The Gospel is not “hell-forward.” Indeed, the Gospel is God’s Grace-forward in the face of Jesus Christ. When proclaiming the Gospel the proclaimer ought to proclaim Christ first (God’s love all the way down for them), and explain that the Gospel is about what God has done, is doing, and will do for them in the free life of Jesus Christ. When speaking about sin, and its consequences, the proclaimer ought to place an emphasis on God becoming sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [in Christ]. This way the focus of salvation emphasizes God’s performance, and what He has done for them, right where they (we) are, and not what they must do for Him. The Gospel is God’s grace all the way down. As such, people ought to come to see themselves through that prism rather than a prism that focuses on the person too much. Surely, humanity’s failure to achieve God’s holiness on its own is inherently wicked and evil; and inevitable, given the conditions of the fallen human condition. But the Gospel focuses on God in Christ taking that failure upon Himself, as the One for the many, with the result that the person is able to finally find freedom and life eternal as they can look away from themselves for once, and finally peer into the ground of their redeemed newly created lives in the vicarious life of Jesus Christ. The Gospel certainly saves us sinners from hell, but the Gospel is Christ concentrated and not hell-concentrated, per se. People need to know that they are free to do nothing, and simply fling themselves on the mercy of God demonstrated for them in God becoming human (the Godman) for them. This is the proclamation, which as an aroma, is life leading some to life, and unfortunately, the aroma of death leading many to death.