A dozen times, the gospel is referred to in one form or another as the gospel of Jesus. Saying that the gospel is the gospel of Jesus doesn’t mean that the gospel belongs to Jesus, or just that the gospel is about Jesus, though that is so very true. More pointedly, the gospel is Jesus. That is why 2 Corinthians 4:4 refers to the good news as “the gospel of the glory of Christ.” God’s redemptive plan wasn’t just accomplished by Christ; it was accomplished in Christ. Christ was and is God’s redemptive plan. Ephesians 1:10 says that when everything is said and done in the ages to come, all things will be “summed up in Christ.” Jesus is the mystery of the gospel, and God made all things new in the person of His Son. When God clothed Himself in humanity in the person of Christ, Jesus did not just become a particular man with a specific personality type; He became mankind. He became the second or New Adam, and through the life that He lived and the death that He died, He took the old to the cross, and in His resurrection, all things were made new. A whole new world and a whole new humanity were raised up in Christ. The little phrase “in Christ” that dominates the New Testament is God’s explanation and declaration of the gospel. The life that He lived qualified Him for the death that He died as us, and the death that He died, qualifies us for the life that He lives in us. “In Christ,” that is, in His person, God’s solution for broken humanity was revealed and realized.
