Reading Together: "What is the Gospel?" Introduction

In this opening chapter of What is the Gospel?, Greg Gilbert lays a foundation for why this book is so important for Christians and non-Christians alike.  Christians should have a clear understanding of the gospel because they base all of their lives on it and around it.  Non-Christians should also have a clear understanding of the gospel so that they can make an informed decision about how to respond to it.

In the middle of the chapter, he gave a handful of what you might call "randomly selected answers" to the question "what is the gospel?" (p. 18-19).   After reading through all of them, I found myself wondering why certain people had used specific wording and why each had left seemingly important (to me, anyway) aspects of the gospel out...

 "An emaciated gospel leads to emaciated worship." (p. 20) 

After reading the chapter, I feel like I was easily able to identify Gilbert's main thesis for the book:  He is striving to give a clear (and complete) answer to the question "what is the gospel?" based on Biblical truths.  I appreciated the fact that he gave a list of ways the book should help/change us (p. 20-22).   I think that at this stage in my life, the most exciting one he listed for me was causing readers to worship more fully because of all that Jesus has done (p. 20, 1st reason).

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For those of you reading together with us, here are some questions to ponder (and answer below if you'd like to... please also try to reference page numbers when applicable): 

How did you feel about some of the answers that other people gave when answering the question "what is the gospel?"?  Did any of them strike a chord with you?  Any seem a bit off?  Why?

What were you most excited about in the list of ways the book should help/change readers?

Any other take-aways from the first chapter?



For those of you who haven't joined in on reading together with us yet, it's definitely not too late!  Grab a copy and get going!  It's a short read; he's funny and easy to follow. 


Next Wednesday, I'll be posting about Chapter 1.