The word Gospel comes from the Greek word evaggelion (εὐαγγέλιον) which means “Good news” or “Glad Tidings”. Within the ancient & pre-Christian Greco-Roman empire, it was common to see this word used when a king was praised for their accomplishments, military victory, or ascension to a throne.
For example, the Roman senator Paullus Fabius Maximus issued an edict in honor of Caesar Augustus. He declared that his birthday should be considered as the beginning of the year on the provincial calendar since he brought peace to the Roman Empire. Because of this, his birth was considered to be the beginning of “εὐαγγέλιον”.
“Since Providence … has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance, surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings [εὐαγγέλιον] for the world that came by reason of him..” – (THE CALENDAR INSCRIPTION OF PRIENE).
From the Christian point of view, the Gospel is that God the Father, out of His Love for us, sent us His only begotten Son and Word Jesus Christ, who became Incarnate and was born of a Virgin for our sake that we may receive Salvation and peace for our souls.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John3:16). As stated in the Nicene Creed: “For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven and was Incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became Man.”
This is the foundation of the Orthodox Christian faith, because it was through the Incarnation and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ that humanity was able to be reconciled to God; as without it there would have not been the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and His Ascension into Heaven, which were all essential to our salvation.
“The Son came, or rather was made man, in order to reconstitute our condition within himself; first of all in his own holy, wonderful, and truly amazing birth and life […] He wanted us to have this intellectual regeneration and spiritual assimilation to himself, who is the true and natural Son, so that we too might be able to call God our Father, and so remain free of corruption as no longer owning our first father, that is Adam, in whom we were corrupted.” [St Cyril of Alexandria – on the Unity of Christ]
To understand the Incarnation and its key role in our redemption, we must first understand what we are being saved from, and why.
1. The Garden of Eden & The Fall
When God created all things, He found it to be very good: “Then God saw everything He had made, and indeed, it was very good. So, evening and morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31).This was especially the case when He created our first parents Adam and Eve from the dust of the earth, as unlike the other creations; they were made in His Image.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth.” So, God made man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them.” (Genesis 1:26,27).
When God created Man in His Image, He saw it to be good because within them He saw Himself: perfection and spotlessness. This is because while they were made from the clay of the earth, God breathed His Spirit within them that they may live. “Then God formed man out of dust from the ground, and breathed in his face the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7). Because of this, He has allowed our first parents to partake in His authority over all creation; with humanity having dominion over all things below them since humanity was created with reason, though in a limited degree.
St. Athanasius, when speaking on this subject says the following:
“He (God) bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked; namely the impress of His own image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree they might continue forever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise.” (On the Incarnation, Chapter 1).
As seen in Scripture, our first parents were dwelling in the Garden of Eden, which was a place of paradise and full communion with God. St. Athanasius teaches that our first parents were embodied spirits during this time, meaning that they initially focused on the cares that were good for the soul and their relationship with God rather than sin and the flesh; with its cares of hunger, pain, aging, sickness, sorrow, and death.
Within the Garden were the trees of Life and of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Being that God wanted to protect them, He commanded that our first parents Adam and Eve stay away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This was so that they would remain in full communion with Him, enjoy paradise, remain incorruptible, and be free from all worries including death.
“And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, “You may eat food from every tree in the garden; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat; for in whatever day, you eat from it, you shall die by death.” (Genesis 2:16,17). Due to negligence, Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, as they were deceived by the serpent (Satan), who told them that they should be equal to God, and never die. (Genesis 3). Sin had then infected the entire world, bringing forth aging, sorrow, pain, wickedness, confusion, and death which was against God’s original plan for us.
In the words of Solomon: “For God did not make death, Neither does He have pleasure over the destruction of the living.For He created all things that they might exist, And the generations of the world so they might be preserved; For there was no poison of death in them,Nor was the reign of Hades on the earth.For righteousness does not die.” (Wisdom of Solomon, 1:13-15).
While humanity still bore God’s image, it has been tainted by sin and death. Man was now bound to die and return to the ground from which he came. This is called ancestral or original sin, which explains the world’s current condition. “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground from which you were taken. Earth you are, and to earth you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19). Commenting on this tragedy, The Bible says “But the ungodly summoned death by their words and works; Although they thought death would be a friend, they were dissolved. For they made a covenant with death, Since they were deserving to share it in common.” (Wisdom of Solomon 1:16).
Since our first parents had made a contract with sin and death, which are inseparable; they were exiled out of the Garden that they may not further harm themselves, as the Tree of Life was within its midst. “So, He cast out Adam and made him dwell opposite the garden of pleasure. He then stationed the cherubim and the fiery sword which turns every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24). Had they eaten of the tree of life while being in this state of corruption and death; they would have been subject to this condition for all eternity as immortal beings, which the church calls Eternal Damnation.
As humanity began to expand throughout the earth, new sins were being created and humanity was falling more and more away from God. “Then the Lord God saw man’s wickedness, that it was great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts within his heart was only evil continually. So, God was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and He thought this over.” (Genesis 6:5-6). Because of God’s love, He sent prophets to call all to repentance so that they would not go to the place of eternal torment, Hell – which was not created for man as it was for the only the devil and his minions. He has also given the ancient Israelites laws, that were used as a teaching tool to prepare them for the fulfillment of those laws to come; that being through Jesus Christ.
