{"id":457,"date":"2014-03-23T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=457"},"modified":"2014-03-23T07:48:40","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T12:48:40","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-gospel-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2014\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-gospel-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about Gospel truth?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” (Isaiah 52:7—NKJV)<\/cite> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I am sure you have heard of the expression, \u201cThat is the Gospel truth!\u201d What the person is trying to protest is that his testimony is infallible and unquestionably true to fact. Apparently this phrase has been out and about since the late 1800\u2019s. Sometimes the term is shortened to simply one word, \u201cGospel!\u201d Since the late 1600\u2019s similar terminology was applied to speak of biblical doctrines, especially of the good news of salvation. <\/p>\n

The Bible word for Gospel is the word euangelion<\/em>, though it originally denoted a reward for good tidings, the meaning settled down to the idea of the good news itself. The Latin term is evangelium<\/em> and middle English translated it into the word \u201cgodspell,\u201d meaning good (god) + tale (spell), good tidings, good story, good news. In the New Testament the word denotes the good news of the Kingdom and salvation through Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n

Biblically speaking, the word only applies to this narrow field. The first four books of the New Testament are \u201cThe Gospels\u201d (good news of Jesus Christ), though you will hear certain type of songs called \u201cGospel Music,\u201d and well-meaning (but doctrinally uprooted) churches have expanded its use to include something called \u201cThe Social Gospel.\u201d The authentic, biblical Gospel cannot be fully understood without a clear grasp of the Old Testament text stated above. This verse in Isaiah introduces the good news to man of the vicarious death of the Son of God, the \u201cSuffering Servant,\u201d which is fully elaborated in Isaiah 53. This Gospel is the glad tiding of salvation which God addresses to a world lost in sin. Apart from Isaiah 53, the good news of the New Testament cannot be understood. Jesus Christ is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, and to diminish His centrality with any addition of works or self-righteousness disembowels the Gospel. The Gospel truth must never be \u201ctweaked,\u201d sugar-coated, or highjacked; it must be Gospel truth in every sense of the word! (Galatians 2:14) <\/p>\n

The New Testament authors took this passage as their foundation, as is seen in the recounting of the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch found in Acts 8:26ff. The unfolding of the Gospel by Philip began at the reading of Isaiah 53:7–8, and Philip \u201cpreached Jesus to him.\u201d Jesus Christ fulfilled all the prophecy found in Isaiah, and the facts of His sacrificial death, burial, and His resurrection become the touch-points of His work of purchasing pardon for sin and eternal life in the presence of the Father for all who will believe in Him. <\/p>\n

Any believer who desires to \u201cproclaim peace,\u201d \u201cbring glad tidings of good things,\u201d and \u201cproclaim salvation\u201d to the lost around him must keep certain Scriptures in mind in order to stay on point with his message. Remember: <\/p>\n