What Is the Gospel?
Ask ten people, and you may receive ten different answers. Some will describe how Christians ought to live. Others will speak of loving God, loving our neighbor, helping the hurting, or going to heaven.
Those are important Biblical truths. But they are not Paul’s answer to the question.
When the apostle Paul summarized the gospel, he didn’t begin with what we do. He began with what Christ did. Thus, Paul penned this important affirmation in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4:
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
In these few verses, Paul identifies three historical facts that constitute the very heart of the gospel—what the late Batsell Barrett Baxter called “The Trinity of Truth”: Christ died. Christ was buried. Christ arose.
Christianity is grounded not merely in ideals, ethics, philosophy, or religious sentiment. It rests on something that happened. The gospel is not first advice about what we should do. It is good news about what God has done.
Gospel preacher Mike Willis, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, explains that the phrase “first of all” does not refer to first in time sequence, but to first in importance. What follows, then, are the foundational facts of the gospel.
#1 Christ Died for Our Sins
The gospel is not simply that Jesus died. Everyone dies. The good news is that “Christ died for our sins.”
This contradicted the popular Jewish notion that the Messiah would come to restore Israel to its former prominence and establish an earthly kingdom.
Instead, the prophets spoke of the Messiah coming to die for our sins. Both Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 speak to that fact.
God’s plan was not thwarted when the Jews killed Christ, nor was His death a mistake or the prelude to a future earthly kingdom. It was God’s will, prompted by His love, that Christ should die for the ungodly and bear the sins of the world on the cross (Rom. 5:6; Heb. 9:28).
#2 Christ Was Buried in the Tomb
Jesus’ burial confirms His death.
Through the years, skeptics have advanced the so-called “swoon theory”—the idea that Jesus did not actually die on the cross but merely lost consciousness and later revived.
Paul affirms that Jesus was dead. And that He was buried in the tomb. Period.
#3 Christ Arose From the Dead
“To preach Christianity meant primarily to preach the Resurrection,” wrote C. S. Lewis, emphasizing that the resurrection wasn’t a secondary doctrine for the early Christians. It stood at the center of their proclamation.
Likewise, Charles Spurgeon said, “Our religion is not based on opinions, but upon facts.” He further added that it’s upon the resurrection that “the whole system of Christianity rests.”
In the text, Paul cites witnesses who saw Jesus alive. His appearances to the disciples turned their sadness into gladness, gave purpose to their ministry, and fueled their passion. Their commitment was so deep and their faith so strong that they were willing to suffer—and, in some cases, die—for their risen Savior.
Because He lives, you and I observe Sunday, the first day of the week, to honor, remember, and celebrate Jesus’ vicarious death on the cross and His resurrection.
Consider: Without the resurrection, baptism would be a meaningless rite. Paul compares baptism in Romans 6:3–6 to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Here is a person dead in sin; he’s buried in baptism, where his sins are washed away by the blood of Christ, and resurrected “to walk in newness of life.”
Furthermore, our communion service would be an empty ritual. The Lord’s Supper proclaims Christ’s death “till He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26)—a proclamation filled with hope because the One who died now lives.
Ultimately, as Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus’ resurrection provides the basis and hope for our bodily resurrection.
The gospel is not just another message. Another lecture. Another speech. It is the proclamation of a grand promise.
The promise of a living hope beyond the grave.
The promise of our resurrection from the dead.
The promise of life that death cannot destroy.
The promise of living eternally with the Father.
Because He’s alive.
—Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
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