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elieve th~s proclamation with upright hearts really attain to thesalvation prepared in Christ. 3A. Whatisthe gospel?1. It is the good news ofsalvation through the Savior Jesus Christ,the Son of the Living God.Tile bildnews oftile Fa//.The Fall ofman into sin in the Garden ofEden is badnews formankind) notwithstanding the fact that God did turn that evilaround even for the good ofHis people. Before the Fall) God sawthat everything that He had created was "very good'; (Gen 1:31).Every change was good news, but not the good news ofsalvation,as there was no Fall as yet to make salvation necessary. So thegospel presupposes the Fall - the "bad news" in the history ofmankind.It was good that man was created ~'in our image, after ourlikeness)) according to God's own Word. Without the understandingofthis original goodness in the human race, there would be noproper understanding ofthe Fall ofman. The concept ofthe Fallimplies a standing position from which the Fall took place. Thisstanding position is obviously the original rectitude of man.Without this original righteousness, holiness, and true knowledgeof man, there would be no Fall to talk about.The story ofthe Fall in Genesis 3 is the Bible's bad news ofwhat happened to our first parents. The Belgic Confession confesses)But being in honor he understood it not, neither knew his excellency,but willfully subjected himself to sin, and-consequently todeath and the curse, giving ear to the words of the devil. For thecommandment of life which he had received he transgressed; andby sin separated himself from God, who was his true life, having3. Heinrich Heppe, ReformedDogmatics (London: George Allen &Unwin Ltd, Ruskin House, Museum Street, 1950), p. 515.34 PRTJ