what the early church had come to believe about Jesus during the period of oral traditions. This view was popular from 1900 through 1950. Such form critics argued the Gospel writers used mostly oral and some written sources about Jesus that were shaped and modified by the early church to create the Gospels. Form critics such as Rudolph Bultmann argued the oral traditions about Jesus from the early church were substantially changed during the period of oral transmission. By the time of the first Gospel in approximately A.D. 70, these form critics believed the Gospels gave very little about the historical Jesus in the four Gospels.

For many years, the stories and teachings of Jesus were communicated primarily by word of mouth. Literacy was uncommon in the ancient world. Books and writing equipment were expensive, and the education needed to use them was usually reserved for the rich. Such an oral system may seem fragile and unreliable by modern standards, but ancient societies trusted the methods and forms they developed to sustain the process. Thus, scholars such as Joachim Jeremias argued that the Gospels with the stories about Jesus maintained a sacred nature and not merely rumors and gossips, as contended by Rudolf Bultmann. The teaching of Jesus possessed an authority by the early church, and the early church did not modify the oral teachings of Jesus. Such scholars as Joachim Jeremias argued that those who passed on the oral traditions of Jesus in the early church were faithful to those oral traditions. These early believers of Jesus did not radically modify nor create traditions about Jesus.

Some scholars have argued that the Gospels are like Roman biographies. In Roman biographies, the authors would write about the Roman Emperors' long discourses or speeches, and the character of the Emperor was revealed through their words and statements. Similarly, the Gospels, particularly Luke and John's Gospels, are filled with Jesus' long discourses, sermons, or speeches. The heart of John's Gospel is the speeches and lectures from Jesus. Thus, some scholars have argued that the Gospels are an imitation of the Greco-Roman biographies of Roman Emperors.

Nonetheless, some scholars see the Gospel as a unique creation with similarities and parallels to Greco-Roman biographies. However, in the Greco-Roman biographies, everyone praised the Emperor. In the Gospels, Jesus is ultimately rejected, and Jesus' enemies seemed victories.

Therefore, most scholars today see the Gospels as merely a theological portrait of Jesus. A theological portrait is an interpretation of Jesus by each Gospel writer. Most scholars now believe the four Gospel writers used both written and oral traditions about Jesus' life and ministry during the forty years after Jesus' ascension to heaven in approximately A.D. 30 to create their theological portrait of Jesus (e.g., see Luke 1:1-4). The four Gospel writers retell the story of Jesus, and each writer emphasized aspects of Jesus to guide, care, or shepherd the early church. John's Gospel states that there were many stories and miracles about Jesus. Like other Gospel writers, John gave only selected stories and miracles of Jesus to help his congregation (see John 20:30; John 21:25). Each Gospel writer created Jesus from a bias that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ) and the Son of God (e.g., see Matthew 16:16; Matthew 17:5; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:29-37; John 1:41, 49; John 20:31).

The four Gospels were probably sent to early Christian churches that met in small house churches. These early Christians lived in a hostile environment and suffered persecution from both their fellow Jews and the Romans. For the most part, the Gospels were pastoral documents to help believers of God and His Son Jesus handle difficult discriminations, false teaching, and the Gospels were sent to teach, rebuke, and encourage Jesus' followers.

The four Gospels do not give a daily travel log of Jesus' public ministry nor a complete history of Jesus' life. Interestingly, the New Testament writers do not give an objective biographical account of Jesus. The four Gospel writers were evangelists that presented a story of Jesus to influence and convince faith on Him. The content of the Gospels discusses the historical Jesus, and the Gospels are sacred stories about Jesus. However, each Gospel writer gives their portrait of Jesus' public life, teaching, and ministry.

