Sunday · Jul 5
The Good News About the Cross
Paul says that the message about the Cross shows us God’s power to save us. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that Paul wanted to preach only about “Jesus Christ and his death on the cross” ( 1 Corinthians 2:2, ERV ).
Read 1 Corinthians 1:17–31 . What important idea do we learn in these verses?
In 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 , Paul compares human thinking with God’s wisdom. The Cross shows the worst about us and the best about God. 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 is introduced with powerful Bible truth from 1 Corinthians 1:17 : Jesus’ death on the cross can save people. So, the message about the Cross must be the most important part of our preaching (also read 1 Corinthians 2:2 ).
Paul says that God didn’t send him to baptize. God chose Paul to be an apostle. An apostle is a preacher and teacher of the Good News. The word “apostle” comes from the same word in the Greek language as the word “send.” So, the words “apostle” and “send” are connected. This connection shows us that Paul’s basic task was to preach the Good News about Jesus and not to baptize. Is Paul saying that baptism isn’t important? of course not! Paul is scolding a few baptized Christians. These Christians praise the church leaders who baptized them more than they praise Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 1:17 , Paul talks about “clever words” (EASY). Paul isn’t saying that clever words and fancy sermons are bad. But they must teach us about the Cross. In Athens, Paul used science, clever words, and fancy ideas. But he didn’t convince many people to accept Jesus. So, Paul “decided to follow a different plan in his work in Corinth. Paul wanted to get the Corinthian people to pay attention to his message. He decided not to use fancy words and clever explanations. He ‘decided to teach’ the Corinthians ‘only about Jesus Christ.’ He ‘taught’ them ‘about his death on a cross.’ He ‘wanted to forget everything else’ [ 1 Corinthians 2:2 , EASY].”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, page 244, adapted.
Why did Paul’s preaching have more success in Corinth than his preaching in Athens? How can fancy words and clever sermons often get in the way of our message about the Cross?