I Have Good News!

“I have good news!” How many of us love to hear or say those words? They could come from a child telling his parents about a good report card. It could be a husband telling his wife that he just received a raise in salary, or a wife telling her husband that they are going to have a baby. It could be a doctor telling a patient that a biopsy came back negative. Whatever form it takes, good news is something we all love to hear and to share.

The best news ever shared was the good news, or the gospel, of Jesus Christ. Jesus told His disciples to go out into the world and preach the gospel to everyone (Mark 16:15). The Greek word for “gospel” is evangelion, a word that was originally used when describing the “good news” of a military victory that was being brought by a messenger to his commanding officer. Later, that same word came to mean simply a “good message.” But thanks to the writers of the New Testament, the word evangelion came to refer to the “Good News” of Jesus Christ.

What is that good news? It’s the news that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, became flesh and came to earth to pay the price for our sins. It’s the news that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). It’s the news that, if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead, we receive the gift of salvation (Romans 10:9). It’s the news that, when we receive it and believe it, we must pass on to others. Why? First, because we want to be obedient to Jesus’ command to preach the gospel to everyone, but also because, as Paul says in Colossians 1:28, “We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.”

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.