Though the entire sweep of the verses below is not called “the gospel”
or the “message,” it unmistakably evokes 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 as a
narration of the saving events of Jesus’ life:

16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:

 He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.

The
gospel is a declaration of the narrative of Christ’s entire life; this
gospel is the “mystery of godliness”. As we mentioned in the post this
week on Ted Campbells’ book, the gospel was from the very beginning a
narration of God’s saving work in the events of Jesus’ life and death
and resurrection and ascension.

My own definition of the gospel, which I articulated first in my book Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us goes like this and I’d like to know if you think it fits the overall themes of this survey of “gospel” in the New Testament:

The
gospel is the work of the (triune) God to form a community of faith in
order to restore cracked Eikons through the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Pentecostal Spirit to
union with God and communion with others for the good of others and the
world.