What IS the Gospel?

While it’s wonderful to work our way through Scripture and find all the places it points to Christ and the gospel—the good news—it’s vital that we first understand what the gospel really is. This is something that took me a long time to fully grasp. I grew up hearing the gospel. I grew up being catechized—instructed in the basic beliefs and doctrines of the Christian faith. But I never truly understood the purpose of the law or the depth of our depravity.

I knew about God’s holiness. I knew about His wrath. I believed that by living righteously and doing my best not to sin—by fulfilling the Ten Commandments, or at least trying hard to—I was honoring God. To me, the purpose of the law was to show me what to do to please Him. I thought the law existed to help me behave well enough to earn His favor. I knew Jesus played an important role in that. Deep down, I believed the goal was to follow His lead closely enough to gain God’s approval—and that when I failed, God was waiting to punish me.

But with just a subtle twist, I was missing the very heart of the gospel: Jesus didn’t come just to make me better. He came to save me. I didn’t need self improvement leading to acceptance—I needed a righteousness I could never achieve. I needed His righteousness, credited to me.

Romans 3:20 says, “For no one will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.” The law was never meant to save us—it was meant to show us our great need for a Savior. It exposes how completely unable we are to please God on our own. Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.” Even at our best, our good works are like filthy rags compared to the holiness of God. That’s why Paul says in Galatians that the law was our schoolmaster—our guardian—to bring us to Christ so that we could be justified by faith.

When we convince ourselves we can manage our sin, we’re actually making it smaller than it is. But sin isn’t just what we do—it’s woven into the very fabric of who we are. We sin even when we don’t realize it. That’s why some liturgy says, “We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed—by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” We have not loved Him with our whole hearts. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

This doesn’t mean we stop striving against sin. In fact, when we really understand the gospel and our hearts rest in the beauty of what Christ did for us in love, we will begin to hate the sin that put Him on the cross. But even that hatred of sin—our desire to grow in holiness—doesn’t make us right with God. What makes us right with God is trusting in the finished work of His Son, Jesus.

At the cross, Jesus took the punishment for sin that we deserved. The wrath of God that should have fallen on us, fell on Him instead (Romans 5:8, Isaiah 53:5). Romans 3:21–22 says, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law... the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”

In Galatians, we’re reminded that those who rely on the law are under a curse. Why? Because God's holiness demands perfect obedience—and no one can meet that standard. To think we can is, in effect, to say that God isn’t perfectly holy and righteous. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26 to show that the law doesn’t make room for “trying hard”—it demands total and complete obedience. And that leaves all of us condemned... unless we are covered by Christ’s righteousness.

So how does Jesus redeem us from this curse? Paul goes on to say that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Jesus lived a completely sinless life—something no one else has ever done or will do. That perfect life is credited to us when we believe in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He fulfilled the law completely—not just in action, but in heart.

This is the good news. This is where burdens are cast off and joy and peace abound. Christ’s substitution is everything. It is the only reason we can approach the throne of grace with confidence that God will receive us. And when this truth sinks deep into your heart—it will change your life. Guaranteed.

“What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” - John 6:29