Definition
nounThe first section of the Christian New Testament scripture, comprising the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, concerned with the birth, ministry, passion, and resurrection of Jesus.
nounAn account of those aspects of Jesus' life, generally written during the first several centuries of the Common Era.
Sentence Examples
What he says is gospel.
They spread the Gospel all over the world.
We need to figure out if it's gossip or gospel.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell, from Old English godspell (“gospel”), corresponding to God + spell (“talk, tale, story”), literally “the message of God”, believed to be an alteration of earlier *gōdspell (literally “good news”), used to translate ecclesiastical Latin bona annūntiātiō, itself a translation of Ecclesiastical Latin ēvangelium / Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “evangel”, literally “good news”) (English evangel). Compare Old Saxon gōdspel and godspell (“gospel”), Old High German and Middle High German gotspel (“gospel”), Icelandic guðspjall (“gospel”), and the modern calque Malayalam സുവിശേഷം (suviśēṣaṁ).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Spreading the gospel of dental hygiene in Vermont"
— 1917, Oral Hygiene, volume 7, section title:
"If any one thinks this expression hyperbolical, I shall only ask him to read Edipus, instead of taking the traditional witticisms about Lee for gospel."
— 1881, George Saintsbury, Dryden:
"Are you so gospelled, to pray for this good man and for his issue, whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave and beggared yours forever?"
— c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
"I stood there wondering how often they had “gospeled” each other's hearts like this."
— 2014, Caesar Kalinowski, Small Is Big, Slow Is Fast:
"Hopefully you will get to the point where gospeling one another becomes a natural part of your language, and you will not need a set of phrases anymore."
— 2014, Trevor Joy, Spence Shelton, The People of God: Empowering the Church to Make Disciples: