"If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:9).
It’s common in Uganda to meet so-called "gospel" preachers. Recently I met two men who introduced themselves in this way. They wanted to partner with me so that we could "take the gospel to the whole world." My first question was, "What is the gospel? How do you explain it?" One of them answered, "The gospel is salvation," while the other eagerly nodded his head. This is a common answer, although not a very good one. While the gospel and salvation are indeed closely-related, they are by no means the same thing. Furthermore, such an answer leaves one wondering what salvation really is.
Real Christianity begins with a right understanding of the gospel. You might already know that "gospel" means "good news." Your next question should be, "Good news about what?" Good news that you can have everything you want if you have enough faith? Good news that God will give you a big church in America? Good news that Jesus died so you can go to heaven when you die? Did you say yes to any of these? If so, you believe a false gospel (or at least an incomplete one)!
Did you know that Jesus Himself preached the gospel? I’ll bet He could tell us what the gospel is, wouldn’t you? His answer: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). Notice how Jesus’ gospel calls us to action right from the beginning, by commanding that we "repent." To "repent" means to change your mind, and as a result, to change your behavior (what you need to change about your behavior is a subject of its own). Jesus calls us to repent because of the reality that the kingdom of heaven (or "kingdom of God") has come near to us.
The content of the gospel, therefore, is the kingdom of God. This is true throughout the books we call the "Gospels." Whenever they describe the gospel’s content, it is this. Furthermore, when these books use the word "gospel," it is often part of the larger phrase, "gospel of the kingdom" (Matthew 4:23).1 Unsurprisingly, the kingdom of God was the main theme of Jesus’ teachings. He taught people about this kingdom through stories with a deeper meaning (called parables), often beginning with, "The kingdom of heaven [or God] is like…" (Matthew 13:24)2 or similar statements (Matthew 25:1).3 This is why Jesus could say, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent" (Luke 4:43). In Jesus’ mind, the gospel is the announcement of God’s kingdom.
What changed in Jesus’ day that allowed Him to make such an announcement? Jesus Himself! When Jesus entered into our world, He came bringing His kingdom with Him. As God’s chosen King (the meaning of the title "Christ"), Jesus is the personal expression of His kingdom, much like the "kabaka" is the personal expression of the Buganda kingdom. When Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you a king?" His reply was, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world" (John 18:37). Jesus came to establish His kingdom on earth, and His gospel was the announcement of this marvelous event in history.
Jesus’ earliest followers preached the same gospel. When He sent out His twelve apostles to preach, he told them to say, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 10:7). He later sent out seventy others with the same message (Luke 10:9). When Jesus commanded His followers to preach the gospel to the whole world (Mark 16:15), they knew what He meant because they had already been preaching it! And the gospel they preached should be the gospel we preach.
While the gospel is clear, it also requires further explanation. People have always had their own ideas about the kingdom of God. This was true in Jesus’ day, and it’s still true today. Jesus knew He had to explain what He meant, and we must do likewise. His message was not entirely new; it was the fulfillment of both the human story and Israel’s story. In the next post, we will explore how God’s kingdom is present in the first of these stories.
1. See also Matthew 9:35; 24:14; Mark 1:14.
2. See also Matthew 13:31, 33, 44, 45, 47; 18:23; 20:1; 22:2; Mark 4:26.
3. See also Mark 4:30.
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