Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Gospel"

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)

Gospel
a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, and meaning "God's spell", i.e.,
word of God, or rather, according to others, "good spell", i.e.,
good news. It is the rendering of the Greek _evangelion_, i.e.,
"good message." It denotes (1) "the welcome intelligence of
salvation to man as preached by our Lord and his followers. (2.)
It was afterwards transitively applied to each of the four
histories of our Lord's life, published by those who are
therefore called 'Evangelists', writers of the history of the
gospel (the evangelion). (3.) The term is often used to express
collectively the gospel doctrines; and 'preaching the gospel' is
often used to include not only the proclaiming of the good
tidings, but the teaching men how to avail themselves of the
offer of salvation, the declaring of all the truths, precepts,
promises, and threatenings of Christianity." It is termed "the
gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), "the gospel of the
kingdom" (Matt. 4:23), "the gospel of Christ" (Rom. 1:16), "the
gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), "the glorious gospel," "the
everlasting gospel," "the gospel of salvation" (Eph. 1:13).

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Gospel \Gos"pel\, n. [OE. gospel, godspel, AS. godspell; god God
+ spell story, tale. See {God}, and {Spell}, v.]
1. Glad tidings; especially, the good news concerning Christ,
the Kingdom of God, and salvation.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
--Matt. iv.
23.

The steadfast belief of the promises of the gospel.
--Bentley.

Note: It is probable that gospel is from. OE. godspel, God
story, the narrative concerning God; but it was early
confused with god spell, good story, good tidings, and
was so used by the translators of the Authorized
version of Scripture. This use has been retained in
most cases in the Revised Version.

Thus the literal sense [of gospel] is the
``narrative of God,'' i. e., the life of Christ.
--Skeat.

2. One of the four narratives of the life and death of Jesus
Christ, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

3. A selection from one of the gospels, for use in a
religious service; as, the gospel for the day.

4. Any system of religious doctrine; sometimes, any system of
political doctrine or social philosophy; as, this
political gospel. --Burke.

5. Anything propounded or accepted as infallibly true; as,
they took his words for gospel. [Colloq.]

If any one thinks this expression hyperbolical, I
shall only ask him to read [OE]dipus, instead of
taking the traditional witticisms about Lee for
gospel. --Saintsbury.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Gospel \Gos"pel\, a.
Accordant with, or relating to, the gospel; evangelical; as,
gospel righteousness. --Bp. Warburton.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Gospel \Gos"pel\, v. t.
To instruct in the gospel. [Obs.] --Shak.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

Gospel
n 1: four books in the New Testament that tell the story of
Christ's life and teachings [syn: {Gospel}, {Gospels}, {evangel}]
2: an unquestionable truth; "his word was gospel" [syn: {gospel
truth}]
3: a genre of a capella music originating with Black slaves in
the United States and featuring call and response;
influential on the development of other genres of popular
music (especially soul) [syn: {gospel singing}]
4: the body of teachings of a religious group that are
generally accepted by that group [syn: {religious doctrine},
{church doctrine}, {creed}]
5: a doctrine that is believed to be of great importance;
"Newton's writings were gospel for those who followed"


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