The Gospel in Brief: The Life of Jesus (Harper Perennial Modern Thought)

by Leo Tolstoy

The purpose of Tolstoy’s investigation into the Christian Gospel was to find the practical, pure teaching of Jesus Christ, to free it from the linguistic patina of ritual and scripture, removing both the dogmatic and the supernatural. In illustration of this approach, Ivakin recalls an 1881 conversation in which Tolstoy said to him: “What is it to me if [Christ] was resurrected? If he was resurrected, then God bless him! The questions important to me are: What should I do? How should I live?”

The reader should remember that not only is there no harm in throwing out the unnecessary parts of the Gospels and illuminating some passages with others, but that, on the contrary, it is reprehensible and godless not to do that, and continue considering some fixed number of verses and letters to be holy. Only people who do not seek for truth and do not love the teachings of Christ can maintain such a view of the Gospels.

do not look at Christianity as a strictly divine revelation, nor as a historical phenomenon, but I look at Christianity as a teaching that gives meaning to life.

No matter how much the members of a given denomination speak of how they do not judge other denominations, how they pray for communion with them and have no hatred toward them, it is not so. Never, going back to Arius, has any claim, regardless of its supporting dogma, arisen from anything other than condemnation of the falseness of the opposing dogma.

their teachings, it turns out that Christ announced that he was saving the human race, fallen since Adam, with his own blood, that God is a trinity, that the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles and spread via the laying on of hands onto the priesthood, that seven sacraments are needed for salvation, that communion ought to occur in two forms, and so on. It turns out that all of this is the teaching of Christ, whereas in Jesus’s actual teaching there isn’t the slightest hint of any of this. These false teachers should call their teaching and their faith the teaching and faith of the Holy Ghost, not of Christ.

The task is not to prove that Jesus was not a God and that therefore his teachings were not divine, any more than it is to prove that he was Catholic. The task must be to understand the essence of his teaching, this teaching that became so high and precious for people that they recognized the messenger of it as a God. I have tried to do this very thing; for myself at least, I have done it. And now I am offering it to my brothers.

Jesus said to him, “You must learn what is even more important than that. From now on you will learn that heaven is open and that people can communicate with the powers of heaven. From now on, God will no longer be separated from his people.”

The orthodox saw that the students were plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath and they said, “That is not to be done on the Sabbath. We are forbidden to work on the Sabbath and yet you are plucking ears of corn. God established the Sabbath and commanded that its violation be punished by death.” Jesus heard this and said, “If you understood what these words of God mean, ‘I want love and not sacrifice,’ you would not be condemning them for something which bears no guilt. Man is more important than the Sabbath.”

When Jesus came to Matthew, some acquaintances, tax collectors and non-believers, were visiting him. But Jesus did not shun them and sat down himself, as did his students. And now the orthodox saw this and said to Jesus’s students, “How is it that your teacher is eating with tax collectors and these other wayward people? On the contrary, according to orthodox law, God has commanded us not to communicate with the non-believing.” Jesus heard this and said, “Whoever rejoices in his health has no need for a healer, but whoever is sick needs one. Understand what God’s words mean: ‘I want love, not sacrifice.’

And Jesus called together all the people and said, “Listen all of you, and understand. There is nothing in the world that can enter into a person and defile him, but what comes out of him, that is what defiles a person. Let there be love and charity in your soul and then everything will be clean. Try to understand this.”

Only what comes out of a person, what comes out of his soul, can defile a person.

Jesus entered the temple, brandished a whip, drove out all the livestock from the porch, set free all of the doves and scattered all of the money. And he commanded that none of these things be carried into the temple. He said, “The prophet Isaiah said to you, ‘The house of God is not the temple in Jerusalem, but the whole world of God’s people.’ And in addition, the prophet Jeremiah said to you, ‘Do not believe false speeches concerning how this is the home of the Eternal. Do not believe that, but instead change your life and do not judge falsely, do not oppress the traveler, the widow or the orphan, do not spill innocent blood and do not come to the house of God and say: Now we can do our obscenities in peace. Do not think that a den of bandits could be the home of the father.’”

And Jesus told them, “I am speaking to you about something that is more important than the temple. You would not be saying these things if you understood what these words of the prophets mean: ‘I, God, do not rejoice in your offerings, but I rejoice in your love one to another.’ The living temple is the whole world of people when they love one another.”

And a woman came out from the Sychar for water. Jesus asked her for something to drink. And she said to him, “How is it that you are asking me for something to drink? After all, you Jews don’t associate with us Samaritans.” And he said to her, “If you knew me and knew what I teach, you would not say this, but would give me something to drink and I would give you the water of life.

“The time has come that the real venerators of God will not worship God, but will worship the father in spirit and in action. These are the kind of venerators that the father needs. God is a spirit, and we must worship him in spirit and in action.”

