euangelion

Or “gospel” in Greek. I thank the lord that the good news is consistently preached at my church in Philly not only in its narrow sense - the saving death and resurrection of Jesus in whom a sinner is freed from the condemnation of sin and finds eternal life with God - but also in a broader scope. Allow me to elucidate what I think to be efficacious gospel preaching.

1. Paul uses the gospel narrowly in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and 1 Timothy 1:11-16. A sermon might try to engender trust for God, either in his sovereignty or his goodness, in some vague sense, or it might even exhort obedience to his commandants. How vain this is without the news of the New Testament covenant promises of Christ! Remember how God the spirit does nothing but glorify Christ (John 16:14)? Any trust or obedience that stems outside the security of “it is finished” is tenuous at best, at worst a deceptive form of self-righteousness.
2. Paul uses the gospel broadly for God’s general purposes in this world; 2 Timothy 1:8-10 and pretty much the whole letter of Titus conveyed the comprehensive fruits of gospel living. This gets across the message of a previous post. The gospel has always had an aspect of obedience (1 Peter 4:6-7, Romans 1:5, 10:16, 16:26, 2 Thessalonians 1:8) along with faith (Acts 15:7, Ephesians 1:13). That’s because it’s the only appropriate motivation for sanctification (Mark 8:35, 10:29, 2 Corinthians 9:13, Ephesians 6:15, Philippians 1:27), as stated before. In addition, the kingdom and its benefits are ushered in through the gospel (Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 24:14).

With it, the word “gospel” carries a large overhead of implications. But not one is inconsequential, and therefore to preach (and evangelize!) effectively, the narrow and broad essences must be brought to light in accordance with the measure of skill of the message-deliverer.