However, we really ought to take it further than that! If we’re going to have a proper understanding of what “the Good News” refers to, we need to have answers to questions like the following.

1) "Is the Bible's Good News just general good news or is it specific, particular good news?"

2) “If the Bible has news that’s good then where has this Good News arisen from?”

3) “If this news is good what will this Good News mean to people on the Earth?”

4) “How can this Good News become good news for me personally?”

Is the Bible's Good News just general good news or is it specific, particular good news?

It soon becomes clear, as we start to read the New Testament, that when the Gospel is spoken of, what is being spoken of is a very particular Good News. For example, when we start reading the Gospel according to Mark we soon hear Jesus of Nazareth declaring,

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

Mark 1:15 - NKJV

We ought to be surprised by that! And our surprise at what has been stated ought to pull us up and make us think! Jesus has called on us to, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” The Gospel is such a particular Good News we find Jesus telling us it is imperative to believe in it. This is not generalised good news to tickle our ears but specific Good News that needs to enter our hearts and be believed in. This Good News - which is to be the object of our believing - is a very particular Good News. What is this particular Good News that Jesus delivers to us?

Let’s take a look at Mark’s narrative leading up to Jesus' words of instruction. I think in it we’ll start to discover what this particular Good News is. Here it is.

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

Mark 1:14 - 15 - NKJV

So we find that Jesus came to Galilee preaching. Specifically He came preaching "the gospel of the kingdom of God." Here then we have information that helps us in discovering what particular Good News the Gospel is. We discover here that the Good News is “of the kingdom of God.”

It is probably clear what the implication of that statement is in regard to our understanding of what the Gospel is. However, just in case it's not, it’s worth lingering a moment to look at the structure of that phrase. Notice that it is structured around the word "of". What Christ preaches is the Gospel “of” the kingdom of God. Actually, you will often see in the New Testament the word “gospel" put in a phrase structured around the word "of". Here’s a list:

• The gospel of the kingdom - Mat.4:24
• The gospel of Jesus Christ - Mar.1:1
• The gospel of the grace of God - Act.20:24
• The gospel of God - Rom.1:1
• The gospel of His Son - Rom.1:9
• The gospel of Christ - Rom.1:16
• The gospel of peace - Rom.10:15
• The gospel of the glory of Christ - 2Cor.4:4
• The gospel of your salvation - Eph.1:13

(The Bible reference I’ve given in that list is the first place the phrase appears but it may well appear in other places too.)

What is the function of the word "of" in those phrases? It is telling us what it is that the subject word "gospel" belongs to. Hence, the phrase "the gospel of the kingdom of God" is telling us that the gospel - this Good News - belongs to the kingdom of God. It is the God's kingdom’s Good News.

Now that might sound obvious but it is significant. It becomes even more significant when we realise that the sense of this "belonging" is that as of a son to a father, just like in the phrase "Son of God." In other words, the function of the word "of" in those phrases about the gospel is to tell us that "the gospel" is the progeny of what "of" points to. So the gospel is the progeny of the kingdom of God, the gospel is the progeny of peace and so on.

(The Free Dictionary defines progeny as "One born of, begotten by, or derived from another; an offspring or a descendant.")

In the light of this, there’s one of those phrases that especially warrants our attention. It’s the phrase "the gospel of the grace of God." I believe that phrase reveals exactly what the specific Good News is that Jesus delivers to us.

The very particular Good News that Jesus delivers to us is the Good News which is begotten by the grace of God. It is the Good News that arises out of the grace of God. It is the Good News that is the progeny of the grace of God. It is the Good News that is born of God's grace! How is it so born? It is born in the form of a man and that man is called the Christ and His name is Jesus. Thus it is called the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This Gospel then is very specific. It is not generalised good news, not even generalised good news from God. It is the specific Good News of the grace of God. It is Good News born of God's grace, not of our works. It is not born of what we - as God's people - have managed to accomplish under the Law but by what God has done for us by sending His Son.

(In case you're wondering what grace is, grace is a flow of mercy and kindness from God towards humankind purely because of His benevolence without any worthiness on our part due to our achievements or efforts.)

But what exactly is the good news that grace has given birth to? What has arisen out of the grace of God that we now get excited about and call it good news? It is that the grace of God has made a way for man to be reconciled to God. Before the grace of God appeared to man there was an enmity between God and man, a separation brought about by the presence of sin in our lives. Grace has seen to it that a way has been made for this sin to be wiped away so that nothing any longer will stand between us. By it we are brought into a wonderful relationship with God.

Do you want to enjoy a relationship with God as your Heavenly Father? The Good News is that you can! Grace has made a way.

In the Bible this message of what has arisen out of grace that we call Good News is best found in summary form in Paul’s letter to the Romans. He writes,

[All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:24 - Amplified Bible