The Simplicity of the Gospel

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” – 1 Corinthians 1:21

As the few years of our lives melt away into the endless eons of eternity, there is really only one simple truth that could be said to be essential for us to know. We don’t have to attend school for more than a decade to understand it, and we don’t have to trek into the wildest and most unexplored places on earth in order to find it. It is so simple that a little child may hear it and understand it as well as the most learned person with many years of living experience. It is summed up in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 – “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”; and again in Romans 10:9-10 – “If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.”
Knowledge of the world around us can be a wonderful thing, and sometimes we can take for granted the simple fact that we are able to read and write. Yet the main verse at the beginning of this piece tells us that the world has never yet come to know God through all of its wisdom. The scientific knowledge we have gleaned over the centuries has been unable to reconcile us to our Creator, and this is evidenced by the fact that the world’s scientific community generally rejects God’s very existence. All that the most beautiful mathematical formulas can do is help us appreciate God’s order, but they will never introduce us to the Designer of that order. History and philosophy are full of the tragic examples of man’s failure to make an ideal world for himself, and of his failure to discover ultimate truth. Man has poured many grand and beautiful thoughts into literature, but often all that those words express are gnawing uncertainty and even loss of hope.
According to 1 Corinthians 1:21, God in His sovereignty designed it so that there would be no way that people could come to know God through their own efforts and wisdom. Why? Verse 29 tells us – “That no flesh should boast in His presence.” In order that He alone would receive all the glory, God ordained His simple yet miraculous revelation of the Gospel of Christ to be the tool of salvation. Those who hear and heed its uncomplicated call to repentance toward God and faith in Jesus, who died for our sins, will be saved from their sin and belong to God forever.
Yet what is the world’s response to this? It scoffs at the Gospel as so much foolishness, believing that the answer to the human condition could not be so simply, easily, and plainly delivered to mankind as that. In fact, fallen humans would rather accept their search for truth as endless and even futile than accept the solution in the form of revelation from the hand of God Himself.
The Apostle Paul scanned the ranks of the redeemed and did not find many with such an attitude. In verses 27-28, he says, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, has God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.” The Gospel is profound in its very simplicity, and it must be accepted just as simply, for Jesus Himself said, “Unless you are converted and become like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Education and knowledge are very valuable things, and they should never be dismissed. Indeed, we must use them to our advantage if we are to be good stewards of the world that God has entrusted to us. However, let us not be discouraged if we do not have as much worldly education as another person; and, on the other hand, let us not boast as if advanced education equates with wisdom able to unlock all truth. The Lord has identified for us the knowledge that should be sought above all else and rested in once it is attained, and it is as simple as it is unsearchable in its scope. He tells us in Jeremiah 9:23-24 – “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man boast in his might; let not the rich man boast in his riches; but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.”