Book Review: What Is The Gospel?

What is the Gospel? Greg Gilbert begins his little book by asserting the fact that many Christians have assumed the gospel and have even experienced the gospel, but that they cannot clearly articulate what the gospel is.

Enter Gilbert’s book.  This little book is a fantastic primer on the gospel.  We need to constantly be reminded of the truths of the gospel, and Gilbert has done a great job of that.  Further, keeping in mind the fact that 90% of college graduates will never read another non-fiction book after graduating, the length of Gilbert’s book makes it approachable by Christians of all types.  he has clearly articulated the gospel in a way that is understandable, grace-filled, and applicable to the Christian life.

You will not find anything new in What is the Gospel?, but that is really a good thing.  The gospel is good news, but it is not “new” news.  He spells out the gospel in four issues: God. Man. Christ. Response.

We are accountable to the God who created us.  We have sinned against that God and will be judged.  But God has acted in Jesus Christ to save us, and we take hold of that salvation by repentance from sin and faith in Jesus.

Greg Gilbert reminds us all that the gospel is not second-tier in the Christian faith, that the cross is the center-piece of the gospel, and that the gospel cannot and should not be improved upon,

The pressure to find a “bigger,” more “relevant” gospel seems to have taken hold of a great many people.  Again and again, in book after book, we see descriptions of the gospel that end up relegating the cross to a secondary position.  In its place are declarations that the heart of the gospel is that God is remaking the world, or that he has promised a kingdom that will set everything right, or that he is calling us to join him in transforming our culture.  The result is that over and over again, the death of Jesus in the place of sinners is assumed, marginalized, or even (sometimes deliberately) ignored.

In What is the Gospel?, Greg Gilbert has put the gospel back front and center and has given Christians a great resource to not only proclaim the good news, but to adequately define that good news.