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Q: I have Protestant friends who often talk about the Gospel message; as Catholics, how do we explain what the Good News of Jesus is?
This is a question that goes straight to the heart of our faith. After all, the very first words Jesus speaks in the Gospel of Mark are: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). Clearly, whatever the Gospel is, it’s not just important—it’s central.
And yet, many Catholics struggle to say clearly what the Gospel is. We may know what the Gospels are (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and we may know that the Gospel is “good news,” but we’re less sure about why it’s “news,” and why it matters.
That’s where the term kerygma comes in. “Kerygma” is a Greek word meaning “proclamation,” and in this context it means not advice, not opinion, but a bold announcement of something that has happened. The kerygma is the Church’s core message, the foundation of everything else we believe and teach. It’s not a list of moral rules or ideas for spiritual growth—it’s Good News, not good advice.
So what’s the actual content of this proclamation?
In short, God has done something decisive in Jesus Christ—something that changes everything. The early Church proclaimed this everywhere they went, starting with one phrase: “He is Risen!” But as they began preaching beyond Jerusalem, they had to unpack that claim for people who didn’t yet know who Jesus was or why it mattered that he rose.
Over time, the Church came to summarize the kerygma in seven essential truths: 1. It is salvific—a message of salvation. 2. It is about the life of Jesus. 3. About his death. 4. His resurrection. 5. That he is Jesus of Nazareth—a real man. 6. That he is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. 7. That he is Lord—God himself and King of the Universe.
Let’s look more closely at that first point, because everything else flows from it: the kerygma is a proclamation of salvation.
So what are we saved from?
In short: sin, death and the devil. The world Jesus entered was captive to powers beyond human control. Sin enslaved the heart; death ended every human dream; the devil sowed deception and despair. The Good News begins here: Jesus came to destroy those powers and set us free.
Jesus didn’t come just to inspire us or show us a better way to live. He came to redeem us—to offer his life as a ransom, to reconcile us with the Father, to conquer death by his Resurrection. As St. Peter put it: “You were ransomed … with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pt 1:18-19).
That’s what we’re saved from, but we’re also saved for something.
And this is where the Good News gets even better: We’re saved for divine life. Jesus didn’t just wipe our sins away, he opened up to us his own relationship with the Father. Through Baptism and the sacraments, we are not only forgiven—we are adopted. We become sons and daughters of God. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it: “God became man so that man might become gods” (460, quoting various saints of the Church).
This isn’t just poetry—it’s the promise at the heart of our faith. Because of Jesus, we share in his own life, starting now and fulfilled in eternity.
So when your Protestant friends ask about the Gospel, you can say something like this:
The Good News is that God loves us so much that he sent his Son Jesus to live, die and rise for us—to save us from sin, death and the devil, and to offer us a share in his own divine life as adopted children of the Father.
That’s the heart of the Gospel. And once we understand this core message, everything else—the sacraments, the moral life, prayer, doctrine—makes more sense. The Good News gives us not just hope but purpose. It tells us who we are, what we were made for and what God has done to bring us home.
In next month’s column, we’ll explore how the rest of the kerygma—Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and his identity as Christ and Lord—build on this foundation to show just how good this news really is.
