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[gos-puh l] /ˈgɒs pəl/

noun
1.
the teachings of Jesus and the apostles; the Christian revelation.
2.
the story of Christ’s life and teachings, especially as contained in the first four books of the New Testament, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
3.
(usually initial capital letter) any of these four books.
4.
something regarded as true and implicitly believed:
to take his report for gospel.
5.
a doctrine regarded as of prime importance:
political gospel.
6.
glad tidings, especially concerning salvation and the kingdom of God as announced to the world by Christ.
7.
(often initial capital letter) Ecclesiastical. an extract from one of the four Gospels, forming part of the Eucharistic service in certain churches.
8.
.
adjective
9.
of, relating to, or proclaiming the gospel or its teachings:
a gospel preacher.
10.
in accordance with the gospel; evangelical.
11.
of or relating to :
a gospel singer.
/ˈɡɒspəl/
noun
1.
Also called gospel truth. an unquestionable truth: to take someone’s word as gospel
2.
a doctrine maintained to be of great importance
3.
Black religious music originating in the churches of the Southern states of the United States
4.
the message or doctrine of a religious teacher
5.

/ˈɡɒspəl/
noun
1.
any of the first four books of the New Testament, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
2.
a reading from one of these in a religious service
n.

Old English godspel “gospel, glad tidings announced by Jesus; one of the four gospels,” from god “good” (see good) + spel “story, message” (see spell (n.)); translation of Latin bona adnuntiatio, itself a translation of Greek euangelion “reward for bringing good news.”

The first element of the Old English word had a long “o,” but it shifted under mistaken association with God. The word passed early from English to continental Germanic languages in forms that clearly indicate the first element had shifted to “God,” e.g. Old Saxon godspell, Old High German gotspell, Old Norse goðspiall. Used of anything as true as the Gospel from mid-13c. Gospel-gossip was Addison’s word (“Spectator,” 1711) for “one who is always talking of sermons, texts, etc.”

The first four books of the New Testament, which tell the life story of Jesus and explain the significance of his message. Gospel means “good news” — in this case, the news of the salvation made possible by the death and Resurrection of Jesus. The four Gospels are attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Note: Figuratively, anything that is emphatically true is called the “gospel truth.”

The “good news” of salvation (see Gospels). Certain styles of religious music are also called “gospel.” (See spirituals.)

noun

The absolute truth: His book’s the gospel

The central fact of Christian preaching was the intelligence that the Saviour had come into the world (Matt. 4:23; Rom. 10:15); and the first Christian preachers who called their account of the person and mission of Christ by the term _evangelion_ (= good message) were called _evangelistai_ (= evangelists) (Eph. 4:11; Acts 21:8). There are four historical accounts of the person and work of Christ: “the first by Matthew, announcing the Redeemer as the promised King of the kingdom of God; the second by Mark, declaring him ‘a prophet, mighty in deed and word’; the third by Luke, of whom it might be said that he represents Christ in the special character of the Saviour of sinners (Luke 7:36; 15:18); the fourth by John, who represents Christ as the Son of God, in whom deity and humanity become one. The ancient Church gave to Matthew the symbol of the lion, to Mark that of a man, to Luke that of the ox, and to John that of the eagle: these were the four faces of the cherubim” (Ezek. 1:10). Date. The Gospels were all composed during the latter part of the first century, and there is distinct historical evidence to show that they were used and accepted as authentic before the end of the second century. Mutual relation. “If the extent of all the coincidences be represented by 100, their proportionate distribution will be: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 53; Matthew and Luke, 21; Matthew and Mark, 20; Mark and Luke, 6. Looking only at the general result, it may be said that of the contents of the synoptic Gospels [i.e., the first three Gospels] about two-fifths are common to the three, and that the parts peculiar to one or other of them are little more than one-third of the whole.” Origin. Did the evangelists copy from one another? The opinion is well founded that the Gospels were published by the apostles orally before they were committed to writing, and that each had an independent origin. (See MATTHEW, GOSPEL OF.)

a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, and meaning “God’s spell”, i.e., word of God, or rather, according to others, “good spell”, i.e., good news. It is the rendering of the Greek _evangelion_, i.e., “good message.” It denotes (1) “the welcome intelligence of salvation to man as preached by our Lord and his followers. (2.) It was afterwards transitively applied to each of the four histories of our Lord’s life, published by those who are therefore called ‘Evangelists’, writers of the history of the gospel (the evangelion). (3.) The term is often used to express collectively the gospel doctrines; and ‘preaching the gospel’ is often used to include not only the proclaiming of the good tidings, but the teaching men how to avail themselves of the offer of salvation, the declaring of all the truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings of Christianity.” It is termed “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 4:23), “the gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16), “the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), “the glorious gospel,” “the everlasting gospel,” “the gospel of salvation” (Eph. 1:13).