Not infrequently we hear someone complain that theology is deep and difficult. "But I am not a theologian," one says, "can you give it to me in simple terms?" One theologian said, "I know I am a great sinner, and I have a great Savior!" How's that?

In reality, truth is so beautifully consistent with itself and it flows so perfectly, that all scripture, all that God has said and done, comes together in a perfect whole, once we grasp the basic concepts. Moving deeper and deeper is not adding something totally different, but making the simple more meaningful. The deeper one goes in Biblical theology, the more he apprehends the wonder of God's creative act of redemption, and the more he sees the wonder and completeness, indeed, the amazing consistency, of the entire universe. But nothing contradicts. So the simple expands to the complex, but it still retains the essence of simplicity.

We are great sinners. We can pursue that truth through the whole of Scripture and our own consciences and lives, and we still have the same simple truth that we are great sinners. We have a great Savior. Let us explore that reality; it will take a lifetime and we shall not have explored it completely, but as we explore, we are adding depth and confirmation to the reality of the fact that we have a great Savior.

J.I. Packer put it well in his famous and wonderful introduction to John Owen's definitive work on the atonement: The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, when he said that all of theology can be summed up in the simple sentence: God saves sinners. God (the Triune God, not man) saves (not offers a chance but truly rescues and secures) sinners (not "good" people, "seeking" people, "church" people, "righteous" people, but people who live under the death sentence of the court of heaven of being guilty of treason before the holy God, a sentence applicable to the whole of the human race). "God saves sinners" is a simple statement, but how profound. And if you pursue it, you will find an ever-increasing reward as your understanding deepens, but not in this life shall you plumb the depths of it!