R.C. Sproul

When John came out of the wilderness and came preaching to the nation of Israel, the simple message that he proclaimed according to the summary that we have from the gospel writers was what?

Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

And then Jesus, following a little later, comes and introduces his public teaching with the same announcement, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Now when we look at the content of Jesus' teaching with respect to the idea of gospel, we see that the central theme, the chief motif,

of the concept of the gospel in Jesus' own preaching is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven.

The good news that Jesus proclaims is the breakthrough of the kingdom of God.

And he announces a slight difference from John at this point in that John talks about the kingdom of God's being at hand.

His axe is laid at the root of the tree.

His fan is in his hand.

He speaks of the radical nearness of the coming of the kingdom of God.

And there's a little change in emphasis when Jesus begins his ministry and his preaching, but just now he says the kingdom of God is not just at hand, but it is in your midst.

In a sense, he says, if you see me casting out Satan by the finger of God, then you know that the kingdom of God has come upon you.

And many of Jesus' parables are designed to elucidate this motif of the announcement of the kingdom.

How many of his parables begin with the preface, the kingdom of God is like unto this, or the kingdom of God is like unto that?

And so when scholars look at the use of the concept of gospel in the teaching of Jesus, they will abbreviate it by saying that Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom.

Then by the time we get to the epistles and to the apostolic testimony about Jesus, about his person and his work, then we hear the more familiar idea of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, I'll explore that with you later on, but for now, I want us to understand that when we see Paul, for example, speaking about the gospel of Jesus or the gospel of Jesus Christ,

He is not differing or protesting or contending against the motif of Jesus' proclamation about the gospel, because when we look at Jesus' announcement about the coming of the kingdom of God, he's not concerned simply to talk about some abstract idea of heavenly rule.

that is then transferred to a message about him by the apostles.

On the contrary, if you look closely,