for the ancient writers originally meant a reward for a good message, but then later became a referent to the good message itself. In modern Christian theology the word is laden with meaning and translated as “Gospel,” but prior to Christianity – when this word would have only had its culturally applied meaning – it was simply good news.

The prophecy of Christ in the Gospel of Mark describes the march of the Flavians through Judea, when the vast majority of Jews were killed by starvation or crucifixion if they weren’t sold into slavery, many cities, including the capital city, were burned down and their culturally central temple completely obliterated. Christ calls this prophecy “good news”, but it’s clear that this news wasn’t good for the people being told about the prophecy. In fact, regardless of how they might have individually felt about Rome or an independent Jewish state, any harbinger of an oncoming Roman legion would have been for Jews very bad news indeed.

Key to understanding why the Gospels were written is knowing for whom they would have represented ‘Good News’. The Gospels weren’t written for the Jews, but for the Romans. And from a Roman perspective, an end to the troubles in the Levant and a promise of divine approval of government structure would have been very good news.