The simplicity of the gospel

Thankfully God has made the basics of the gospel, His good news for salvation, very easy to understand, so that we can all hear the message and have the opportunity to choose life, new life–His lifetime offer of a place in His own family.

It would also be very easy to over complicate the gospel. Theologians have been attempting this unwittingly for centuries. This isn’t a criticism of theology because it is essential to a sound understanding of doctrine.

It is however a reality check to make sure we don’t excessively muddle the message of Christ to such an extent that we create an diversion from its central teaching on reconciliation, especially for those who are seeking answers to their own need for spiritual understanding.

Reconciliation is the basic truth that God has made a way for everyone to return to Him and receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ and through the work of the cross in saving us from sin. It is God’s free offer of salvation by grace through faith.

Simplicity

The Apostle Paul addressed this need for an understanding of the simplicity of Christ when he shared his concerns that people he had seen converted to Christ would be easily deceived into following another gospel that he had not preached.

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

2 Corinthians 11:3-4

Another Jesus. You see there are many ways to preach a message, and many different claims as to who Jesus is and what He represents to us, but there is only one true Jesus and only one gospel reality. We mustn’t lose sight of what Paul calls ‘the simplicity of Christ.’

In the koinē Greek this word ‘simplicity’ means, ‘singleness, sincerity, mental honesty, openness of heart.’ It can also mean, ‘bountifulness, or generosity.’ It’s not self-seeking in its approach. It is open and welcoming to all who want to hear.

At the same time it is not open to reinterpretation away from its Biblical meaning. It is plain and clear. It’s not open to a variety of reconstructive arguments that fit human dogma. Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). He declares the Father.

He is the Son of God revealed to us to demonstrate God’s love towards us through the power of the gospel. The Word is of God, and the Word is God (John 1:1). It is always the Word that leads and we who follow.

The gospel of Christ

The Word is clear on the gospel.

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Luke 4:18-19

Jesus opened the Book at Isaiah to read this and declare that He, the Messiah, the Christ, was present to fulfil the prophecy and bring the gospel into being. This was and is the gospel of Christ.

Later, when the forerunner of Christ, the Prophet John the Baptist, was imprisoned, he sent disciples to enquire of Jesus if He was the Messiah.

When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?'” And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

Luke 7:20=23

Jesus gave testimony that the gospel was indeed being preached with the evidence of signs following through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Good news

The gospel is the good news, literally. When we preach the gospel people should be glad to hear it and see the following signs that accompany the good news.

Paul, again, describes what the gospel is following the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

1 Corinthians 15:1-5

Yes, He is still alive. He is the resurrected Christ. He has ascended into heaven and is at the right hand of the Father. By His Spirit He fills us and equips us as His gospel messengers. The Holy Spirit continues to work in us, with us, and through us, alongside us in this quest for souls.

God the Father has given the responsibility for the gospel to His sons and daughters, meaning we who are saved through faith in Jesus.

This is the gospel. Christ died for our sins. He paid the price that we should have paid. He died on the cross, bearing our sins along the way. They were placed upon Him. He was buried, signifying that He was indeed dead. And He was raised, because, being in Himself totally sinless, death had no claim on Him and could not hold Him.

The resurrection

Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He made the way clear for those who believe on Him to also be resurrected so that death has no claim on us, and becomes the passage into eternal life with Him, a life that begins when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.

Doctrine is important. Sound doctrine is crucial. But we mustn’t allow humanised theology to overthrow the simplicity and generosity of the true gospel. We mustn’t allow shallow or false teaching on scripture to detour us from the central message of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no other way to eternal life but through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.