1 Corinthians 2:1-5

October 15, 2017

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

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The sermon starts at 13:00 in the audio file.

Or, Preaching Christ for Faith by Faith

Preaching is weird. That is not the only, or probably the best, word for it, but it is an unusual and strange thing to do. The apostle Paul told Timothy to “preach the word…in season and out of season,” and in some ways preaching is “in” and in other ways it’s “out” in this season of history. One of the reasons that I chose to preach 1 Corinthians was in order to preach about some of Paul’s principles about preaching.

Preaching is not his main point here at the beginning of the letter. If the three paragraphs starting in 1:18 are like a multi-stone ring, then the quarreling among the Corinthian Christians is the center stone and preaching is one of the surrounding gems. He appealed for them to be united in the same mind and the same judgement—the main problem, because he had hear a report that some measure of division was happening among them according to their favorite preacher—with gospel preaching being a related issue.

The gospel is a foolish and offensive message. There is no way to preach a crucified Christ in a way that appeals to man’s ego. Salvation doesn’t come by stroking self-esteem and letting a man hold on to his pretense. Abandon all hubris you who enter here by faith. God isn’t out to polish man’s wisdom to be a little more smooth or straight or shiny, He shatters the rock. God isn’t out to let men have a spin in His seat of judgement while He tries to make His case about why they should accept His claims. He atoned for such arrogant presumption on the cross.

In 1:18-25 a crucified Christ is beneath human wisdom and significance. So are Christians themselves. The cross is foolishness in the eyes of the world, and God calls fools to the cross. In 1:26-31 the resumes of the believers in Corinth are public record, and they were not impressive. They were not the educated or influential people. Yet God in His grace called them to Christ, and in Christ they got wisdom and acceptance with God and a status as His people. They could and should boast in the Lord, not themselves.

The message is not dependent on cleverness but on the cross. Those who believe the message are not important, but they are elected. And the one who proclaimed the message was also nothing special, just committed to proclaiming Christ. All this exposes preferences over preachers as petty, as foolish, and out of place with preaching Christ. It also provides some principles for preaching: 1) preach so that men will have faith in Christ not the preacher. There can only be one star. And 2) preach trusting that God, not the preacher, will bring men to faith in Christ. We preach Christ for faith and by faith.

Two “and I’s” at the beginning of verse 1 and verse 3 make for two points about the preacher.

The Preacher’s Proclamation (verses 1-2)

Paul returns to his own principles. He talked in the first person about preaching the gospel in 1:17, then he described in third person how the world hears the gospel in 1:18-25, and then he described using second person who the Corinthians were in 1:26-31. He’s back to first person in this paragraph.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. This is God’s revelation, the testimony of God, that’s what makes it special, and not lofty speech or wisdom. The “lofty speech” refers to high-sounding talk, to “big words” (TEV), and “wisdom” is the status-elevating philosophy of the world. Paul made a conscious choice not to “compose speeches fishing for admiration” (Garland).

It’s not that Paul was incompetent. “When Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra…the pagans identified Paul with Hermes, the Greek god of communication (whose Roman name was Mercury), because Paul was the chief speaker (Acts 14:12)” (Carson, The Cross and Christ[...]