“He who considers himself orthodox will not perform any acts of love. And he who considers himself unfaithful will perform acts of love. And acts of love will deliver you out of all error.” And he said to her, “Yes, you have delivered yourself from your errors.”

Jesus said, “The whole matter with faith is who one considers oneself to be. Whoever considers himself to be good in his faith will not be good; and whoever considers himself to be bad in his faith will be good.”

After this, the students of John came to ask Jesus whether he was the one about whom John spoke, whether he would reveal the kingdom of God and renew the people in spirit. Jesus answered and said, “Look and listen, and then tell John whether the kingdom of God has arrived and whether people are being renewed in spirit. Tell him how I preach the kingdom of God.

“From what I am saying they have only comprehended that I do not fast and so they say, ‘He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners, and he is friendly with them.’ Like little children on the street, they chatter with one another and are amazed that nobody listens to them. And their wisdom is visible in their actions. If you wanted to see a man dressed up in expensive clothes, well then many people like that are living in the palaces right here.

False teachers, wolves in sheep’s clothing, always try to lead people off of this path. One must beware of them. One can always tell a false teacher because they teach evil in the name of good. If they teach violence or punishment, they are false teachers. You can recognize them by the acts which they teach. It is not the one who calls on the name of God that fulfills the will of God, but the one who performs acts of goodness.

“You are light for the world, so do not hide your light, but show it to people. After all, having lit a light, no one puts it under a bench, they put it on the table so that it shines for everyone in the room. Likewise, you must not hide your light, but you must show it in your actions, so that people can see that you know the truth. And, seeing your good works, they will come to understand your heavenly father.

You know that God does not need your sacrifices or your prayers, but he does need peace, agreement and love between you. And you know that it is impossible for you to either pray or think of God if there is even one person with whom you do not share loving feelings. This then is the first commandment: Do not be angry, do not curse, and if you have spoken evil words, then make peace and be sure that not one person has cause to be offended by you.

Therefore, this is the second commandment: Do not think that the love of women is good. Do not desire women, but live with the one you have committed to and do not leave her.

And so, this is the third commandment: Never make any oaths about anything to anyone. Say yes, when you mean yes; no, when you mean no, and know that every oath is evil.

“And so: Do not judge and you will not be judged, do not punish and you will not be judged and punished. Forgive others and you will be forgiven, because if you judge people then they will also judge you. You are forbidden from judging, because you, like all people, are blind and do not see truth. With dirt clogging your eyes, how are you going to view the speck of dirt in your brother’s eye?

“And do not think that you will find justice in the court. Giving your love of justice to a human court is the same as throwing your priceless pearl to the pigs: they will trample it and then tear you to pieces. And so, this is the fourth commandment: No matter how they insult you, do not oppose evil, do not judge and you will not be judged; do not make complaints and do not punish.

And so, this is the fifth commandment: Keep the same law in regard to other nations that I have asked you to keep amongst yourselves. For the father of all people there is no such thing as different nations, there are no different kingdoms either: all are brothers, all are sons of the one father. Don’t create differences between people based on nations and kingdoms.

“All of these commandments are as one: All that you wish people would do for you, do for them. Do not keep these commandments for the praise of people. If you do it for people, then your reward will also be from people. But if it is not for people, then your reward will be from the heavenly father.

“Therefore, if you do good to people, do not trumpet about it in front of people. That is what the deceivers do, so that people praise them. They get what they desire. But if you do good to people, then do it so that no one sees you, so that your left hand does not know what your right hand is doing. And your father will see this and give you what you need.

“And if you want to pray, then do not pray like the deceivers do. The deceivers love to pray in churches, in the sight of other people. They do this for people and because of people, and they get what they desire. But if you want to pray, go to where no one can see you and pray to your spirit father; and the father will see what is in your soul, and will give you what you desire in spirit. Whoever p...

And Jesus said to them, “Do not base your judgments on who I am or where I come from. My teaching is true, not because I plan on convincing you that God spoke with me on Sinai, as Moses did; my teaching is true because it is within you also. And in the prophets it is written that all things will be taught by God. Everyone who comes to understand the father and learns to understand his will becomes devoted to my teaching in the process. No one has ever seen God and no one will, but he who comes from God has seen and continues to see the father.

And the leader said, “There are many commandments. Which ones, specifically?” And Jesus said, “Do not kill, do not be promiscuous, do not steal, do not lie, also honor your father, do his will and love your neighbor as yourself.”

“Your law of Moses is not the law of the father and because of that, those who follow it are not keeping the father’s law, they are committing evil and lies. I teach you only to fulfill the father’s will and in my teaching there can be no contradictions. But your written law of Moses is completely full of contradictions. Do not base your judgments on the exterior, but base your judgments on the spirit.”

“Whoever holds to my knowledge, whoever fulfills the will of the father, will be truly taught by me. In order to know truth, one must do good to people. Whoever does evil to people loves darkness and moves toward that; whoever does good to people moves toward light. And therefore, in order to understand my teaching, one must perform acts of goodness. Whoever does good will come to know truth; he will be free from evil and death. Because everyone who is deceived becomes a slave to their own delusion.