The first written Gospel appeared around A.D. 70, which was 40 years after Jesus' ascension and return to heaven in approximately A.D. 30 (see Acts 1:9-11). The Gospels simply did not drop from the sky! In A.D. 70, the first Gospel appeared, and many scholars believe the Gospel of Mark was the first Gospel written. Mark, who was a second-generation Christian, was not an eyewitness of Jesus. However, the early church believes Mark used Apostle Peter, an original eyewitness of Jesus' public ministry on earth, as his source for his Gospel. Mark's Gospel record the life and message of Jesus as he heard it from Apostle Peter. Many scholars believe the Gospel of John, written by the Apostle John, was the last Gospel written. Between these Mark and John's Gospels, the Gospels of Matthew was written by Apostle Matthew, and then the Gospel of Luke was written. The Gospel of Matthew is the most Jewish of the Gospels, and Matthew regularly presented Jesus as the fulfillment of Hebrew prophecy. For instance, the purpose of the nativity story in Matthew is to present Jesus as the royal Messiah from the family of David (see Matthew 1:1-17). The Sermon on the Mount portrays Jesus as a new Moses who teaches God's Law (see Matthew 5:1-20). Luke was a travel companion of the Apostle Paul and the only Gentile author. The Gospel of Luke is generally accepted as the only Gospel written by a Gentile (non-Jew). As a non-Jew, Luke wanted to explain that Jesus was the Savior of all people. The Gospel of John was the last Gospel written. John's Gospel is undoubtedly the most insightful and the most theological of the four Gospels. John wrote his Gospel to both a Jewish and Gentile (Greek) audience. These four Gospels were eventually becoming canonized as Scriptures. The early church recognized God's Holy Spirit in the four Gospels to proclaim the message of salvation and victory through Jesus!

However, there were other gospels written about Jesus that circulated during the church's early history. These rejected "gospels" often lacked Jewish interpretations of Jesus, or Gnostic heretics heavily influenced them. Some of these other gospels were written much later than the four Gospels included in the New Testament. Most of these other gospels were written between A.D. 120 and 150. Nevertheless, these other stories of Jesus would eventually become written down into the Apocrypha gospels. The Apocrypha gospels are several writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus, and many of these gospels were written up into the 5th century and written by authors who were not eyewitnesses of Jesus' public ministry.

From the time of Jesus' death and ascension into heaven in A.D. 30, the stories, teachings, and miracles of Jesus were circulated orally by His disciples. In addition to the fact of limited learning, members of the early church believed Jesus would return soon, so they felt no urgency to write down His teachings for the future. Jesus' disciples who eyewitness His public ministry expected Jesus to return to earth soon to establish His military Kingdom as reflected in Acts 1 at Jesus' ascension into heaven.

About thirty years after Jesus' ascension, three interrelated crises began to impact the church. First, there was persecution by Nero and other Romans against Christians that led to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in A.D. 70, which ended the Jewish sacrificial system and Temple worship. Second, the eyewitnesses of Jesus' public ministry started were dying. The early church placed a high value on the eyewitnesses of Jesus' miracles, teachings, and life (e.g., see Luke 1:2; 1 John 1:1-3). Third, many Christians began to realize that Christ would not return soon to earth, and they needed to preserve Jesus' message. As a result, individuals responded to the leadership of God's Spirit to write down the teachings, stories, and message of Jesus into what we call the Gospels. Because Jesus had not yet returned, early Christians believed there was a need for the traditions of Jesus to be written down by Jesus' eyewitnesses.

From approximately A.D. 70 until A.D. 90, four individuals responded to the inspiration of God's Spirit by writing down the message about Jesus. These four individuals wanted to strengthen, educate, comfort, and encourage those suffering from persecution with the Good News of God's protection through Jesus. Moreover, these four individuals wanted to use a written form of the Gospel as an additional tool for evangelism to spread faith in Jesus as the Messiah (Christ) and the Son of God (e.g., see John 20:30-31). Many people wished the four Gospel writers included additional information about Jesus' home life, His youth and teen years, or some other area of interest. However, the Gospel writers' primary interest was not to produce great works of literature, nor was their intention to write a biography about Jesus. Their principal goal was to persuade, convince, and lead people to faith in Jesus as the Messiah (Christ) and the Son of God (e.g., see Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 1:1). Each Gospel writer gave a theological portrait of Jesus as influenced by each writer's personality and first-century audience. Out of several gospels and other accounts of the life of Jesus, God led the early church to choose four which He had inspired – Matthew; Mark; Luke; John (e.g., see Luke 1:1-2).

References

Butler, Trent C. Holman Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1991).

Dr. Loyd Melton, Ph.D., Senior Professor of the New Testament (Due West, SC: Erskine Theological Seminary, Summer 2020).

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[1]   The word Messiah (Hebrew term) and Christ (Greek term) both means "Anointed One" (Matthew 1:17; John 1:41; John 4:25).