What do Christians mean by the word gospel?
I’d like to let the Gospel of Mark answer this question, but to make sense of what he has to say, I need to offer a couple of preliminary tangents.
Ancient Religion and Demons
First, a tangent on ancient religion and demons. We tend to think of ancient religion as silly superstition and consequently, we view the Bible’s talk of demons as part of that pathetic ignorance. At best, we think of demon stories as personifications of disease. At worst, we think of it as poetic license. Silly ancient people had silly ancient superstitions, we suppose.
To understand Mark, you must adopt an alternative possibility. Not only were demons real but they were the most obvious power at work in the ancient world. What we call “paganism” or the “occult” was the religious devotion to the real powers at work in the world. What we call demons, they called gods. “They sacrificed to demons that were no gods” (Deuteronomy 32:17). Chaos reigned in ordinary life because demons reigned in ordinary life, or at least they seemed to. Religion could only hope to implore those demons to help you out, either by managing the demons or by bargaining with them.
If you accept that point of view for a moment, paganism makes more sense. We look at the old pagan idols and think they are ugly. We are right. They were ugly - as ugly as demons. We look at ancient rituals of child sacrifice and cannibalism and think those things were evil. We are right. They were evil - as evil as people making supplication to demons. The ancient pagans were not unaware of this fact. They worshiped ugly gods and practiced evil rituals because the ugly and the evil were the most accessible powers in their world. They could not defeat these forces. They could only hope to manage them.
Israel was never told that these demonic powers were entirely fake. Yes, they are told that idols specifically were laughable imposters, crafted from the human imagination and empty of true divine power (Isaiah 40:18-20). Much later on, Paul explains this carefully to the Corinthians, saying that there are no other existing beings worthy of the title “god” nor any real existence in a man-made idol (1 Corinthians 8:4). However, that is not the same as saying that there are no demonic powers which might be mistaken as gods: “Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God” (1 Corinthians 8:5-6, NRSV).
Rather than offering an outright denial of demonic beings, Israel was told that occult rituals were an insult to the good God who ruled above all. Deuteronomy 18:9-14 calls these “abominable practices” and that “whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” It does not suggest that paganism is merely or always imagination run amok, but rather claims, “But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.”
In sum, ancient paganism was risk management in a world of demon-gods.
The Claim of Rome
Second, a tangent on the bold claim of Rome. Rome claimed to have accomplished by means of its martial power the best possible outcome in a world full of dehumanizing evil. Caesar Augustus had conquered the barbarians and calmed the world. Maybe the demons ruled, but they were more manageable now. The Roman gods were even prettier to look at than the old pagan gods. Maybe the gods were still fickle and selfish and even cruel, but at least they were less demanding. Augustus had brought a semblance of peace and security, and this was good news. It was quite literally “gospel.”
In their language, the word “gospel” meant the proclamation of the good news of order, of an ordered kingdom coming to a world of chaos. It is the word used to describe the declaration of Augustus’ accomplishments. For example, you can still read today in the Greek city of Priene the inscription known as the Priene Inscription. It was etched into stone and announced that a new calendar was being adopted that would begin with Augustus’ birthday. Why?
“Since Providence … has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance ... surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god was the beginning of the Gospel for the world because of him ...”
Augustus was a god on earth and a savior of humanity. His birthday was the beginning of a new era. The wars of the world were over and Rome had brought peace and security to the realm of men. In a world of suffering humans and malevolent demon-gods, this was the best that could be hoped for. Evil was being managed, and this was “the beginning of the gospel for the world.”
Okay. Tangents concluded. What does any of this have to do with the Gospel of Mark?
Mark and the Roman World
Mark is writing to the Roman world and making an outrageous claim about Jesus. Rome declared that the divine advent of Augustus was “the beginning of the Gospel for the world.” Mark opens his Gospel with a counterclaim: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). Mark is not only stating that the Roman claims for its emperors are false but also that those same claims must be truly applied to Jesus, a Jewish peasant. The Roman kingdom was not the true good news in the world. Instead, Jesus proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). Rome was not the turning point of history. No, that claim, says Mark, belonged to the kingdom of Jesus, an empire without any Roman legions or a single military conquest to its credit. What right did Jesus have to such a claim?
Rome had conquered the pagans, but Jesus had conquered the pagan gods, the demons themselves.
