A Proper Understanding of the Gospel as the Key for Healthy Church Evangelism, Life and Ministry

This article seeks to discuss the true biblical meaning of the Gospel message given the fact that in today’s Christianity we have various understandings of the Gospel message. Particularly, this issue is present in the debate about Paul and Jesus – whether Paul’s message about justification by faith or Jesus’ message about the kingdom of God is the Gospel. The thesis of this article is that the Gospel is a primarily christological and not soteriological message. That is, its center is Christ: his person and work, and not humanity and their sins or salvation from sins. There is a huge difference between these two versions of the Gospel message, and they shape church evangelism, life and ministry dramatically. Because of that, this article offers a critique and helpful revision of the understanding of the Gospel message so that rightfully understood it may produce better results and fruits in the life of the church