Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 2: 1 has frequently been used to justify what is sometimes called ‘the simple-gospel’. The Apostle says,

‘when I came to you I did not come with eloquence or superior  wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified…’

The idea behind this is that everyone needs to hear the ‘ABC of the gospel’ – so we should avoid being side-tracked. ‘Sharing the gospel’ means telling the person we’re talking to (a) that he/she is a sinner, (b) that Jesus is the Saviour we all need and (c) that he/she needs to repent and accept this message. By implication philosophical or apologetic concerns are a waste of time. ‘The Scriptures are like a lion in a cage,’ a leading evangelical minister once said to me, ‘so all we need to do is let it out of the cage. The gospel is sufficient by itself. We simply let it roar’.

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Ranald Macaulay

Ranald Macaulay is an Ordained Teaching Elder in the IPC. He founded the L’Abri campus in the UK and The Christian Heritage in Cambridge.