I have been pondering why Paul said, “I know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Was he telling the readers of his letter that we have made knowing Christ to complicated? Was he suggesting we get back to the very basics of just knowing Jesus Christ and Him crucified?
I would suggest that Paul saw the complicated, legalistic nature of the developing early church and wanted to move us away from that direction. Even today, we have made Jesus much more complicated than he wants to be. No better example is available than the story of the repentant thief in Luke’s 23rd gospel.
Your thoughts?
This reminds me of a song by Casting Crowns called “What This World Needs”. I like the part that says, “People aren’t confused by the gospel; they’re confused by us. Jesus is the only way to God, but we are not the only way to Jesus. This world doesn’t need my tie, my hoodie, my denomination, or my translation of the Bible. They just need Jesus. We can be passionate about what we believe, but we can’t strap ourselves to the gospels because we’re slowing it down. Jesus is going to save the world, but maybe the best thing we can do is just get out of the way.” Listen to the whole song, though, because it is really expressing your thoughts through melody, saying that we truly are over-complicating the Gospel. God calls us simply to love as He loved and serve as He served. Remember, our job is not to be seed growers, but to be seed planters. God’s Holy Spirit does the rest. Jesus is the Water of Life.
Amen! ChristAmazing is, well, amazing!!!