What Happens When You Conceal the Message of the Gospel?

In his first letter to St. Timothy, St. Paul warns about false teachers and against anyone who teaches a doctrine that differs from the message Christ revealed to the Apostles. St. Paul is even more concerned about speculative religious instruction that deviates from proper training in the faith regarding God the Father.   

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the divine training that is in faith; whereas the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith. Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.[1]

St. Paul’s warning to St. Timothy reflects the importance and necessity of the development of a proper act of faith, one intimately associated with the message of Christ and not of man. Within the context of Catholic education, for example, there exists both a human and Divine dimension. The human dimension is the actual teacher who, upon reception of the salvific message of the Gospel, should be compelled to deliver this message with fidelity, clarity, and joy. The Divine dimension is the message of humanity’s salvation through the death of Jesus Christ. The relationship between the human and divine dimension in Catholic instruction stresses a need to unveil and not conceal the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. St. John Paul II sheds light on this, emphasizing the importance of exposing the Gospel to arouse and nourish the faith because the aim is an adherence to Christ.[2] As Catholic educators, we possess a mission to enlighten young and old to know better this (living) Jesus . . . to know his mystery; the kingdom of God proclaimed by him, the requirements and promise contained in the Gospel message, and the paths that He has laid down for any who wishes to follow him.[3]

St. John Paul II reminds us that the Gospel was meant to be delivered and not concealed. In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul speaks of the necessity to open the door to declare the message and mystery of Christ.[4] In the Gospel of St. Mark, we encounter the same form of declaration of revealing the Gospel of Jesus Christ: preach it.[5]

Concealment of the Gospel message, I argue, denies someone the opportunity to witness the way of Christian living. The Church was established to serve as the gateway to the Kingdom of God and to provide a path to engage the Father through the Son. People learn by what is visible, seen, heard, and lived. Part of the human condition requires a need to be engaged in the physical elements of the world while at the same time faithfully attributing the world to God. St. Paul VI reminds us that the Church, the first means of evangelization, is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one’s neighbor with limitless zeal.[6]

The centrality of the Gospel message is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the revelation of why God became man, why the Son Jesus Christ, who is both fully human and fully divine, came to bring salvation to the world through his physical death and then resurrection from death. This reality must be seen, heard, touched, and lived through the Church and the sacramental life. If this message is veiled in any way, then the message becomes unclear and leads to confusion or, worse, a crisis of faith. Hence, concealing the crucifixion of Christ results in redefining a message that is no longer salvific in nature and instead focuses on a strictly humanistic view of the world apart from God. St. Paul alludes to this phenomenon in his letter to the Galatians as follows:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel, not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.[7]

There is no other gospel than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When you conceal the Gospel Jesus preached, alternate messages begin to take root within the heart and mind of man. The thought that an alternate message may conceal the salvific acts of Jesus Christ is something the Devil would gladly propose and encourage; let’s not give him that opportunity.

 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning.[8]