Knowing Nothing but Jesus Christ & Him Crucified

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2).

The saints addressed in 1 Corinthians were influenced much by rhetoricians who emphasized skilled speech above the content of what they were trying to say. Thus, the power in persuasion rested on the skill and presentation of the speaker. The speaker’s goal was not to present the truth as much as it was to influence an audience with skilled speech.

This is the backdrop against Paul’s words to the saints at Corinth, “I did not come to you proclaiming the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.” Indeed, Paul’s words contained wisdom; they contained God’s infinite wisdom! But, his influence on them did not rely on the presentation of rhetoric or “lofty speech,” rather, his focal point was content: “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

This is what Paul argues in chapter one when he talks about the difference between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the cross. Eventually he gets to verses 22-24 which read: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

It is no small thing to simply know Jesus Christ and him crucified. The world does not see wisdom in the cross of Jesus Christ and therefore they can only render it as foolishness. On the other hand, God’s infinite wisdom comes to a climax in the cross of Jesus Christ and that is why it is not a small thing to know Jesus Christ and him crucified!

Knowing only Christ crucified does not mean that we don’t do rigorous theology and simply stick to the basics. No! It means that infinite wisdom and theological implication is bound in this event and there is no need to trump the significance of it with flashy rhetoric that only draws attention to itself. The cross of Jesus Christ is the glue that holds all reality together. It is the focus. It is enough.

Striving to know only Jesus Christ and him crucified with you all,
Pastor Kevin