What is the gospel of Jesus Christ?
So what is the Gospel? The Bible says that before anything existed, there was God. God consists of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Another name for the Son of God was the Word. He is talked about in the Bible in the first chapter of John. It says:
“1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it. “
Later in that first chapter of John it says:
“14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Historically, the Son of God is known as Jesus Christ.
Jesus had been born into this world with a mission; His job was to end the opposition between God and man.
Let’s go back a bit. When God started creating things, he made a law. It’s known as God’s Law of Love. It’s also known as the “Golden Rule”. This law is stated in Mathew 22:37:
“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’“
When we break this law, we end up hurting someone else. Many sins, if we look at them, are rooted in selfishness. We don’t care about the person we hurt; we only care about getting our own way or looking important, usually at someone else’s expense. This puts us at war with God and we can’t have fellowship with Him in this condition.
The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,“
Every person who has ever lived has broken this law and is separated from God.
Jesus came to fix that.
Jesus, because he was the Son of God, was able to live a sinless life. This put Him in a position to be able to be in right standing with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
To put us in right standing with God, Jesus became the stand-in for our sins – yours, mine and everyone else’s in the whole world – past, present and future. That’s what the Cross was about – Jesus taking the punishment for our sins. The Bible says in Isaiah 53:5:
“…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
So Jesus died on a cross to put people in right standing with God the Father. Three days after his death, he did what he had said he would do and rose from the dead. He appeared to many people, showing that He had power even over the grave and death.
Even though Jesus paid for everyone’s sins, it doesn’t mean that everyone will be saved. Here‘s a story that may make this truth clearer:
Have you ever gotten a new credit card in the mail? The card is useless until you call the number on the card and activate it. Once activated, the card has power.
The same is true with Jesus’s death on the cross. You need to activate His forgiveness by believing in your heart that Jesus is God and that He died to save you from your sins. In addition, you must be willing to surrender your whole life to Him. Then He will send the Holy Spirit to live inside of you. The Holy Spirit’s job is to help you know right from wrong and to let you know when you are going the wrong way.
If you are truly saved, you will have a natural desire to start living a live that pleases God, by obeying and following His Golden Rule. It doesn’t mean that you won’t mess up from time to time, but your natural desire will be to act more like Christ. The best way to learn what Jesus was like is to read and study the Bible.
A good place to start reading the Bible is the book of John, which is in the New Testament, near the back of the book. There are many different translations of the Bible; my favorite one is called the New Living Translation. It’s written in modern English and is easy to understand.
If you become a Christian, should also find a Bible believing church in your area, where you can meet with other Christians, to help you grow as a Christian and to encourage you in your faith.