Good news

Koine Greek had a term - euanggelein. It is translated variously as many terms are. As it came into English hundreds of years ago the "u" was changed to a "v" and the word appeared as evangelize. But if one leaves the term in Greek and tries to translate it, it has to be translated on its own terms. I suppose one could break the word up into its two component parts—eu=good and aggelein=to announce. The noun form for the verb means messenger. So, an angel is a messenger. In the 1970s, with the advent of the Today's English Version, the term "good news" became popularized. It is a term that has stuck for the last 35 years. The term before that was "gospel," which the King James Version made to stick. Glad tidings was an intermediate term that came and went between 1611 and1971.

The word does mean that whatever message is announced is good. But, today I think people are a little weary of news whether good or not. Over the years I have translated the term as both "good news" and "welcome chain of events." In Philemon, the context seemed to call for the "message of happiness." But, in 1st Thessalonians, I think Paul used it like we might need it today. He wrote a group of people that were used to hearing news of all sorts from all around the Roman empire. So, he seems to put it in a context that is somewhat sensationalized. Americans ought to recognize the strategy since our news media sensationalizes most everything before presenting it. I think telling the story of Jesus shook up the lives of the hearers of Jesus' story. Paul seems to be telling the euaggelion, that is His fabulous story. So, everywhere I found the Greek term, I replaced it with the English phrase, "His fabulous story." The more I get familiar with Jesus' effect in people's lives, the more I agree with the term of His fabulous story.