Defining The Gospel

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.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4

Duncan McNeil, the Scottish evangelist, once said that in school he had a seminary professor who insisted on opening his theology classes with a question. No one could ever anticipate what the question would be. One day he said to his students, “Gentlemen, can someone give me a definition of the gospel?”

A student rose and read John 3:16: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The professor said, “That is a good gospel text, but it is not a definition of the gospel.” Another student read 1 Timothy 1:15: “How true it is, and how I long that everyone should know it, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I was the greatest of them all.” Again the professor declined to accept it; he waited for what he wanted. Finally, a student stood and read 1 Corinthians 15:3–5, much to the professor’s delight. It was evident that he had the reply he desired; he said, “Gentlemen, that is the gospel. Believe it, live it, preach it, and die for it if necessary.”