The word gospel is usually thought to mean “good news”, but it’s more like “important news”.

The gospel is what happens when the president calls the TV stations and says, “Clear your airwaves, I need to address the nation in 30mins”.  He’s saying, “I have a gospel”.

For a gospel to be a gospel it needs a speaker and an hearer. It needs to be passed on, communicated, to be a gospel. In fact, if you knew the gospel and didn’t pass it on – in some senses – it actually stops being a gospel. It becomes an archive. It’s still true. But it’s not a gospel because it’s not being proclaimed and communicated and announced.