Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’

What is the Gospel? If you’ve ever been to a church, it is a term that gets thrown around a lot in sermons or songs or testimonies. But what do we mean when we say “Gospel?” Why should it matter to us?

The Gospel, at its basic definition, is taken from a Greek word that simply means “good news”. However, when we use it in the context of the Bible and Christianity, it is the best news we could ever hope to receive. When Paul was writing to the church in Rome, he opens up his Gospel and gives us the passage above. It is often considered the theme verse for the entire book. Paul is defining the Gospel in very simple terms. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. It doesn’t matter if you are a part of the Nation of Israel or not. But we have to ask ourselves, what are we being saved from? The Bible tells us that when God created the world, he created it perfectly. All of the earth was in harmony. No death, no sickness, no pain, and no evil. Then we look at our world today. It is far from harmonious. Man sinned. Adam and Eve, the first two humans, broke God’s law and condemned their offspring to a life of sin and death

God created a perfect world so that he would be in relationship with his creation. Because we sinned, we weren’t able to have that relationship. So he sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sin. 2 Corinthians tells us that he became sin even though he never sinned so that we may become his righteousness. This great exchange happened because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Now we can be in relationship with God. We can speak to God in prayer and he speaks to us through his word. He is faithful to forgive all of the times we broke his law because the punishment that we deserved was placed upon Christ. This is the Good News: that Jesus died so you and I could live.

This week, if you have never put your faith in Christ and relied upon him for your salvation, today is the day. He will save you from your sins and bring you into a relationship with him.