A brief thought on the gospel & the genres of the New Testament

All of the New Testament speaks to the glorious victory of God's Messiah (Jesus of Nazareth) over the powers of sin and death. Often, we see and read the various "books" of the Bible as completely separate or distinct. Yet the books of the Bible not only work harmoniously together, but they also complement each other akin to a whole symphony playing a gorgeous piece of music. 

Each section of a symphony must have their own sheet music to contribute their own sound to the unique composition of the whole played together. With distinctness, and unique contribution, each different genre and book of the New Testament gives a beautiful exploratory declaration about God's work in and through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. 

• In the four Gospels and Acts, we see the good news of who Jesus is and why He matters in the form of dialog and narrative. 
• In the General Epistles, we see the good news of Jesus stated in propositional statements through linear presentations of logical, consequential arguments. 
• In the Pastoral Epistles, we see the victory of Jesus informing the life of His followers as a community of believers with mutually overlapping desires, goals, and methods. 
• In the book of Revelation, we see the accomplishments of Jesus and His significance in the form of an apocalyptic drama.

All of these 27 books in the New Testament display in their own genres, to unique audiences, the validity (truth) of Jesus' victory over sin and death and the implications of that victory for the reader. 

Don't get confused by the various genres. Yes, each book has a unique, 1st century, original audience who the human writer had in mind. Yet with all these diverse audiences and diverse occasions for writing, every book of the New Testament has at its central focus the person and significance of Jesus.

There is one, harmonious, overarching beautiful tune that all 27 books of the New Testament point towards. We summarize it with phrases like "the good news" or "the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus" or "the work of Christ". To put this vivid and eternally sweet tune into one single word we might simple say: Gospel.