# gospel

Pronunciation: US say "GAHS-puhl" /ˈɡɑspəl/; UK say "GOS-puhl" /ˈɡɒspəl/

## Noun

1. The first four books of the Christian New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which tell of Jesus's birth, ministry, passion and resurrection.
   - Simple: The first four books of the Bible's New Testament, which tell about Jesus's life, death and rising from the dead.
   - _Many of the best-known scenes in Christian art, from the Nativity to the Last Supper, come from the Gospels._
   - _The congregation stands while the priest reads from the Gospel._
2. Something regarded as absolutely authoritative, the final word on a matter.
   - Simple: Something people accept as completely true, with no need to check it.
   - _Investors took the analyst's forecast for gospel and lost heavily when it proved wrong._
   - _For a generation of home cooks, her recipes were gospel._
3. Short for gospel music, a style of Christian religious music.
   - Simple: A style of Christian religious music, also called gospel music.
   - _She grew up singing gospel before crossing over to soul and R&B._
   - _The festival's Sunday lineup is all gospel, from small church choirs to touring quartets._
4. An account of Jesus's birth, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection, generally written in the first several centuries of the Common Era.
   - Simple: A story of Jesus's life, death and rising again, written in the first few hundred years after him.
   - _Early Christians circulated many gospels, but only four entered the New Testament._
   - _Each gospel tells the story of the crucifixion a little differently._
5. A message promoted as offering important or even infallible principles to follow, in the belief that it will be welcomed or do good.
   - Simple: An idea or message that people spread because they believe it is very good and everyone should follow it.
   - _The new CEO arrived preaching the gospel of efficiency, and every department felt it._
   - _Early health reformers carried the gospel of fresh air and exercise into crowded city schools._
6. In Protestant theology, the teaching of God's grace, as distinct from the Law or divine commandments.
   - Simple: In Protestant teaching, the message of God's kindness that people do not have to earn, unlike God's laws.
   - _Her theology professor spent a whole semester on the distinction between law and gospel._
   - _The sermon moved from the demands of the law to the comfort of the gospel._

## Verb

7. To teach someone the Christian gospel, or to proclaim or share it.
   - Simple: To tell or teach people the Christian message about Jesus.
   - _Church leaders want members to gospel one another in ordinary conversation, not just on Sundays._
   - _Her grandmother gospeled her every night with stories read aloud from the Bible._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6** — From Middle English gospel, from Old English godspell, made of God + spell (“talk, tale, story”), literally “the message of God”. It is believed to be an alteration of an earlier *gōdspell (“good news”), used to translate Latin bona annūntiātiō, itself a translation of Ecclesiastical Latin ēvangelium and Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, literally “good news”), the source of English evangel. Compare Old Saxon gōdspel, Old High German gotspel and Icelandic guðspjall.
**Meaning 7** — From Middle English gospellen, from Old English godspellian (“to preach the gospel, evangelize”), formed from the noun gospel.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/gospel (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).