Paul’s letters are an excellent starting point for understanding the Gospel. Paul had a personal experience on the Damascus Road encounter that was so overwhelming that he asserted the Gospel he had shared was a personal revelation from God himself.

“For I would have you know, brothers, that the Gospel that was preached by me is not man’s Gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11)

So, what exactly was this “good news” that Paul fervently preached, the Gospel that was not of human origin but a divine revelation?

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” (1 Cor. 15: 3-5)

Paul does not tell us how Jesus’ death paid for our sins. He only tells us that Jesus died “for our sins.”

Paul was passing on to the Corinthians the same Gospel he received on the Damascus Road, which concerned the following four events in Jesus’ life: that Jesus died, that Jesus was buried, that Jesus was raised, and that Jesus appeared. Paul was passing on the Gospel, also taught by the apostles. This Gospel, which Paul preached and by which the Corinthians had been saved, was an “according to Scriptures” announcement of the Story of Jesus.