Gospel Definitions: Martin Luther At its briefest, the gospel is
a discourse about Christ, that he is the Son of God and became
man for us, that he died and was raised, and that he has been
established as Lord over all things. This much St. Paul takes in
hand and spins out in his epistles. He bypasses all the miracles
and incidents (in Christ’s ministry) which are set forth in the
four Gospels, yet he includes the whole gospel adequately and
abundantly. This may be seen clearly and well in his greeting to
the Romans, where he says what the gospel is, and then declares:
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set
apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through
his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the gospel concerning his
Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and
designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of
holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our
Lord,” etc. There you have it. The gospel is a story about
Christ, God’s and