Is the Gospel Simple or Complex?
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For those us of with the ability to walk, the physical action of walking seems simple and easy. Just put one foot in front of the other and voila — you’re walking.
Yet consider the millions of nerves involved with such a seemingly simple action, the intricate coordination of various body systems, the muscle control and balance needed, even considerations such as gravity or altitude. Then it’s not so simple; indeed, it’s so complex it can be difficult even describing the way the body interconnects to make walking happen.
Answering the question of whether walking is simple or complex really depends on who you ask. It’s both, in truth.
Or love — on the surface, it’s simple. Yet love is also complex, factoring in different types, such as agape, eros, or phileo love, and the way our basic (and often selfish) human nature can distort or shift what love looks like day to day, even moment to moment.
That’s the same question asked about the Gospel — is the Gospel simple or complex?
Thankfully, while God is complex to us, so complex we cannot possibly fathom his thoughts or his ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), his Gospel is incredibly simple.
We humans often make the simplicity of the Gospel complicated, debating theology and all sorts of other aspects of faith. But at its core, the Gospel is an easy, accessible-to-all message of the good news of our eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.
What Is the Gospel?
The word “Gospel” comes from the Greek euangelion, meaning good news. In the Bible, the word is used throughout the New Testament to describe what Jesus’s disciples are tasked with spreading to the ends of the earth: the truth that Christ bore our sin on the cross. He suffered and died in order to pay our sin debt. And those of us who believe in him are guaranteed eternal life forevermore because of this — the end.
As Jesus himself said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
We also must repent, turning from our old ways of living to a new life. As Jesus proclaimed, “The time has come. … The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).
Repent and believe. That’s it. What truly good news.
Instead of death and condemnation, we have the hope of eternity and a heavenly home that awaits us. We become what the apostle Paul describes as a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
What Are the Basic, Simple Truths of the Gospel?
Here are the basic, simple truths of the Gospel:
Jesus — part God and part man, “the Word (who) became flesh” (John 1:14) — is our savior.
Jesus is our only way to heaven; there is no salvation except him. He is “the way and the truth and the life,” and as he tells us, no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6).
Jesus died for our sins. He, who was perfect, sacrificed himself to pay the price for our sins. As 1 John 2:2 explains, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
We must believe this — that he is our savior and he died for our sins — in order to be saved.
We also must repent and follow him. Jesus said to the people in Luke 13:3, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” When we repent, we turn from sin. Sin is what separates us from God. Therefore, repenting is us intentionally recommitting ourselves to God. Repentance is not a work but rather a mindset. It’s rejecting sinful things, rejecting our old way, to follow the new way: Jesus.
Is It Correct When People Say the Gospel Is Love?
At its root, the Gospel is love. It’s a tremendous and extravagant gift of love, grace, and mercy from God our Father. God is love (1 John 4:8). Even though we went astray from him, he loved us enough to provide a way back to him through his Son, Jesus. It’s our choice to repent and believe — or not. But when we do repent and believe, we can be saved and have eternal life in heaven with him.
God’s love is the foundation of the Gospel. Our love in return is shown when we surrender to the gift God offers us.
Why Is the Gospel Sometimes Considered Complex?
While the Gospel is simple, we humans make it complex. We get hung up on certain sins, or on various things we feel we must do to live a godly life. We focus on debating fine points of Scripture, becoming legalistic not only regarding ourselves but others.
God wants us to follow Jesus. He wants us to turn from our old lives and become born again (John 3:3). He wants us to believe and have faith. That’s it.
The rest of the Gospel essentially shows us how this is done.
We live in a fallen world, and we humans have a sinful nature. We’re exposed to sickness physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and it takes a toll on us. Sometimes we can’t see how to live the Gospel way because it’s so foreign from our everyday lives and those around us, the systems of society and the concerns of the government.
The Gospel rejects the world and its priorities and focuses on the eternal, which is loving God and loving others as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). It’s remembering and honoring the grace we receive from God, then extending that grace to others.
What Does It Look Like to Live the Gospel?
Living in accordance with the Gospel can look different for different people. God knows our hearts, and he tells us what we must do. As the prophet reminds us in Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Jesus says much the same in his parable of the sheep and the goats, sharing how the righteous care for others with compassion, feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, inviting in the stranger, clothing those who go without, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison. He adds, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25:45).
It’s much the same as what he says in John 21:15-25 to Peter. After his resurrection, Jesus tells Peter that if he loves him then he should feed Jesus’s sheep and lambs and take care of Jesus’s sheep.
Note that sheep and lambs aren’t synonymous. The original Greek uses two different words, arnion for lambs (young sheep, little ones) and probaton for sheep (the “regular,” grown followers). As well, feed and care are also not synonymous. Boskō is used for “feed,” meaning to literally feed and also to care for, while poimainō is used for “take care of,” meaning not only tend but also shepherd, lead, and guide.
Living the Gospel also involves forgiveness. Jesus taught that we are to forgive others just as the Lord God forgives us. He even said in Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
His words about the vine and the branches show the perfect interconnectedness of the Gospel when it comes to remaining connected to God and then displaying that connectedness in our own lives.
As Jesus said in John 15:5-8, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
All of this speaks to the complexity of the Gospel, which for us humans becomes as complex as we wish to make it.
But rest assured – this is often complicating the minutia of living the Gospel and what it looks like to follow Jesus. The only thing that really matters is simple: believing the good news, that Jesus is our savior and died for our sins. All we must do, daily, is follow him, turning from our old ways and living the Jesus way, whatever that looks like in our life.
That’s it. Thanks be to God.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/eternalcreative