Jesus and Demons
Mark’s story repeatedly reinforces these themes. In the first chapter, Jesus encounters a man with an “unclean spirit” who cries out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:23–24). Jesus rebukes the demon and amid convulsing throes, the demon is exorcized. The people appropriately marvel. “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him” (Mark 1:27).
In chapter one Jesus defeats a demon on the friendly ground of a synagogue. In chapter five, Jesus faces a demon on the enemy’s turf, amid the tombs of the dead (Mark 5:2). The possessed man lives among the dead and has great power there. “And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him” (Mark 5:3–5). Chains and shackles - the implements of Roman martial power - had no strength with this demon. But Jesus needed no such tools. As before, the demon recognizes Jesus as his conqueror. “And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me’” (Mark 5:6–8).
In case you are missing the comparison, this demon even shares his name. “My name is Legion, for we are many” (Mark 5:10-13). This was no mere demon, but rather demons! This was a legion of demons and no legion of Roman soldiers could match them. No chain could hold them, but before the mere presence of Jesus the demons “begged.” As a conquering Lord, Jesus “gave them permission” to retreat from the man into swine and so they ran off into the sea.
In chapter nine, a desperate father brings his son to Jesus, “for he has a spirit that makes him mute” (Mark 9:17). Again the demon reacts at the mere presence of Jesus. “And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.” The father begs for help, but he doubts that any force on earth could save his son. “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22). Jesus reacts to the man’s doubt. “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:32). The father responds, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
Do you see the man’s problem? He wants to believe, but every experience in his life has taught him that what he is asking is impossible. Rome believed it ruled the world, but in the life of this father and son, it was a demon who had all the power. The Romans couldn’t help them. What could this Jesus do? “He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out …” (Mark 9:25-26). Jesus was Lord in a way Caesar could only dream. Jesus is the reality of which all other lords were merely parodies.
Now perhaps you can better appreciate the scene I’d like to end with, found in Mark’s third chapter. “And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and ‘by the prince of demons he casts out the demons’” (Mark 3:22). Do not fail to be stunned by the admission contained in this accusation! They are not able to deny the absolute power of Jesus over the personal presence of evil in their world. The demon-gods obey Jesus without exception. But the people have no frame of reference by which to understand this fact. No mortal power held sway when demons got involved. The answer was obvious. The power of Jesus is so complete over the demons that he is accused of collusion with them. No one could overpower a demon-god, so Jesus must be on their side.
Jesus, of course, points out that this is ridiculous. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” (Mark 3:23–26) If for some reason the demon-gods of the world were fighting amongst themselves, that would be its own kind of good news. Civil war among the demons could only help out the rest of us. But there was a simpler explanation for what was going on here, even if it was harder to believe.
“But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house” (Mark 3:27). Jesus had not come to manage the evil in the world nor to make marginal improvements. He was not Rome. He was not a slum-lord here to manage the overflow of hell.
Jesus was Lord. He had come to conquer the evil that no other lord had ever even dared to fight. He had come to battle the evil we could barely name. He was not going to bargain with ancient gods; he was going to defeat the demons. “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). His rule was truly good news. It was gospel. The demon-gods were on the run because the true King had landed. The true Lord was on the march, and the enemy was running.
Jesus as Lord - The Conqueror of Evil
I understand of course why this take on Mark’s Gospel is unsettling for us. I don’t experience demon-gods in my ordinary life, or at least I don’t notice that I do. But that is the point, isn’t it? To quote G.K Chesterton, “The demons have really been in hiding since the coming of Christ on earth.” Jesus’ triumph over evil has been so successful that we cannot even believe that those old evils were ever real. We think of them as boogeymen and children’s nightmares. If that makes you feel better, I won’t argue with you. But Mark’s claim is larger than that and far better. His Gospel - the gospel of Jesus Christ - is the proclamation that Jesus is Lord, the conqueror of all evil. Evil has been so fully routed that we struggle to even imagine what it was like before.
Jesus isn’t finished yet. The same Lord who conquered the demon-gods continues to conquer the last remnants of evil in our lives with his awesome power. This is what Christians mean when they use the word gospel. It is the good news of the lordship of the true and only king. The gospel is not a task you accomplish. It is a declaration. The gospel is the Lordship of Jesus in your life, conquering evil beyond our imagination with power beyond our imagination. And the best is yet to come.
Dr. Benjamin Williams is the Senior Minister at the Central Church of Christ in Ada, Oklahoma and a regular writer at So We Speak. Check out his books The Faith of John’s Gospel and Why We Stayed or follow him on Twitter, @Benpreachin.