“… consistently throughout the New Testament Epistles the ‘gospel’ refers to the oral proclamation about Jesus the Christ (meaning
the anointed Davidic King) – who he was; what he accomplished through
his life, death, and resurrection; the promise of his future return to
establish God’s reign; and the concomitant call to repent and have
faith. This is not a message of moralism or a call to greater religious
obedience but rather is a proclamation of God’s grace and the invitation
to hope. This is why it is rightly called ‘good news.’”
“The New
Testament authors, building especially on the Isaianic vision, define
the ‘gospel’ as Jesus’ effecting the long-awaited return of God himself
as King, in the power of the Spirit bringing his people back from exile
and into the true promised land of a new creation, forgiving their sins,
and fulfilling all the promises of God and the hopes of his people.
This Isaianic vision is itself based on God’s work at the exodus, which
the prophets take up and reappropriate to describe God’s future work.
Because of this vision, described as the proclamation of good news, the
apostles call their kerygma ‘gospel,’ and it is why the evangelists
likewise describe the work of Jesus and the narratives about him as euangelion.In
this there is univocality; Paul and the Gospel writers all understand
their message to be one of God’s reign coming in the person of Jesus
through the power of the Spirit. The ‘gospel,’ whether in oral or
written form, is the message of God’s comprehensively restorative
kingdom.”
- Jonathan Pennington, Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction, 5, 16-17.
For more: http://goo.gl/hocsT