The Depths of the Gospel


As of late I have been thinking about words and books. I read a lot—as much as I can make time for. And I have read many books and many articles over the years of formal education courses and the pursuit of my own interests. I could list many authors and many books from whom and from which I have gleaned truly helpful insights; the ability of those authors to paint meaning with words is extraordinary and it is pleasing to read the fruit of their labors.

Yet in all these thoughts my attention has been drawn back to Scripture and especially to the Gospel narratives. Why do I return to them again and again? I have read the Bible many times and that in many different English translations. I have studied portions of the biblical text in Hebrew and Greek. I have read commentaries on Scripture by the most learned men (and women) from multiple generations of the Churches’ history. Yet I continue to return to the text of Scripture and especially the Lord’s words and deeds. I can never exhaust the depths of the Gospel narrative because of the One whose life and words are recorded therein.

That great whimsical Christian writer G.K. Chesterton made a helpful observation that is quite relevant to the general point I am bringing up.

“Every attempt to amplify that story has diminished it. The task has been attempted by many men of real genius and eloquence as well as by only too many vulgar sentimentalists and self-conscious rhetoricians. The tale has been retold with patronizing pathos by elegant sceptics and with fluent enthusiasm by boisterous best-sellers. It will not be retold here. The grinding power of the plain words of the Gospel story is like the power of mill-stones; and those who can read them simply enough will feel as if rocks had been rolled upon them. Criticism is only words about words; and of what use are words about such words as these? What is the use of word-painting about the dark garden filled suddenly with torchlight and furious faces? ‘Are you come out with swords and staves as against a robber? All day I sat in your temple teaching, and you took me not.’ Can anything be added to the massive and gathered restraints of that irony; like a great wave lifted to the sky and refusing to fall? ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me but weep for yourselves and for your children.’ As the High Priest asked what further need he had of witnesses, we might well ask what further need we have of words. Peter in a panic repudiated him: ‘and immediately the cock crew; and Jesus looked upon Peter, and Peter went out and wept bitterly.’ Has anyone any further remarks to offer?”[i]

I could continue to quote Chesterton at length here, as he continues on his usual brilliance and forceful yet whimsical argumentation. This captures the point which I want to emphasis: The uniqueness of the Lord’s words and deeds are unparalleled; the scholar is confounded by them and left to yield the heart and the mind in order to even begin to understand their meaning and the significance for this life and eternity. The simple person can read them in faith and gather an astonishingly accurate level of understanding of them. For this is the witness of the living God spoken from the holy Son of God. They are without equal and they stand as the central reference point for all seekers of the true God.

I have read much on the long history of interpretation of the Bible and I find myself concurring with Chesterton’s assessment: The words of human readers are mere words—even the most insightful and learned and wise statements. The depths of the Gospel are like pools which are opaque even at close inspection—the natural human mind can barely make sense of them because they emerge from the very mind of God. Their meaning is plain yet it is hidden from the carnal person who seeks to take them as tools to satisfy his or her own self-interest.

The heretics cannot abide by them because to do so would require becoming like a little child. Such persons are beyond that and steeped in their hubris and self-importance and confidence in comprehending reality according to principles born of carnal-mindedness. To know their meaning requires knowing and loving and obeying the One who spoke them and demonstrated their power in deeds. That is too much for most people. They assess the cost and decide to walk away or try to bend the Lord himself into their notions of Deity and spirituality.

The depths of the Gospel are rooted in the Person of Lord himself. Thus his words and deeds defy the complicated sophistication of the scholar or philosopher. And thus they challenge the simple person to apply his mind as well as his heart to hearing them in order to obey. Without experientially knowing the One who came one cannot plume the depths of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit does not instruct anyone in Truth except in the way faith seeking understanding through obedience.

[i] G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, chapter entitled “The Strangest Story in the World”; cited from G.K. Chesterton Collected Works, Volume 2 [Ignatius:1986], 340-341.  


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