The Coptic Orthodox Liturgy of St. Basil summarizes all of these events beautifully. During the Liturgy of the Faithful, the Celebrant Priest says:
“Holy, holy, holy, indeed. O Lord our God, who formed us, created us, and placed us in the Paradise of joy, When we disobeyed Your commandment by the deceit of the serpent, we fell from eternal life and were exiled from the Paradise of joy. You have not abandoned us to the end, but have always visited us through Your holy prophets, and in the last days You manifested Yourself to us, who were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, through Your only-begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, who, of the Holy Spirit and of the holy Virgin Mary was incarnate and became man, and taught us the ways of salvation.
He granted us the birth from on high through water and Spirit. He made us unto Himself An assembled people, and sanctified us by Your Holy Spirit. He loved His own who were in the world, and, as a ransom on our behalf, gave Himself up unto death, which reigned over Us, whereby we were bound and sold on account of our SINS. He descended into Hades through the Cross.”
Remission of Sins
When one previously sinned, they were to confess their sins to the priest and the priest would make sacrificial offerings for them.
“ He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer the first one as a sin offering. Then he shall wring off its head from its neck, but shall not divide it. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, but the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. He shall then make the second one a whole burnt offering according to the prescribed manner. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for the sin he committed, and it shall be remitted him” (Lev 5:8-10).
While blood was shed in this regard, only sins committed in ignorance were remitted of them. By extension, it was not the ultimate sacrifice that was to regenerate our souls, restore communion with God, and bring all of humanity to salvation. This was to only be done through Jesus Christ, who came to earth as both the Priest and The Sacrifice itself.
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” – (Hebrews 9:11-14).
Once Christ suffered and died on the cross for our sins, He descended into hades and has triumphed over death, which means that He has also triumphed over all sin that we may have committed since as stated earlier, sin and death are inseparable. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).
On the Third day, Our Lord rose from the dead in Glory; showing Himself to be God and also showing us what we are to become on the Last Day; immortal and without corruption and death through His Grace as originally intended for Humanity. This was what Adam and Eve hoped for, as God said to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you (Devil) and the woman (The Virgin Mary), and between your seed and her seed (Jesus Christ). He shall bruise your head, and you shall be on guard for His heel.” (Genesis 3:15).
For the elect, the Apostle Paul teaches that our bodies are members of Christ (1stCorinthians 6:15), which means we shall also rise with Him and be brought back to the Garden from which we had been exiled: God’s Kingdom. St. Paul says: “our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” (Philippians 3:20,21).
This is why it was necessary for our Lord to rise from the dead. As St. Paul said to those upholding Gnostic beliefs among the Church of Corinth, who were skeptical or denied the Resurrection:
“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).
Through Christ’s Resurrection, He was also able to Ascend unto His Father, that He may send forth His Holy Spirit to The Elect; that they may be able to become partakers of His Divinity, in addition to being able to become new creations:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:2-4).
Granted, the Incarnation of Christ was necessary for our salvation. For without it, humanity would be disqualified from the gift of Eternal life, and instead be subject to Eternal Damnation. This is why repentance of sin and accepting Christ and His teaching are necessary, in addition to living a life of righteousness. This can only be done by His Grace, as we cannot achieve this on our own. However, as for those who refuse to follow Christ and live a life of sin (God Forbid); they will not Inherit the Kingdom of God.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” – (Revelations 20:12-15).
How Can I Be Saved?
The Bible says that one is only saved through Jesus Christ:
“… let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12).
To be saved, one must: accept Jesus Christ and Repent: “I tell you… unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13). This also including following His Instruction: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock (Christ), and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell, And great was its fall.”
Baptism
Christ instructed that in order for one to enter the Kingdom of God, one must be Baptized. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5) & “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16).
This is why He commanded His Apostles to: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. (Matthew 28:19). This is the only valid formula.
With Baptism also comes the Mystery of Chrismation, which seals The Holy Spirit within the soul of the baptized.
“Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:14,17).
Holy Communion
The Baptized and Chrismated person must partake of the Holy Eucharist which is the True Body and Blood of Christ under the species of Bread and Wine, as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded.
“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” (John 6:53-56).
On the True Presence, He said at the Last Supper: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28).
Because our Lord taught that these three Sacraments/Mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation, and Holy Communion are necessary to enter Eternal Life, the Oriental Orthodox Church calls them the Redemptive Sacraments. This also applies to the Sacrament of Confession.
“ There are four redemptive Sacraments out of the Seven Sacraments. They are necessary for eternal salvation, and every believer should practice them in order to gain eternal salvation. These are: 1- Baptism, 2- Confirmation, 3- Confession, 4- Communion.” (His Grace Bishop Mettaous, Sacramental Rites of The Coptic Orthodox Church, Page 10).
Lastly, we are to live a life of holiness and fear (reverence/love) of The Lord, which entails keeping His Holy Commandments and avoiding a life of sin:
“Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” (Revelations 22:14,16).
To God Be Glory, Amen!
Faith Unto Ages 