1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.
Jesus appointed the apostles so that “he might send them out to preach” (
Mark 3:14). He also commissioned them to baptize (
Matthew 28:19).
People in the Corinthian church were bragging to each other about which minister (Paul, Apollos, Cephas, etc.) baptized them, and they formed cliques around their baptizers.
It upset Paul that people he baptized were claiming allegiance to him (
vv.12-16). He definitely didn’t want people to be drawn to himself (
vv.12-16). He didn’t want to create “Paulites.” Preaching the gospel was his primary mission rather than baptism, he said, and that preaching must be according to Christ’s teaching, not according to human wisdom. And if it truly is according to Christ, how could it cause allegiance to the preacher?
When I was in seminary I took several preaching classes. “Cleverness of speech” is definitely taught in seminary. You learn how to structure sermons in a convincing way, how to use voice inflection to advantage, how to create memorable and compelling phrases, how to build arguments to disarms skeptics and draw them in, etc. Mind you, none of this is taught by people with bad motives. The same text books are used in seminaries everywhere, and they are written by well-meaning and deeply spiritual Christians who care very much for the salvation of the lost and the growth of the Christ’s kingdom. The professors who teach “hermeneutics” and “homiletics” passionately want to help the students lead people to Christ and make a difference in this world.
But at what point do modern preachers, in all their techniques and methods, begin to empty the cross of its power?
When you think about the preacher at your church, or your favorite radio preacher, etc., how close does your preference for that person touch upon his cleverness of speech? Are you drawn to listen to him more because of what he communicates or how he communicates? Is your focus more on the sermon’s “relevance” or “practicality” or "freshness" or on biblical faithfulness and the exaltation of Christ? When a point grabs you, is it the point God made or the point the preacher made?
I want to write so much more here but will stop there.
1:18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
A kind of famous statement begins, “There are only two kinds of people…” Some of my favorites:
- Those who have guns and those who dig graves [Clint Eastwood, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly]
- Those who suck life out of every day, and those who let every day suck the life out of them [Bill Purdin]
- Those who work and those who take credit [Gandhi]
- Those who work and those who let them [Robert Frost]
- Those who walk into a room and say "There you are" and those who say "Here I am!" [Abigail Van Buren]
- Those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don't [Eddie Murphy]
Paul says that there are only kinds of people in
v.18:
* Those who are being saved because they know the word of the cross as the power of God.
- Those who are perishing because they consider the word of the cross foolish.
How does preaching with human wisdom empty the cross of its power? Where is the power of the Cross?
Is it fair to say that the power of the cross is in its message? Then what is the message of the cross? And why does that message look “silly” or “foolish” to those who are perishing?
1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Verse 21 contains a significant truth. God chose to prevent worldly wisdom from helping people know Him. He chose instead to make Himself knowable through belief alone. Human wisdom is eternally useless.
1:22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
What makes a crucified Christ a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks? In Rev 5:1-6, Christ is depicted both a slaughtered Lamb and a roaring, victorious lion. Old Testament prophecies described the Messiah as both a suffering servant who would die and a victorious king who would reign over God’s people forever. This confused the Jews, and they only accepted the victorious type of Messiah since those prophecies were much clearer than the others. That’s what the Jews were looking for – a reigning Christ who would never die.
The Greeks, on the other hand, looked for some form of eloquence and wisdom, such as that of Plato or Aristotle or Socrates or one of the other great Greek philosophers.
It is a hallmark of Christianity that the profound things are so simple and the simple things so profound.
What about moderns? Is what modern Americans seek much different from what the Corinthian culture sought?
1:26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Jesus began His ministry by calling people like fishermen and tax collectors to His side. And through that strategy He launched a movement that has had a more profound impact on the entire world for 2000+ years than anything else that has ever happened.
It is greater than anything any man or nature have ever done. That movement - initiated by Christ through foolish and lowly people - has started and ended wars, saved souls, formed governments, preserved and divided marriages and friendships, formed universities and hospitals and orphanages, and much more.
No wisdom or power of man has come anywhere close to that.
Realizing that this is what the message of the cross looks like to those who are perishing, how are we supposed to be able to connect them with the message?
2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Does this describe this modern churches?
- Know nothing but a crucified Christ (v.2)
- Weakness, fear and trembling (v.3)
- Without wise and persuasive words (v.4)
- Demonstrate the Spirit’s power (v.4)
Do we rely on "eloquence" and "superior wisdom?" Is this wrong? What is its effect?
What would it look like for us to take these verses to heart – to know nothing but a crucified Christ and approach the world in weakness?
