I have been done some preparatory work for a lecture on What is the Gospel? and have been struck by the variety of ways in which that word is used in the New Testament.
The noun – euangelion – comes 96 times throughout the New Testament; three quarters of those occurrences being in Paul’s letters.
The word is used 13 times in the Gospels – 9 times by Jesus and once of him, and once of the ministry of the disciples and once by Mark in the introduction to his gospel. The word is then used 7 times in Acts, 73 times in Paul’s letters, twice by Peter in his second letter and once in Revelation.
But what really struck me was the variety of ways in which the gospel is spoken of in all these passages:
- “the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”
- “the/this gospel”
- “the gospel of the kingdom”
- “the gospel of the grace of God”
- “the gospel of God”
- “the gospel of Christ”
- “the gospel of his Son”
- “the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”
- “my gospel”
- “our gospel”
- “the gospel of the glory of God”
- “God’s gospel”
- “not man’s gospel”
- “the gospel of your salvation”
- “the gospel of peace”
- “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God”
- “an eternal gospel”
- “not man’s gospel”
Additionally, on three occasions Paul warns about not following “a different gospel” or “a gospel contrary to” the one he preached.
In my next post on The Gospel, I’ll share details of how the verb – euangelizo – is used in the New Testament