God is the Gospel is John Piper’s rich explanation of what the gospel is truly about: “The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God.” (47) Piper begins by defining the meaning of the gospel, including all the aspects that are part of the good news. He then moves on to describe what it means for God to be the supreme good of the gospel in terms of each person of the trinity. He explains how this applies to evangelism, missions, and sanctification: “There is no gospel where the glory of God in Christ is not shown. And there is no salvation through the gospel where the glory of God in Christ is not seen.” (97)

Not all of the gifts of the gospel are pleasant, so Piper spends a couple of chapters explaining that “all the gifts of God are given for the sake of revealing more of God’s glory, so that the proper use of them is to rest our affections not on them but through them on God alone.” (117) The point of each gift, of course, is the glory of God, and so Piper describes how that works with both the good and the bad. He also explains that we shall eventually see the glory of God and ourselves be glorious, since we must first be like Christ to experience the glory of God. Piper ends the book with a series of hymns describing the transforming power of the gospel that is the glory of God.

All of John Piper’s work flows from the same passion for the glory of God, and God is the Gospel is no exception. At some points the book is redundant, especially where it explicitly crosses paths his other books. However, it contains many of its own great nuggets. For example, in the introduction, Piper asks if we would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there. Reflecting on such a question is a good exercise for getting the point of gospel right, and so is the entire book. God is the Gospel is an important reminder of what’s so great about the gospel and why we should proclaim it.