The Simplicity Of The Gospel

When asked by their advertising executive to describe a name brand soap for an ad campaign, members of an advertising agency wrote: “The alkaline elements and vegetable fat in this product are blended in such a way as to secure the highest quality of saponification along with a specific gravity that keeps it on top of the water, relieving the bather of the trouble and annoyance of fishing around for it in the bottom of the bathtub during his ablution.“

After reading it, the advertising executive crossed out all of the above description and wrote just two simple words — “it floats!” Some preachers are like those advertising agency members. They have the ability to take the simplest of Bible verses and create the most complex theological arguments.

Did you know that of the 810,697 words of the King James Version of the Bible, there are only 6,000 different words, and the average length of those words is fewer than five letters? The average Bible reading level is 6th grade. There are higher and lower reading levels, depending on which version one chooses. Folks might be surprised at how much of the Bible they would understand if they would just take the time to read it (Ephesians 3:1-4; Ephesians 5:13-17) No wonder the apostle Paul spoke of the “simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

Such commonly held doctrines as “transubstantiation,” “Premillennialism,” and “hereditary total depravity” are not found in the Bible. These false teachings are the results of an elaborate distortion of the Scriptures. It is only when men twist and pervert the Bible that such doctrines are possible (cf. Galations 1:6-7). What the religious world needs is a return to the simplicity of the Gospel.

Regarding the gospel’s simplicity, Paul wrote: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God …. and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:1,4).

Dear reader, this writer encourages you to read and study your Bible every day (Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15 ASV). You’ll be able to easily understand everything contained within its pages that is essential to your salvation. The Bible becomes complicated only because men make it so! (2 Peter 3:15-16 NLT – see commentary).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets