Gospel

Definition and Meaning

The word gospel means "blessed news" or "good news." It translates the Greek euangelion. In Protestantism it refers to the message that God saves people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which record this message, are called the Gospels.

Biblical and Historical Background

In the Old Testament, Isaiah 52:7 and Isaiah 61:1 speak of "good tidings" announcing God's salvation. In Mark 1:15 Jesus proclaims, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." In 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, Paul presents as the heart of the gospel that Christ died, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures.

During the sixteenth-century Reformation, Martin Luther distinguished between law and gospel. He placed at the center of the gospel the doctrine of justification, which holds that a person is declared righteous not by works but by faith. In the modern period, views diverged between those who understand the gospel as the salvation of the individual soul and the "Social Gospel" movement, which extends it to the transformation of social structures. The 1974 Lausanne Congress addressed evangelism and Christian social responsibility together.

Practice in the Korean Church

In the Korean church, the phrase "to share the gospel" commonly means evangelism. Methods that present the gospel as a few summary points, such as the "Four Spiritual Laws" promoted by Korea Campus Crusade for Christ, have also been widely used.

Denominations differ in how they summarize the gospel and in what they emphasize.

• The Holiness Church holds the "Fourfold Gospel" of regeneration, sanctification, divine healing, and the Second Coming as the pillars of its doctrine.
• Full Gospel churches, such as the Korea Assemblies of God, emphasize the "Fivefold Gospel" (regeneration, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, divine healing, blessing, and the Second Coming), as formulated by Pastor David Yonggi Cho, along with the "Threefold Blessing." The inclusion of material blessing in the gospel has drawn criticism associated with prosperity theology.
• Presbyterians, drawing on the Westminster Confession of Faith and other standards, describe salvation received by grace alone through faith alone as the core of the gospel.
• Methodists, following Wesleyan theology, emphasize both salvation received by faith and sanctification, the process of growing in holiness of life.
• Progressive denominations and organizations tend to stress that the gospel encompasses not only individual salvation but also social justice and peace.