The Gospel

Ok. I’m thinking out loud here.

One of my biggest struggles with evangelism is related to what we understand the gospel to be. The way evangelicals articulate the gospel goes something like this:

We’re all hell-bound sinners in need of salvation. Through Jesus, God has made an atoning sacrifice for our sins and made salvation possible. When we put our faith in Jesus our sins are forgiven, which means that when we die, we will go to heaven, rather than hell.

I know that we can pull verses from all over the New Testament to support these summary points.

Here is what I’m wondering: Why are these the points we’ve tended to emphasize? Is this really the best way to summarize the gospel?

I don’t think so.