euangelion

Semantic range

1. 1a reward given to a bearer of good news (classical)
2. 2an announcement of victory or of an emperor's accession
3. 3the good news of Jesus Christ

In the Roman world an euangelion was a public proclamation — a battle won, an heir born, a new emperor enthroned. The word was political before it was religious, and Mark's opening line ("the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God") would have read to a first-century ear as a deliberate rival announcement.

English "gospel" comes from Old English gōd spel, good tidings. The Lord gives His own definition in modern revelation, and it is unusually concrete: "this is my gospel — repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 27:13–21; D&C 39:6). The gospel is thus not merely news about Christ but the covenant path He opened.

See also

• ἐκκλησίαekklēsia
• μετάνοιαmetanoia
• βαπτίζωbaptizō