So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. It is a sobering thing that the bearers of good news can be treated with contempt and rejection.
Gospel means good news.
It means good news in Old English, god spel, and it means good news in Greek, euanggelion. The Christian gospel is good news. And the sad fact is that you can bring good news the best news in the world, the best news that ever was, the best news that ever will be and cause people to rage and swear and seethe with anger and scoff at you and even kill you. But our greatest danger in this situation of misunderstanding or distortion or rejection or persecution is that we ourselves would stop believing that our message is good news, and start treating it as a provocation or a disputation or a legal summons to appear in court. Oh, how easy it is to lose the sense of wonder at the preciousness of the gospel the good news of Romans 1-5 that God justifies the ungodly by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from works, on the basis of Christ s work alone, not ours, for the glory of God alone that while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly that God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.