I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1.16)
Is there any way to improve upon the plainly-spoken gospel? Is there a way to communicate it without offending people? Is there a need to alter the gospel in order to make it relevant to our day as though the gospel of times past has become irrelevant?
If you listen to many who have a wide audience, you might think that the answer to the above questions is yes. But that leads us to two other questions.
1) Has God changed? Has His righteousness and unyielding justice diminished in any measure? Is He less offended by sin? Has He become more indulgent toward our sinful desires and activities?
2) Has man changed? Is he any less sinful than in days gone by? Is his rebellion against the Creator any less malicious or determined? Is his heart any less “deceitful and desperately wicked”?
No one who looks at these matters honestly can say that either God or man has changed, so that leaves us unable to justify changing the message of the gospel in any way or trying to devise a new way of communicating it.
Seeing that neither God nor man has changed, it is impossible to communicate the gospel without offending man. Natural man is a very proud creature and the gospel offends him at every point in which he takes pride. The message of God’s righteousness, wisdom, and power is in direct contradiction to man’s pride in his own righteousness, wisdom, and power. So, there is no way to communicate the gospel without offending people. Therefore, there is no use trying. Natural man will not receive a gospel that offends him, and God will have nothing to do with a gospel that does not offend natural man. God cannot change or be changed, but even though a man cannot change himself, he can be changed, and it is only the same old gospel that has the power to change him.
Seeing that since Adam fell, neither God nor man has changed, the gospel first promised in Eden and accomplished in the life and death of Jesus Christ is as relevant now as it was in those days.
The gospel of Christ, just as it was first delivered, is still the power of God unto salvation, and it needs no “improvement” by us. It just needs preaching! So that is what we must be doing.
God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, to be both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2.36)
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through [Jesus Christ] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him, all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13.38, 39)
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and he was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15.3, 4)
This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 Timothy 1.15)
He, Himself, bore our sins in His body on the tree. (1 Peter 2.24)
If men will not be saved by this message, it is certain they will not be saved by any other message. This message worked in the beginning, and it still works today. Don’t change it; just preach it!