(3) The "gospel of salvation" (Eph. i. 13) and the "gospel of peace" (vi. 15). In these expressions we pass from the consideration of the author or of the subject-matter of the good news to that of its purpose and issue. It is meant to bring to men, and it does in fact bring to all who accept it, the wide and complex blessings described by those two great words.
(4) "The gospel." By far the most frequent form in which the word "gospel" occurs is that of the simple use of the noun with the definite article. The message is emphatically the good news. It is the tidings which men most of all want. It stands alone ; there is no other like it. If this be not the glad tidings of great joy for the world, then there are none.-^
1 A poor little street girl was taken sick one Christmas, and was carried to the hospital. While there she heard the story of Jesus coming into the world to save us. It was all new to her, but very precious. She could appreciate such a wonderful Saviour, and the knowledge made her very happy as she lay
^ A. Maclaron.
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lo THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
in her little cot. One day the nurse came round at the usual hour, and " Little Broomstick " [her street name] held her by the hand and whispered, "I'm havin' real good times here, ever such good times ! S'pose I shall have to go away from here as soon as I get well; but I'll take the good time along — some of it anyhow. Did you know 'bout Jesus bein' born?"
" Yes," replied the nurse, " I know, sh-sh-sh ! Don't talk any more."
" You did ? I thought you looked as if you didn't, and I was goin' to tell you."
" Why, how did I look ? " asked the nurse, forgetting her own orders in her curiosity.
" Oh, just like most folks — kind of glum — I shouldn't think you'd ever look glum if you knowed about Jesus bein' born." ^
ii. The Contents of the Gospel.
Let us pass from the expressions used to designate the Gospel to its contents.
1. One way of discovering the contents of the Gospel is to ask what the Gospel meant to St. Paul. Principal W. B. Selbie finds that the Gospel which St. Paul preached contained three essential things.
(1) Pirst of allj St. Paul taught men that this Jesus was the Son of God. A close study of his letters concerning Jesus Christ leads to the conclusion that while he holds, or seems to hold, that the Lord Jesus Christ was in some way inferior and subordinate to God the Father, he yet very frequently puts Him, as it were, side by side with God, and reads God in terms of His revelation. To him God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him Jesus Christ has the religious value of God ; to him Jesus Christ is the centre, sum, and beginning of the Christian religion. It is in Christ that men find God, it is through Him that they discover God's truth, and it is by their relation to Him that they enter into communion with God Himself.
(2) But to St. Paul Jesus was not only the Son of God, He was the Saviour of the world. His saving work centred in, and was made possible by, His cross. To St. Paul the
' M. S. Braithwaite.
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cross of Jesus Christ is the great central pillar of his faith ; and he is determined that he will know nothing among men save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and that he will glory in nothing save in the cross of Jesus Christ, hy whom the world was crucified unto him, and he unto the world. In his attempts to descrihe the meaning of the death of Jesus on the cross, St. Paul almost exhausts the possibilities of human speech. It is a sacrifice, a propitiation, a means of reconciliation, an atonement. In every possible way, and by every possible kind of illustration, he tries to bring home to the hearts of men this thought, that in Jesus Christ's death, in the love that that death involved and manifested, there is a ground and reason for man's hope and peace, for his forgiveness, his justification, his salvation, his sanctification.
(3) Once more, to St. Paul Jesus Christ was not only Son of God and Saviour of the world, but He was Lord of Life. In the writings of this Apostle the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and His present life and power resulting from it, play a very large part. To him the resurrection was vital. It meant everything. It meant all the difference between a dead and a living Christ. It meant all the difference between hope and despair. " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." To St. Paul Jesus Christ was not a sacred and beautiful memory, He was a living power ; and in Him the Apostle himself lived.
2. From a study of the early preaching of the Acts of the Apostles, Dr. Campbell Morgan concludes that there are four notes characterising the Gospel.