The Gospel is a story of redemption. It's the story of God's love being given to us from the very beginning and reaching until the very end. Through God's demonstration of love through Jesus Christ, the relationship between us and God can be restored. The Gospel is derived from the Jewish scriptures, translating to “Good News.” I believe the Gospel can be explained in 3 simple parts: The Creation, The Fall, and The Redemption.
The Creation
The “good news” of the Gospel starts with God’s good creation. In the first chapter of the book of Genesis, we see God creating different things like the sun, moon, the earth, the sky, animals, etc. He called those things "good," and they still remain the same today. The last thing God creates in the beginning, is humankind. But there was something special about the creation of humans, we were created in the "image of God" (Genesis 1:27). This means that we have similar attributes and characteristics as God but on a smaller magnitude. Now because God is depicted as “holy,” meaning He’s perfect, blameless, (set apart from imperfections) that means His image or anything that comes from Himself is created perfect as well. So that’s why Adam and Eve (the first human creations), were made in a “perfect image,” or in a “perfect” way. This was the "perfect" standard that God created and wanted to last forever. Our relationship with God (in the beginning) consisted of daily communion, and it was good. God loved His good creation ( John 3:16).
The Fall
The fall of mankind comes into play when God tells His first human creations, Adam and Eve to "not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis... ). After being tempted and deceived by the devil to eat from it anyways, they followed through and disobeyed God's command. So, then the "perfect" image of God humans lived in was broken because sin (anything in opposition to God) entered the world (through disobedience to God), and entered evil entered the hearts of mankind, making sin inherent from that point on. The perfect world in which God created was then broken, letting imperfection in, which then turned into things like insecurities, doubt, fear, and the most terrible thing, death (Romans 6:23).
Since, sin (and imperfection) then became a part of our nature as humans, and God cannot be present where sin is, He had to separate us from Himself. Because mankind had broken God's trust and now a world full of problems would be dominant and death would be inevitable.
Sin causes death (“lifelessness”) and the repercussions and penalty for sin is hell, an eternal doom filled with agony and separation of the goodness of God. This is because sin is so evil and ugly and so serious to God. So, the punishment is also serious. But Mankind’s sin problem couldn't be stopped on their own, we could no longer reach the "perfect" standard of living in which God had originally intended. Our sin needed a solution, a perfect solution.
The Redemption
This "perfect" image of God returns through a man names Jesus Christ, Who is fully God and fully human. Jesus is sent from heaven by God to become this perfect solution to sin. The punishment for sin is eternal death (physically but even more spiritually), and so that's why Jesus came to the earth. He came to take on the punishment that sin qualifies for, by dying on a cross (Isaiah 53:5, Romans 4:25, 2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus decides to present His own life as the "perfect" sacrifice and the only solution to humanity's problem of sin. Jesus lived a “perfect” life to show that this is what God wanted originally and that only with His help, perfection can then be achieved.
Through Jesus perfectly lived life, death on the cross for sins, and resurrection, He provided humanity for hope of a NEW LIFE!! That's the good news of The Gospel! Our sin doesn't have to hold us back any longer because Jesus paid the price for our sin, a punishment we deserved, and a debt in which we could never pay. By believing in this, and repenting (acknowledgement of sins to God and turning from them), we can now live our lives in relationship with God! We can now live a life, in which our hope and eternity with God is restored!
Simple Conclusion
Overall, the Gospel is a simple, story of redemption. The story about God, the Creator, who loved His creation and the whole world so much to not let them remain helpless without a solution to their sin problem (John 3:16-17). God chose to redeem His creation, even though they had a fall and didn’t deserve it. By extending Himself to us through Jesus Christ, physically and spiritually paid the price for our sins and sacrificed Himself to save us. This allowed us to be able to choose Jesus to be our Savior and be a part of our life accepting the rescue from hell and the gift of eternal life with him in heaven. This ever-continuing story is so important because it’s the only story where the hero dies for the villain, the one in the wrong. But that goes to show how much this story is rooted in love, and how that love can change us and the world for the better.
This is the Good News. This is "The Gospel."
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