By GARY ALLEY
December 2022
One of the most well-known parts of Luke’s description of Jesus’ birth occurs when an angel appears to shepherds who are guarding their flocks at night. And the angel says to the shepherds,
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news
that will cause great joy for all the people.
Today in the town of David,
a Savior has been born to you;
he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11
It literally says in the Greek of Luke 2:10, “I evangelize to you great joy for all the people.” [1] In fact, our word for “evangelical” Christian comes straight from this Greek verb which means to “share good news.”
And what is the “good news” that the angel is telling the shepherds in the fields? The Messiah (the anointed one) has been born.
As evangelicals, we often understand the “Good News of Jesus” as the “Gospel”[2] —a message of salvation based on the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Over the last century, this message has often been distilled into a simplistic memo, like you would find in a tract. Take for example the six steps on “The Romans Road.” For many, the “Gospel” has become just a one-time prayer that a “sinner” says, rather than a lifelong journey of discipleship. The “Gospel” then becomes a creed rather than a living faith.
While there is an argument for understanding the “Gospel” as a “message” to proclaim,[3] the original context for “sharing good news” is found in the Hebrew Scripture. In Luke 4, Jesus stands up in the Nazareth synagogue and reads from Isaiah 61:1,
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
“The Lord has anointed me” could be interpreted as God anointing a Messiah,[4] and this “anointed one” has been called “to share good news” or “to evangelize to the poor.”[5] According to the Gospel of Luke, this is how Jesus introduced his calling as Messiah (the anointed one) when he wove his calling together with Isa 61’s verb “to evangelize”—“to share good news.”
Notice, that evangelization or “sharing good news” is paralleled in Isa 61:1 with the following actions—binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming freedom for the captives, and releasing prisoners from darkness.[6]
So too, when John the Baptist is imprisoned by Herod Antipas, John sends some of his followers to inquire about Jesus’ messianic calling. Jesus counters John’s query, “Are you the Coming One?,” by pointing to his actions,
The blind receive sight,
the lame walk,
those who have leprosy are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the good news is shared with the poor. Matt 11:4-5
Out of these miracle-works, Jesus sums up the first five messianic actions with Isa 61:1’s verb “bringing good news to the poor.” Isa 61:1’s “bringing good news to the poor” encapsulates God healing and changing people’s lives.
So what is foundational for an evangelical Christian? Evangelicalism began around 300 years ago when a group of Jesus-followers started emphasizing that a person could be assured of their salvation before the Lord if they would simply obey God’s word by repenting of their sins and accepting in faith the death of Jesus as an atonement for those sins.
And, so too, today, evangelicals continue to believe that when a person trusts in Jesus, that God enters a person’s life and “saves” them—not just for eternity but right now, radically changing one’s life. And, evangelicals also believe that as God’s Spirit begins moving in that person’s life, they start to influence the people around them through their words and actions. Evangelicals call this “sharing their faith” or “giving their personal testimony.”
So too, the original biblical context for “sharing the good news” is a movement of action; it is not just a message or a sermon. “Bringing good news” is a life lived in front of the world. The birth of Jesus is only “good news of great joy to all people” when they see our lives as evidence of God’s great salvation. Our lives are the proof of that good news.
Let us remember that the good news is much more than a hopeful message. It is something we experience, it is something we live. It is something we share with others by sharing our lives. The “good news” is God’s Word enfleshed in our hearts and in our actions.
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news
that will cause great joy for all the people.
Today in the town of David,
a Savior has been born to you;
he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
[1] εὐαγγελίζομαι =evangelizomai (verb)
[2] The Greek term evangelion was translated into Latin as bona annuntiatio. In Old English, it was translated as gōdspel (gōd "good" + spel “news”), or “gospel”.
[3] For example, the gospels of Matthew and Mark only communicate the “good news” as a noun (εὐαγγέλιον). Yet, interestingly, the Gospel of Luke only uses the verbal form of “good news.”
[4] The Hebrew word for “Messiah” (מָשִׁיחַ) comes from the root, “to anoint (משׁח).”
[5] מָשַׁח יְהוָה אֹתִי לְבַשֵּׂר עֲנָוִים (mashakh Adonai oti levasser anavim). The Hebrew לְבַשֵּׂר (levasser) is “to share/bring good news.”
[6] Luke 4:18 and the LXX interpret “to release prisoners from darkness” as “giving sight to the blind.”