What Is The Gospel? Part 1

What is the gospel?
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations (Rom. 1:1-5).
So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith (Rom. 1:15-16).
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you---unless you believed in vain. 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 (1 Cor. 15:1-4).The reader may also consider 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; 1 Peter 1:3-12; and Acts 20:17-22.
Henry Bullinger wrote this definition of the gospel,
       "The gospel is the heavenly preaching of God’s grace to us-ward, wherein it is declared to all the world, being set in the wrath and indignation of God, that God the Father of heaven is pleased in his only-begotten Son, our Lord Christ Jesus, whom, as he promised of old to the holy fathers, he hath now in these latter times exhibited to us, and in him hath given us all things belonging to a blessed life and eternal salvation, as he that for us men was incarnate, dead, and raised from the dead again, was taken up into heaven, and is made our only Lord and Saviour, upon condition that we, acknowledging our sins, do soundly and sorely believe in him." (The Decades of Henry Bullinger, 2:3-4)
James Montgomery Boice penned,
       "The Good News is not just that God became man, nor that God has spoken in Christ to reveal a proper way of life for us, nor even that death, our great enemy, has been conquered. The Good News is that sin has been dealt with, that Jesus suffered its penalty for us as our representative, and that all who believe in him can look forward confidently to heaven." (Whatever Happened To The Gospel of Grace, 105)
Paul Washer defines the gospel in this way,
       "In accordance with the Father’s good pleasure, the eternal Son, who is equal with the Father and is the exact representation of His nature, willingly left the glory of heaven, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin, and was born the God-man: Jesus of Nazareth. As a man, He walked on this earth in perfect obedience to the law of God. In the fullness of time, men rejected and crucified Him. On the cross, he bore man’s sin, suffered God’s wrath, and died in man’s place. On the third day, God raised Him from the dead. This resurrection is the divine declaration that the Father has accepted His Son’s death as a sacrifice for sin. Jesus paid the penalty for man’s disobedience, satisfied the demands of justice, and appeased the wrath of God. Forty days after the resurrection, the Son of God ascended into the heavens, sat down at the right hand of the Father, and was given glory, honor, and dominion over all. There, in the presence of God, He represents His people and makes requests to God on their behalf. All who acknowledge their sinful, helpless state and throw themselves on Christ, God will fully pardon, declare righteous, and reconcile to Himself. This is the gospel of God and of Jesus Christ, His Son." (The Gospel's Power and Message, viii)