Simplicity In Christ
“all things were created through him and for him.” (Col 1:16)
Introduction
Paul’s concentration on Christ expounds him as both the centre and circumference of the life of his Body and Bride. Or as maths teacher Donna would say, Jesus is the whole point. Tragically, this “Christological concentration”, is culturally absent in the Western Church we know today. One of my favourite sayings, “Growth in God is never complex but always costly.”, points to painful simplicity as a severely neglected spiritual discipline. Unlike other popular eternal attributes of God, e.g.; omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, the divine simplicity is one of the most difficult to absorb. This is not primarily an intellectual, but a moral and practical problem. God’s simplicity affirms that the Lord is one with all his properties. In affirming the all-surpassing glory of the life of the incomparable God, we confess no dimension of the divine nature lacks wisdom, goodness, love and so on. This has generally neglected implications for our salvation. In a post-modern world mad about technological progress as a medium of “salvation”, we need to reappropriate the ancient teaching that the Spirit-illuminated text of Scripture (1 Tim 3:15; 2 Pet 1:21) is transparent in its interpretation (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-perspicuity-of-scripture/). Clear to understand to those who like children seek God in simplicity. A simplicity made available in Christ alone.
Saved by Losing Simplicity
Jesus famed words, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt 16:25), find their original application in his death and resurrection. In an age when with countless webinars spreading expertise on “how to” run churches, we have lost touch with the simplicity of God in Christ. The agony of the atonement is best understood, not by loud appeals with simplistic rhetoric about penal substitution, but of Jesus, “becoming sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21; Rom 8:3; 1 Pet 2:21) in his experience. To save us the Lord had to lay aside his simple complete and direct knowledge of the Father and to Fall for our sakes into ever greater moral and spiritual complexities. His agonising cry in entering the darkness of “the bottomless pit” (Rev 9:1 cf. Matt 18:12; 22:13; 23:30 Eph 4:9), is the Father bereaved plea, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me??” (Mark 15:34). To “reconcile all things to himself in God” Col 1:20; 2 Cor 5:19), Jesus must adopt “the mind set on the flesh hostile to God” (Rom 8:7) where “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” so totally “grieving” the Spirit of his Father (Gen 6:5-6). Since the death of Jesus involved sharing our Fall into complexity, the resurrection means releasing a glory unimaginable to sinners. The exalted humanity of the Son means Jesus possesses full and complete spiritual knowledge in the Spirit of the Father concerning all things. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). This was the fruit of life lived in full simplicity.
The Simplicity of the Son of God
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt 6:33) is a saying Jesus permanently lived by. The Lord stood out from the crowd, not because no-one else did miraculous signs, or spoke with eloquence (cf. 1 Cor 1:17; Acts 18:24), but because he was the meekest man on earth (Num 12:3; Deut 18:15; Matt 11:29; Phil 2:8). The essence of simplicity, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer so powerfully taught on his way to martyrdom, is single heartedness. As the undivided Light of the Father there was in our Lord “no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). The discipled life of Christ radically opposes the “double minded man” (James 1:18; 4:8) who is a sinner. The pure Christ never deflected from his supreme greatness nor sought to dazzle and impress others as those conscious of lost glory must do (Rom 3:23; Gen 3:7). Jesus alone, was and is, the true human totally focussed on God as “the Great King” (Matt 5:35; Ps 48:2). Jesus is the truly “whole hearted man” (Matt 22:37) free from the insatiable focus on self plaguing us in sin.
In testifying, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9), Jesus points to himself as the perfect bridge between an eternal immortal Sovereign and our weak frail humanity, as such he is the sole “Mediator between God and humanity” (1 Tim 2:5). Lest we be deceived into thinking such unlimited transparency is a property of Christ’s unaided divine nature, it is only when risen as a glorified human in the power of the Spirit that Christ breathes on the disciples and forcefully proclaims, ““Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”” (John 20:22-23). Jesus freely shares his simplicity with his Bride.
Contagious Simplicity
Only the forgiven can forgive and only the healed can heal, this is an active property of simplicity. Subsequent to the first healing in Gospel power (Acts 3) we read, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men (i.e. “simpletons”), they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13). Being “with Jesus” is the key to everything in the Christian life (cf. Mark 3:14). The simple person knows the reality of God in their experience whatever the panful circumstances of life. They have reached that stage of maturity when to hear the Word of God is to obey his will (Mark 3:34-35; Rev 2:7 etc.), the simple person is the least isolated person. This person (you?), by miraculous impartation through the Spirit (Acts 2:33; 1 Cor 12:10, 28; Gal 3:5), longs to pass on to others all the blessings of the Father, as Jesus passed on all the things of the Father. This is the secret of “impartation” (Rom 1:11) whereby mature Christians deeply long to impart the gracious gifts given them in Christ.
Conclusion
In an age of simplistic answers to common problems, a disposition becoming exponentially worse through our growing addiction to the internet and AI, the Spirit of the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:9) is calling the Church of Jesus back to her roots in his pure simplicity (2 Cor 11:1ff.). The great spiritual mystic Francois Fenelon (1651-1714) said of simplicity, “I leave all for this,. It is the pearl of the Gospel. (cf. Matt 13:46)” This word of truth stands as a severe judgement over against the Western Church and its multiple sophistications. We live in an age of accommodation with the world, one, not lacking in sincerity, but devoid of simplicity.
““Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”” (Matt 19:14) sounds cute to us, but that such “little ones” possess supernatural wisdom (Matt 11:25) we cannot bear. We may articulate that even the youngest amongst us can hear from, but in practice the Church is incredibly, and seemingly incurably, ageist. (Not least of all because Jesus is a Prophet for our times (Matt 21:15 is prophetic of Ps 8:2)). Who today is praying for revival as the simplification of Church??