What is the Gospel?

Theologically speaking, what is the Gospel? The Gospel is the fact that those who could not be saved by following their conscience, keeping the Law, or through their own enlightenment alone—that is, sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and thieves—have been saved. The good news is that those at the bottom of society—the outcasts, the poor, and the marginalized—have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ.

Before Christianity, sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and thieves were considered utterly beyond salvation—those excluded from it. However, the fact that they have been saved through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ—and that they have been saved not by their own strength or ability, but solely through faith in Jesus Christ—is precisely the Gospel.

The history of Christianity did not begin with the elite, scholars, nobles, or the wealthy. Rather, it began with the poor, the uneducated, and the marginalized. It began with Simon Peter and Andrew, uneducated fishermen; with Matthew, a sinner and tax collector; with Simon, a revolutionary who dreamed of a new world; and with Mary Magdalene, who had been possessed by seven demons.

The history of Christianity is the very story of how these people, through repentance and faith in Christ, lived such great lives—lives filled with truth and happiness. No matter how lowly one’s life may be, no matter how great a sinner one may be, if one repents and believes in Christ, one will be saved. This is the Gospel.

Human beings cannot be completely good. Human beings cannot be perfectly righteous. However, if one repents while turning toward God—who is “Goodness” itself—and believes in Jesus Christ, one will be saved. Human beings cannot love perfectly. Yet those who continue to practice love—loving God and their neighbors with this small heart—will be saved.

Those who fall again and again but get back up, believe in Jesus as their Savior, and begin a life of love anew will be saved. Though we may close the door to love when we are hurt, all who resolve to love again—remembering the passionate love of Jesus Christ, the supreme love on the cross, and that perfect love that gave His life for our salvation—will be saved. This is the Gospel.

It is not that one must be a blameless, righteous person or practice perfect love like the saints to be saved; rather, a person is saved when they acknowledge before Jesus that they are a sinner, that they are a human being with weaknesses and wounds, repent deeply before Him, and believe in Him. This is the Gospel.

We are saved when we confess that we are creatures before God the Creator, sinners before Jesus the Savior, and fragile human beings like clay pots before the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier. This is the Gospel.