The Gospel

(Revised and updated 06/07/2026)

The gospel (euangelion, “good news”) [1] is often misunderstood and misrepresented. Having once contributed to these misconceptions,[2] [3] I humbly present what I believe to be the most pivotal gospel verses in the New Testament: the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans—his magnum opus among his thirteen epistles—where he declares that the power of the gospel lies in the revelation of the “righteousness of God”:

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 to faith; as it is written: “But the righteous one will live by faith.” — Romans 1:16–17 NASB

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel—and for good reason. While persecuting the church, Saul of Tarsus personally experienced the saving power of God when he encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1–9). He also witnessed that same power at work in the lives of both Jews and Gentiles as he—now Paul—proclaimed the gospel. It is therefore no surprise that Paul was unashamed of the gospel.

What may surprise you, however, is that the power of the gospel lies in the revelation of the “righteousness of God,” not merely in the forgiveness of sins. As Paul declares, the gospel is “the power of God for salvation” precisely because “in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed.” And Romans 4 clarifies that this “righteousness” refers to the imputed righteousness of God, [4] not merely a divine attribute. Without knowledge (epignosis, “full, accurate, and personal knowledge”) of these truths, the gospel is stripped of the very power by which God saves.

And this righteousness is revealed “from faith to faith”—beginning with the Spirit-wrought act of faith in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which God imputes His righteousness and justifies (dikaioō, “to declare righteous”) those who believe by grace (Romans 3:24), and continuing throughout a life of faith. As it is written in Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous one will live by faith.”

Having already cited this Old Testament verse in Galatians 3:11 to defend justification apart from works of the law, Paul cites it again in Romans 1:17. In doing so, he not only demonstrates the continuity and consistency between the Old and New Testaments but also emphasizes that faith is not just the beginning of the Christian life—it is its continual way of life as well: the righteous live by faith.

This message is indeed good news. Yet there is another reason I believe these verses—and those that follow in Romans 3:21–5:21—are the most pivotal in the New Testament: they establish the standard by which we will be judged in the courtroom of heaven. “On the day when, according to my gospel,[5] God will judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus” (Romans 2:16, emphasis added).

Both Jews and Gentiles, therefore, who despise the kindness of God that leads to repentance (metanoia, “a change of mind”) are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath (Romans 2:4–5). And they will face judgment according to what Paul refers to as “my gospel”: that God the Father imputes His righteousness to everyone who believes in His Son, thereby legally declaring them righteous.

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[1] Greek definitions follow standard lexical usage; see Walter Bauer, Frederick W. Danker, William Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (BDAG).

[2] Because I misunderstood the gospel, my self-righteous “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1) took the form of Lordship Salvation—a heretical system that conflates the free gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:8–9) with the costly works of discipleship (Luke 14:25–33) and grounds assurance in works rather than in Christ Himself (Hebrews 12:2).

[3] Even after repenting of Lordship Salvation, I continued to hold to the doctrine of imputed righteousness (see footnote #4)—the idea that believers are imputed the righteousness of Christ. However, Scripture consistently reveals that it is God the Father who imputes His righteousness to believers (Romans 4).

[4] The financial terms imputed, credited, reckoned, or counted all essentially mean “to put to one’s account.” Just as someone might put funds into a bank account that the recipient neither earned nor deserved, so God puts (imputes) His righteousness to those who believe in Christ apart from works (Romans 4).

[5] Based on the Greek evidence across the Textus Receptus, the Critical Text, and the Majority Text, the word τῆς in Galatians 2:7 is properly translated as “of,” not “to” or “for.” This renders the phrases “the gospel of the uncircumcision” (committed to Paul) and “the gospel of the circumcision” (committed to Peter). This grammatical distinction supports the view that these were distinct gospels. Consequently, when Paul refers to “my gospel” in Romans 2:16, he is referring to that gospel specifically entrusted to him through divine revelation (Acts 26:16; Galatians 1:11–17).