The Joy That Lifts Up the Gospel



For quite a while, I have been aware that Bible translators often seem to use words that leave something out of what God really intended to say.  I’m not even speaking here of the horrible translations that are mere human paraphrases and should never be called Bibles at all.[1]

Rather, I’m  speaking of words or phrases that simply don’t have the same meaning in English as in the Greek, Aramaic or Hebrew of the original languages, and so we sometimes lose something of what God communicated when the English has to suffice.

I believe very firmly that, when Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’”,[2] he wanted us to read and hear the words God breathed-out in their most precise translation, not words that diminish the fullness of what he communicated.

This becomes clear when we realize that the English translation of the Greek word “evangel” is usually “gospel” when the meaning of the word is “good news”.[3] The fact that the closest way of understanding the word that came from God’s mouth is “good news” makes me want to pursue that focus above the more common rendering of “gospel”.

When we hear “gospel”, it sounds like the title for a particular message. It seems parallel to things like the “constitution” of an organization, or the “charter” of rights and freedoms of a country. It is a word that identifies a distinctive document or message.

However, in the original language, the Greek word “evangel” in its various forms means “good news”. That is a description of the inherent quality of the message. It is news of something that has happened and is happening to this day, and its chief characteristic is “good”.

This is seen in the first announcement of the “gospel”, which was the angel’s invitation to the shepherds: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”[4] What is translated here as “good news” is the same root word “evangel” that is elsewhere translated as “gospel”.

For me, knowing that the meaning of the word “evangel” is really “good news” does something to change the way I think of this message. If I am to live by the words God breathed-out, and he chose a word that was intended to communicate “good news” every time I saw it, why wouldn’t I want to make that my own focus as well?

This was brought to light again for me as I continued my present prayer-journaling through the book of Colossians. Paul had commended the believers for a faith, love and hope that were exemplary to all the churches, and then reminded them, “Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel…”[5]

It seems like Paul wanted to encourage the believers in these three distinguishing qualities of faith, love  and hope, while reminding them that these things did not originate in them, but in the good news of great joy they had heard proclaimed in “the word of truth”.

This makes me wonder how much our works-based thinking would be transformed by referring to the message of salvation as “good news of great joy”, instead of “the gospel”. If every time we spoke of “the word of truth” regarding salvation we identified it as “the good news”, wouldn’t it train our minds and brains to think in terms of hope and joy instead of a label for a package deal that we have a lot of difficulty attaching to?[6]

Which brings us back to the word of truth, the good news of great joy that is all about, “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”[7]

The fact that there is “a Savior” at all is “good news of great joy” because it means we have one who will save us from our sins.[8]

The fact that this Savior is “Christ”, the Messiah promised to come, is “good news of great joy” because the one anointed by God to proclaim good news to the poor has arrived, and this good news is now ours in him.[9]

The fact that this Christ is “Lord”, is “good news of great joy” because it means that he has the authority to accomplish all that this covenant of salvation was meant to give us, and no one can stop him because he has been given the name that is above every name, “King of kings and Lord of lords”, and one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that it is this Jesus Christ who is Lord.[10] There will never be a greater name “given among men by which we must be saved.”[11]

I do not expect to influence translators so they transliterate “agapè” instead of diminishing its meaning into “love”, or present the proper name “Yahweh” instead of the diminished title “LORD”, or translate “good news” instead of the diminished form, “gospel”.[12]  

However, I do expect to encourage those who read this to keep reminding ourselves that, every time we see the word “gospel” in our English Bibles, God really said, “good news,” and with the qualifying understanding that this is still “good news of great joy” just as the angel first announced.

It is this “good news of great joy”, that, “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”[13] and it is that new birth that has caused us to “believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”[14]

I encourage each of us to become so saturated with the “good news of great joy” that we would describe our own experience of the good news as “joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” and sound just like that when we share the good news with others.



© 2019 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] The Message Bible is one of the worst, with the author presenting his own words as if God needed help conveying what he really wanted to say. However, so much is lost when people think that a man’s personal interpretation of what God’s words “meant” is replaced with the words God actually breathed-out.

[2] Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; based on Deuteronomy 8:3.

[3] The Greek word “εὐαγγέλιον” reads in English as “euangelion”. It is from this word that we get our English expressions, “evangelistic,” or “evangelical”, both referring to a focus on the “good news” of salvation.

[4] Luke 2:10-11

[5] Colossians 1:5

[6] If this works-based mindset doesn’t sound like something you struggle with, good for you. I have met too many church-folk that identify with this struggle all to well.

[7] Luke 2:11

[8] Matthew 1:21

[9] Isaiah 61 speaks of what Jesus would do when he came, and Luke 4:16-30 shows Jesus very clearly identifying that this was speaking about him, and that it is now fulfilled in his coming.

[10] Philippians 2:5-11. This is with the understanding of Revelation 19:16 that the name Jesus was given at his ascension, the name at which every knee will bow, is not “Jesus”, the name he had already been given at his birth, and which was and still is a common name given to mere men, but is the name given to Jesus, which is “King of kings and Lord of lords”. It is this name that will cause every tongue to confess before the Father that Jesus Christ is Lord.

[11] Acts 4:12

[12] “Agapè” is the Greek word translated “love” in many places of the New Testament, but means much more than our normal English understanding of what love is. The Old Testament translation “the LORD”, is used when God breathed-out his proper name, “Yahweh”. Somewhere along the way people decided that we should not use his name even though God said it was the name his people were to use (I have never figured that one out).

[13] I Peter 1:3-4

[14] I Peter 1:8-9 (context is I Peter 1:1-9)