The simplicity that is in Christ does not mean a simplistic Gospel or an ‘easy-believism,’ message. The Doctrine of Christ, even as His person and work are infinitely above what any depraved sinner could ever think or know. The truth is that no one can know Christ or come to Him unless the Father is pleased to call them and draw them effectually, John 6:44. The depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God in saving sinners through the blood and righteousness of the LORD Jesus, and His glorious, finished work at the cross is anything but simplistic. And yet, it is simple in that all of salvation is summed up in Christ. The sinner’s election from eternity is in Him. The sinner’s justification is by Him and His finished work. The sinner’s regeneration is through Him, by His Spirit.

So what is it to be ‘corrupted’ from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus? The word ‘corrupted’ indicates a slow but sure erosion, a withering away progressively. It is an apostasy away from the Truth as it is in Christ, and that from the seduction of false preachers who turn the eyes and ears of the hearers away from Christ, just as Satan did Eve in drawing her eyes off of the Tree of Life (Christ) to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (experience).

Just as the serpent was subtle in deceiving Eve, like Satan his ministers are transformed into ministers of light, (2 Corinthians 11:14).Therefore, we are warned against any who come preaching ‘another jesus,’‘another spirit,’ and ‘another gospel.’The three are interconnected and one and the same false doctrine. To declare any other ‘jesus,’ than HE taught by the Spirit of God in the Gospel, is not THE Gospel. Nor, is it THE Spirit of Christ. There is a spirit of emotionalism, ‘free-willism,’ ‘denominationalism,’ and ‘ceremonialism,’ but not THE SPIRIT, whose one objective is the glorification and exaltation of the LORD Jesus Christ as the unique Savior, Redeemer, and Justifier of sinners He came to save. Their ‘jesus’ is one who is in man’s hands and depends on man ‘allowing’ him to save them if ‘man will.’

How vital is the difference? When Christ asked His disciples, who do men say that I am, they responded in a variety of ways: some say John the Baptist, others Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets. Without the Spirit of Christ revealing Him in the soul of the sinner, opinions will always be varied. However, when the LORD Jesus directed the question more specifically to them, “But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God,” Luke 9:20. Simple, but true. God’s CHRIST. The Anointed One from eternity Whom God the Father purposed should come, live, die, and rise again to satisfy His law and justice for the salvation of a chosen race of whom Christ was made the Representative Head, Psalm 2:6-9. God’s Christ, set forth in the Old Testament in picture, prophecy and promise, but revealed in the New as God’s Prophet, Priest, and King,Hebrews 1:1-6 .