The necessity of the gospel has to do primarily with the nature of human sinfulness and God's response to it. The apostle Paul vividly demonstrates that without the gospel, people have absolutely no chance of salvation. Human sinfulness is not just periodic wrong actions toward God or people, but it is the inner nature of opposition to God through self-assertion, self-satisfaction, and the resulting loss of sound thinking ability. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way out of this hopelessness.