THE SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL.
By E. A. Morey
“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Rom. 1:16. While the Gospel of Christ is so simple that a child may receive the benefits it offers, it is so comprehensive and deep in meaning that it has never been fathomed by the stoutest mind nor keenest intellect. Notice the condition upon which its advantages are proffered,—“To every one that believeth.” As Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, and is no respecter of persons, why are not all receivers of the power of the Gospel, and salvation thus be assured to every one? While it is true that God has made provision for universal salvation, it is also true, “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15. It is by the inestimable gift of faith that a child begins to receive a knowledge of things; and, finally, to prepare the way for receiving the treasures of wisdom and knowledge expressed in the English language, by the same gift it learns the A, B, C’s. As all words are formed by associating the letters of the alphabet together, it can be truthfully said that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge contained in the English language are hid in the alphabet, through which these treasures are revealed to us. From John 17:3 we learn that it is eternal life to know God and Jesus Christ. Now as no man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him (Matt. 11:27), it is evident that one must come to the Son before he can know the Father, and as no man knows the Son but the Father (Matt. 11:27), it is also clear that no man can come to the Son except the Father draw him (John 6:44). Whosoever, therefore, feels the drawing influence of the Spirit of God, let him know by this that God is doing all he can to save him. Again in Col. 2:3 we are told that in Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” As the words that he spoke were not his, but the Father’s (John 14:24), it must be the treasures and wisdom of God that are hid in Christ, thus making Christ the alphabet of God. In harmony with this thought Christ himself says, in Rev. 1:8, “I am Alpha and Omega,” Alpha being the first and Omega the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Being the first and the last, Christ is all the way through the alphabet of God. To learn Christ, then, as the alphabet of God, it takes the same act of faith, the same simplicity, manifested in a child in learning his letters. When his teacher says a certain character is A, the child with full confidence says A, having no disposition to doubt it, and so on, thus becoming acquainted with the alphabet; so we are to become acquainted with Christ. He is the Word. John 1:1, 14. His name is called The Word of God. Rev. 19:13. His life, power, and Spirit are in the word. John 6:63; 1 Peter 1:23; Heb. 1:3; Ps. 33:6. In short, Christ is incarnate in the word as he was incarnate in the flesh. “The Word was made flesh.” In John 6:53–63 Christ himself teaches us that the word is his flesh, the spiritual food of life. He, therefore, who sees no more in the word of God than he sees in the same words when uttered by man, sees no more than the Pharisees saw in Christ,—nothing but humanity. Then we are to take the word believing it for ourselves. “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God.” “Let God be true, but every man [which includes ourselves] a liar.” Rom. 3:4. Let us heed the words, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself,” thus emptying ourselves of self as Christ did. So will we become acquainted with him and know him. When the alphabet is all learned by the little ones in school, they begin to read. Often they will read in concert, all saying the same thing at the same time. But what a spectacle it would be to hear the various Christian sects attempt to read their faiths in concert! Knowing God as we think he is has been the principal cause of this confusion. Many have gone so far in expressing their idea of God as to say that this is as God would have it. But God expressed his own idea in 1 Cor. 1:10: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Others justify these different ways by saying that as there are many ways leading into the city of Chicago, so these conflicting faiths are the different ways leading to the city of God. But the Lord says, “I am the way.” John 14:6. He that “climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” John 10:1. To know God is to know him as he is, as he says he is, having his own idea of himself, as expressed in his word through Christ. As we associate the letters of the alphabet together, forming words to express the thoughts of the writer, so in the Bible we have Christ in every word, thus making every word a letter of the alphabet of God. These words associated together express the thoughts of God. As we feast on his words (Jer. 15:16), forsaking our ways and thoughts (Isa. 55:7–9), we think the thoughts of God over after him, and so become like him, “for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Prov. 23:7. Thus we are brought into harmony and perfect agreement with God. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:1. Moses once said to the Lord, “Show me now thy way, that I may know thee.” To know God fully means a conformity to, as well as a knowledge of, his way. The way or will of a sovereign is most clearly revealed in his law. Paul taught that those who knew God’s will were instructed out of his law. Rom. 2:18. Then to know God implies the keeping of his commandments: “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 2:4. And that part of the moral law that reveals the true God in a special sense is the fourth commandment. Eze. 20:20. Then he who seeks to destroy God’s Sabbath is doing what he can to destroy one of the strongest pillars upon which a knowledge of the true God depends—a knowledge necessary to man’s salvation. This is war against God, and not peace. Now, while the Lord is finishing his work and cutting it short in righteousness (Rom. 9:28), may the reader and the writer so behold in the word the glory of the Lord that we shall thus become changed into the same image (2 Cor. 3:18), and be among those who “shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion” (Isa. 52:8.)