Paul's Gospel Is About Gospeling

When we speak about the Gospel immediately our mind wonders to thoughts of the four Evangelists.  To us, “gospel” is synonymous with a biography of Jesus, for that is essentially what the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are.  Each writer focused on different aspects of Jesus, highlighting his nature, mission, and manner.  In the end, each author told a story with an introduction, conflict, climax and resolution. Their stories, though different, were quite similar.  In fact, there were more similarities than differences when compared with what St. Paul calls his Gospel.  In each of four canonical Gospel accounts, Jesus lived, taught, angered the authorities, was executed, and rose from the dead fulfilling Old Testament Messianic prophecy.

The word gospel literally means “good news”, not biography.  This term was not introduced to Christians by Mark (the first evangelist), it was first used earlier by St. Paul in his letters.  In fact, Paul borrowed the term from Roman political writers of his time who wrote gospels about their notable leaders re-telling their exploits.  Paul uses the term 60 of the 75 times it is mentioned in the New Testament, beginning in the 50’s A.D. This is a decade before Mark introduced his Gospel Account. He branded this term with the Christian message of belief in Christ, His crucifixion, the Resurrection, our life in the Spirit, and future hope because of Him.

Paul’s gospel was not a narrative with basic story elements. He had a simple message.   We can see his gospel message in this introduction to his letter to the Romans.

This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News.  God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.   He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. - Romans 1:1-5 (NLT)

For Paul, the good news was Christ Jesus not Paul’s narrative or interpretation of the events surrounding Jesus.  Paul preached Christ crucified for the sake of all believers.  He believed that Jesus envisioned His own mission as gospeling, which was sharing the good news of salvation from sin and death with all would open their ears, minds, and hearts to Him.  Paul modeled his missionary work in the same fashion.

This is the first part of a six part series.  The next three sections will explore three challenges presented by Paul’s contemporaries.  The last two will explore Paul’s Gospel and living it.

Parts in this Series
1. Paul’s Gospel is about Gospeling
2. Euro-Centric Christianity
3. Legalism
4. Lawlessness
5. Paul’s Gospel
6. The New Perspective on Paul is Catholic

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Sources

• Dunn, James D. G. The Gospel and the Gospels. Durham: University of Durham, 2013.
• Hensell, Eugene, O. S. B. The New Perspective on St. Paul. n.d. http://www.biblicalcourses.com/workshops/introduction-to-saint-paul/the-new-perspective-on-st-paul/ (accessed March 15, 2015).
• Longhenry, Ethan. A Study of Denominations. n.d. http://www.astudyofdenominations.com/history/judaizers/#sthash.U5aqE3tS.dpbs (accessed March 13, 2015).
• Puskas, Charles B., and Mark Reasoner. The Letters of Paul: An Introduction. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1993.
• Rocca, Francis X. "Pope: Catholic educators must share Gospel with multicultural society." Catholic News Servce/USCCB, February 2014.
• Russle, Walt. Who Were Paul's Opponents in Galatia? Dallas: Dallas Theological Seminary, 1990.
• "The New Living Translation Bible, Catholic Reference Edition." Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. , 2001.