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What Is the Kerygma? The Heart of the Gospel Message

What Is the Kerygma? The Heart of the Gospel Message

Last updated on: February 4, 2025 at 11:03 am by Beverly R. Green

What Is the Kerygma? The Heart of the Gospel Message 2025-02-04T11:03:14-05:00 Beverly R. Green

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Kerygma: an Evangelical Study

On Sunday I was watching one of my favorite television preachers, Fr. Cedric Pisegna. During his Live With Passion message, he introduced a new word to me: kerygma. I was fascinated by what I heard and decided to study it a bit. I thought there may be others who would be interested, as well.

What is the Kerygma?

From the lexicon: “Kerygma (from Ancient Greek: κήρυγμα, kḗrygma) is a Greek word used in the New Testament for “proclamation.” It might refer to the act of proclaiming (verb), or the content being proclaimed (noun). For example, the verb is used in Luke 4:18-19:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Also, in Romans 10:14:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

And in Matthew 3:1-3:

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

The proclamation (noun) is used in the following:

Acts 2:37- 41 Repent, be baptized, forgiveness of sins

Acts 4: 10 -12 There is no salvation through anyone else

Acts 10: 35- 44 Believe and receive forgiveness of sins

Philippians 2:5 – 11 Confess Jesus is Lord and you will be saved

4 Elements of the Kerygma

The Kerygma is often described in terms of four essential elements: (1) the loving plan of God for human beings; (2) sin and its devastating consequences, especially separation from God; (3) God’s answer to our predicament in the sending of his Son for our salvation; and (4) the response to this gift is a call for every person: to repent of our sins, believe in Jesus and be baptized, so we can be filled with his Holy Spirit and live a new life in His family (ascensionpress.com).

4 Words for the Karygma

According to Father John Riccardo, those four elements can be condensed to four single words: Created, Captured, Rescued, Response. He teaches that, “Our goal isn’t simply to memorize these; the goal is to reflect on them and, more importantly, to pray with them, so we will be overwhelmed by what God has done in Jesus and respond by surrendering our lives to Him in faith.”

Father Riccardo continues, “When one of the ancient Roman emperors would come back from conquering a foreign power, he would send out a decree called an Evangelion. Perhaps, you recognize that word sounds similar to a word we use in the Church – Evangelion – Evangelize. The idea is that this is life changing news. Jesus adopts that same language when He is speaking about His coming. This is Good News, life changing news. Whereas the Roman emperors claimed such life changing–Good News, only Jesus fulfills that claim. Only Jesus really brings the Evangelion – Evangelio – Good News.”

To effectively evangelize, one must read the Good News, study it, meditate on it, absorb it. One must become intimately familiar with what he wants to tell others, and live it.

“For each one of Father Riccardo’s words, there is a question that can help us better dive into the meaning:

Created: Why is there something rather than nothing?
Captured: Why is everything so obviously messed up?
Rescued: What, if anything, has God done to fix the mess? (And if he’s fixed it, why are things still so messed up?)
Response: And how should we reasonably respond to what God has done for us in Jesus?” (https://stmaryeugene.com/education/kerygma/#:~:text=The%20Kerygma%20is%20often%20described,is%20a%20call%20for%20every)

4 Steps of the Kerygma

According to ascension press.com, the four steps of kerygma are:

God has a plan for your life.
Sin interrupts that plan and separates you from God.
Jesus Christ died and rose so that you could be forgiven of these sins and be united to God in heaven.
Through faith and his Church, you can be united to God forever.

Our Response

So the kerygma should be a natural response to the Good News of the Gospel. Every Christian/Catholic believes that we have been commissioned by Christ Himself to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15,Luke 14:23,Matthew 28:19-20,Acts 1:7-8,Mark 16:15-16). Our responsibility as disciples is to proclaim the message of Christ, and to draw people into a loving relationship with the One who is the way, the truth, and the life!

God bless you, and may you find joy in responding to His calling on your life.

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