The Good News and the OT

Many people associate the word gospel, or εὐαγγελίοv, only with the New Testament (NT). However, the Greek term εὐαγγελίοv has a Hebrew equivalent in the Old Testament (OT): the word בְּשֹׂרָה. As a noun, the Hebrew term appears six times in the OT and means “good news” or “the reward for good news” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament 1964, s.v. εὐαγγελίοv). As a verb, בשׂר appears 24 times and almost always refers to the act of announcing or to the bearer of good news. The news could concern the inauguration of a king’s reign or the defeat of an enemy (Padilla 2013, 85).

Although the word is rarely used with a religious connotation in the books of Samuel and Kings, in the Psalms and the Prophets it is used almost without exception in reference to the saving acts of Yahweh (Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament 1974, s.v. בשׂר). It frequently appears as a noun (a substantival participle) to identify the messenger who proclaims the good news of the Lord’s victory and the beginning of the era of salvation (Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament 1974, s.v. בשׂר).

For a first-century Jew familiar with the Old Testament, the word בשׂר would have been associated with the hope that one day Yahweh would intervene on behalf of his people through the Messiah. This expectation shaped their understanding of the Greek term εὐαγγελίοv. The connection was further strengthened by the translators of the Septuagint, who rendered בשׂר with variations of the word εὐαγγελίοv (Burrows 1925, 22).

Why is it important?

The Gospel of Mark (1:14–15) tells us that after John was imprisoned, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the good news and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near; repent and believe in the gospel.” If we want to understand what good news Jesus was announcing as fulfilled, we must first consider the OT. As Lesslie Newbigin once said, we must “look backward and look forward, to ask what is being fulfilled and how it is being fulfilled, turning first to the Old Testament and then to the New Testament” (1961, 60–61).

Only then will we gain a fuller understanding of the good news, the mission of Jesus, our participation in his mission, and the reason we plant new churches.