Communication with Gods Spirits

The word "gospel" has come to epitomize the Christian message. It is a word whose origin lies in the Greek word euaggelion (the double "gg" is pronounced "ng" as is "ing") whose literal meaning is "good message." Notice that the Greek eu is found in other English words, such as euthanasia which means, "good death" (-thanasia comes from the Greek word for death, thanatos). Notice also that the Greek -aggelion comes from the Greek word aggelos which means "agent" or "messenger." The English word "gospel" has its own etymology as follows: Before 1250 gospel, developed from Old English godspell (the "o" is pronounced as a long o), which is a compound from around 750 A.D. of god, "good," and spell, "story" or "message"; the first element of the Old English compound godspell, god, was mistakenly associated with God, and for this reason a short o appeared in the Old English variant godspell.

For many, the gospel can be summarized in this way: You can't get into heaven unless you have accepted in your heart Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you can only do this by faith, not by good works alone. Oftentimes, John 3:16 is read as a good example of this summarization: "Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life." This verse reinforces the position that one need only "believe" and nothing more. This verse is used as a proof-text for the position that those who have not heard of and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior are condemned to eternal hell, with no chance of escape, once they have passed away from this life. Hence, if one freely accepts this offering that God has given freely of Himself, that is, His grace, then one is said to be "saved." Biblical support for this position is often cited in the following verses:

Mark 16:15-16, "Then he told them: 'Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation. The man who believes in it and accepts baptism will be saved; the man who refuses to believe in it will be condemned'";

John 3:17, "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him";

Acts 2:21, "Then shall everyone be saved who calls on the name of the Lord";

Acts 15:11, ". . . we are saved by the favor of the Lord Jesus . . .";

Romans 5:9, "Now that we have been justified by his blood, it is all the more certain that we shall be saved by him from God's wrath (judgment and condemnation to eternal hell)";

Romans 10:16-17, "But not all have believed the gospel. Isaiah asks, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?' Faith, then, comes through hearing, and what is heard is the word of Christ";

Ephesians 5:5-6, "he brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin. By this favor you were saved. Both with and in Christ Jesus he raised us up and gave us a place in the heavens";

1 Timothy 2:4, "for he wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth";

2 Timothy 1:9, "God has saved us and has called us to a holy life, not because of any merit of ours but according to his own design--the grace held out to us in Christ Jesus before the world began";

Titus 2:11, "The grace of God has appeared, offering salvation to all men";

and Titus 3:5, "he saved us; not because of any righteous deeds we have we had done, but because of his mercy."

These verses are commonly used to show that the gospel is as Paul summarizes it in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, "I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you . . . . you are being saved by it at this very moment . . . as I preached it to you . . . Christ died for our sins . . . he was buried . . . [he] rose on the third day . . . he was seen . . . this is what we preach and this is what you believed."

[This is a work in progress]