In order to believe the teaching, in order to change your life and fulfill the teaching, external proofs are unnecessary. One does not need the promise of rewards, but a clear understanding of what true life is. If people think they can be all-powerful masters of life, that life is given to them for the lusts of the flesh, then it is obvious that every act of sacrifice for another will seem to them a deed worthy of a reward and without reward they will not do anything.

Faith does not consist of believing in something amazing, faith consists of understanding your own condition and understanding where you can turn for salvation. If you understand your own condition, then you won’t wait for any rewards. You will believe in what has already been entrusted to you.

Eternal life should not be understood as something that will be similar to our current life, happening in some place and at some point in time. True life in the will of the father has neither place nor time. It is impossible to imagine true life in terms of time or people.

To deceive a child away from goodness, to tempt him with anger, lust, oaths, judgment, war is as bad as hanging a grinding stone around such a child’s neck and throwing him into the water. It is difficult for him to swim to shore, and he will likely drown. It is just as difficult for a child to escape the temptation into which an adult has led him.

Jesus said, “You still have no understanding of who you are in spirit. I am not teaching you how to destroy people, but how to save them.” Once, a man came to Jesus and said, “Command my brother to give me the inheritance.” Jesus said to him, “No one has made me a judge for you, and I will not judge anyone. And you cannot judge anyone.”

He looked around and saw that nobody was left. “What,” he said to the woman, “is there no one here to condemn you?” She said, “No one.” He said, “And I cannot condemn you either. Go then, and from now on, do not sin.”

But Jesus said, “The most important commandment is to love with all your soul the Lord under whose power we all live. The other arises from it: Love your neighbor, since that same Lord is within him. Everything that is written in all of your books can be found in this.” And Jesus said further, “In your opinion, what is the Christ? What is he, somebody’s son?” They said, “In our opinion, Christ is the son of David.” Then he said to them, “How could David call Christ his Lord? Christ is not David’s son or anyone’s son, but Christ is that very Lord, the master of us all, whom we recognize within ourselves, as our life. Christ is the knowledge within us.”

“So? You should know that no one ought to call themselves a teacher or pastor. The self-proclaimed orthodox call themselves teachers and by doing so they block you from entering the kingdom of heaven and do not enter it themselves, either. These orthodox teachers believe that one can be brought to God through external ordinances and oaths. And, like blind men, they do not see that the external is meaningless, that all things are within the soul of man. They perform the easiest, most superficial actions, but they neglect to perform what is necessary and most difficult: love, charity and truth.

“They would prefer to satisfy the law on the outside and to lead others to the law on the outside.

But in reality, they are the very ones who torture and murder the saints. They were before and are now the enemies of goodness. All of the evil in the world comes from them because they hide goodness and promote evil in the place of good. You must fear the self-proclaimed pastors more than anything else. “You know yourselves that every error can be corrected. But if people are deceived in what constitutes goodness, then that error cannot be corrected. And that is what the self-proclaimed pastors do.”

To the Jews’ accusations he says, “I do not teach any sort of new faith, I just teach what everyone knows within themselves. Everyone knows that life is given to them and to all people by the father of life. My teaching simply consists of loving the life that the father gives to all people.”

At this, Jesus answered them, “To glorify the son of man means to live by the light of knowledge that is within you. To glorify the son of man above the earth means to believe in the light, insofar as there is light, in order to be a son of knowledge. He who believes in my teaching does not believe in me, but in that spirit who gave life to the world. And he who understands my teaching understands that spirit who gave life to the world. My teaching is the light of life, which has led people out of darkness.

And when Jesus had washed all of their feet, he again sat down and said, “Have you understood why I did this? I did this so that you will do the very same for each other, always. I, your teacher, do this so that you will know how to behave with those who do evil to you. If you have understood this and will do this, then you will be blessed. When I said that one of you will betray me, I was not speaking about all of you, because only one of you whose feet I have washed and given bread to eat, just one of you will destroy me.”

“Children! I do not have long to be with you. Do not philosophize about my teaching, as I said to the orthodox, but just do as I do. I give you one new commandment: just as I have always and indefinitely loved you all, likewise you must always and indefinitely love one another. This will be the only thing that will set you apart. Only in this will you differ from other people: love one another.”

Thomas said, “But we do not know where you are going so therefore we cannot know the path. We need to know, what will there be after death?” Jesus said, “I cannot show you what will be there; my teaching is the path, the truth and the life. And it is impossible to unite with the father of life any other way than through my teaching. If you fulfill my teaching, then you will come to know the father.”

“You must understand that whoever follows my teaching can accomplish the same as I can and even more because I am going to die, but he will still be living. Whoever lives according to my teaching will have all that he desires, because then the son will be the same as the father. Whatever you desire, according to my teaching, will be given to you in full. But for that to happen, you must love my teaching.