What does the word “kerygma” mean?
We already know the gospel. The gospel is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But what is the kerygma? Kerygma (κήρυγμα in Greek letters) is the Greek word used in the New Testament for “proclamation” or “preaching.” Often, the word kerygma is used in a way that makes it nearly synonymous with the gospel, or with the core message of the gospel. Simply put, “kerygma” is the message of the gospel, preached with joy, enthusiasm, and power (cf. 1 Cor 2:4; Rm 16:25), so that those who hear it might be brought to faith in Jesus and repentance from sin. “Faith comes from what is heard,” wrote Saint Paul, “and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ” (Rm 10:17). The Archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, released a pastoral letter in 2017 entitled Unleash the Gospel. In it, he defined the kerygma, using the words of Pope Saint John Paul II for part of his definition: “The ‘kerygma’ is the New Testament word for the simple, radical, countercultural and joyful message of the Gospel—that ‘initial ardent proclamation by which a person is one day overwhelmed and brought to the decision to entrust himself to Jesus Christ by faith.’”[1] It can be helpful to distinguish the kerygma from the gospel, because doing so helps us remember and emphasize what is most important in evangelization: For us to proclaim the central truths of the gospel with joy and enthusiasm because we are disciples of Jesus Christ who have been changed, transformed, and converted by Him.
The kerygma is not the whole of Christian preaching and teaching, but it has the central role in all of it. In order to preach it effectively, it is so important that we be truly converted and have the joy that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22). We need to be changed, transformed, and converted by the gospel, so that we’re strong with the love of God and in doing good works. If we are not, then we ourselves must hear the kerygma, “the preaching,” again; renewing again our first decision to entrust ourselves to Jesus Christ. As true disciples of Jesus, we must then make Him our daily bread by seeking Him in prayer daily.
What is the content of the kerygma?
The first time the gospel was proclaimed after the resurrection of Jesus was on the day of Pentecost. The apostles and other disciples had just completed nine days of intense prayer. Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began proclaiming the mighty works of God with boldness and miraculous signs. Many other Jews gathered around them, and Saint Peter stood up to preach to them. He told them that Jesus, who died and rose from the dead, is the Messiah and Lord, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. He gave them the kerygma. This is the core of what he, the first Pope, said:
Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. …
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear. …
Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:22-24, 32-33, 36)
After Saint Peter said this, the Jews gathered there were “cut to the heart,” and wanted to know what they should do. “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38); and after Peter continued to encourage and exhort them, many were converted.
This proclamation of the gospel or kerygma of Peter is given in a way that his particular Jewish audience could understand; and yet it is the same, in essence, that we must preach. It is the gospel: Jesus Christ has come into the world from God as the one Savior, to be received by faith and repentance. It is, as Pope Saint Paul VI put it, “a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all men, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy.”[2]
Any expression of the kerygma will include the proclamation that Jesus Christ is Savior, and the call to respond. But what about an even fuller expression of the kerygma, like the one given by St. Peter? What might its elements be? A fuller proclamation of the kerygma could answer the questions, who is Jesus? Where did He come from? Who is the God who sent Him? How does He save us? In what does His salvation consist? How is Jesus alive in the world today and how do we encounter Him? … There is one essence of the gospel, but many ways to proclaim it.
In Unleash the Gospel, Archbishop Vigneron provides a four-part model for delivering the kerygma: “(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 this gift calls for from 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, the Church.”[3] These four parts can be thought of as, (1) The Plan, (2) The Bad News, (3) The Good News, (4) The Invitation. When memorized and understood, they are particularly helpful for the work of evangelization. Let’s continue by considering how we might share the kerygma along the lines provided by this four-part model.
| The Kerygma (Four-Part Model) | Example of How You Might Share It |
| 1. The Plan: “The loving plan of God for human beings;” | 1. God loves you. He created you out of love to be in relationship with Him. He has a plan for your life (1 Jn 4:16; Jer 29:11). |
| 2. The Bad News: “Sin and its devastating consequences, especially separation from God;” | 2. But due to sin, we’re separated from God. Sin is destructive, and leads to eternal separation from God in hell (Rm 3:23, 6:23). |
| 3. The Good News: “God’s answer to our predicament in the sending of his Son for our salvation;” | 3. God sent His Son Jesus to become man and make atonement for our sins by dying on the cross, and to rise from the dead to give us eternal life (Jn 3:16). |
| 4. The Invitation: “The response this gift calls for from 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, the Church.” | 4. We receive this gift of salvation, and the Holy Spirit, when we put our faith in Jesus, repent of our sins, are baptized, and become His disciples (Eph 2:8-9; Acts 2:38). Jesus established the Catholic Church to teach in His name, empower us by His grace, and restore us to salvation if we fall (Mt 16:18-19; 1 Jn 1:9). |
This is just one example. Putting it all in a nutshell, the kerygma teaches us that God saves through Jesus Christ. Expanding it a bit we see that this salvation must be accepted in faith, and that it is salvation from sin, death, and hell, and salvation for the divine life of grace, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life in heaven. As we said above, there is one essence of the gospel, and many ways to proclaim it. Even though we might use a model like this one for delivering the kerygma, we should be ready to rearrange, expand, or contract it, and communicate it differently as circumstances demand. We might come up with our own ways of sharing the kerygma that preserve the essence of it while telling of the saving works of God more completely. Usually, we should share the kerygma in some way that connects it with our own experience (or personal testimony), and in a way that responds to the experience of the listener. Among the many ways Saint John the Apostle expressed the kerygma is this most beautiful one, “God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 Jn 4:8–9). Saint Paul put it in many ways, among them these: “A man is … justified by faith in Christ” (Gal 2:16); and “God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him” (Eph 2:4-6). Our Lord Jesus Himself put it in many ways: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel”; and “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (Jn 14:6).
The message is the same, but the possibilities of proclamation are endless. However the kerygma is given, it should almost always include several essential attributes:[4]
- It should maintain a focus on the person of Jesus Christ
- It should be rooted in the Word of God
- It should include a call to repentance and conversion
- It should be simple, clear, and direct
- It should contain a personal testimony;[5] and
- It should boldly preach the truth.
[1] Archdiocese of Detroit, Unleash the Gospel [A pastoral letter from Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron], June 3, 2017, 22. This definition quotes John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae [Apostolic exhortation on catechesis in our time], October 16, 1979, sec. 25.
[2] Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi [On evangelization in the modern world], December 8, 1975, sec. 27.
[3] In the pastoral letter they are called “four essential elements.” Unleash the Gospel, 22.
[4] These points are all taken from teaching documents of the Saint Popes Paul VI and John Paul II; Evangelii Nuntiandi and Redemptoris Missio, respectively.
[5] The next lesson of this module will explain what is a personal testimony, and how to give one.