The Gospel of Christ Crucified
1 Corinthians 1–2
Introduction: If you were asked what the primary sin-problem confronting the Corinthians, I’m sure most of you would immediately answer that it was a problem of being divisive. Paul said it plainly in the opening of his letter (1:10): “I appeal to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” That solved it! Well, no. How can a church that won’t even eat the Lord’s Supper together, just be told to stop it, and then it happens?
Even if you are very familiar with our text, Paul’s teaching about the wisdom of God vs. the wisdom of man usually diverts our attention away from the subject of division. In other words, if a church called you and said, “We need help. Our church is full of division, would you come and help,” would you do a study of chapter two of 1 Corinthians with an exposition of the gospel of the cross?
Quickly notice some of Paul’s key statements that will give you a feel of his foundational message on division:
1:17-18 “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
1:20-21 “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”
2:1-4 “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. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
2:6-9 “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”
Now, having read those texts, would you say that Paul is correcting the divisions of the Corinthian church? Everything in this text has to do with the gospel of Christ crucified. But how is that an answer to division? That is the message we want to discover this morning. It is a message that will expose and correct every division within a church.
- Becoming Familiar with the Message of the Text
- First, Paul’s emphasis is on the cross of Christ and that the message of the cross is foolish to those who hold to worldly wisdom including both Jews and Greeks. But the cross is our power to salvation (1:22-24).
- Second, Paul admits that it was God’s intention to preach a “foolish” message to save the world (1:21).
- Third, this foolish message preached is a revelation of the thoughts and words of God, and could never have been thought of or discovered by a human mind. Not even the most exalted human could have understood what was hidden in the mind of God “before the ages for our glory” (2:7).
- Fourth, the thoughts of the mind of God have only been revealed by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit alone has access, and he alone chooses to whom the message will be revealed (2:10-13). Further, God has used the Spirit to reveal to the apostles and prophets the words of the Spirit, not the words of human thought.
- Fifth, Paul stresses a contrast between two kinds of “wisdom.” There are those who are wise according to this world’s standards, and there are those who have rejected the wisdom of this world in favor of the “foolishness” of the wisdom of God, the foolishness of Christ crucified (2:6). These two “wisdoms” are opposed to one another.
- Sixth, those who hold to the wisdom of the world cannot understand, nor will they accept the wisdom taught by the Spirit (2:13-14).
- Seventh, only the “mature, spiritual person” (one who has accepted the things of the Spirit) can understand and receive the words of the Spirit because those words are spiritually discerned. A “natural man” cannot understand the hidden message of God because he is not spiritually discerning (2:14-15).
- Eighth, and possibly most importantly, Paul refused to preach this message with lofty speech or wisdom or plausible words of wisdom as was being done by the Corinthian sophists. Though Paul’s preaching was considered unimpressive, the power of the sophists was in themselves, while the power of Paul’s preaching was in the Spirit of God. The contrast was boasting in the man or boasting in the message of God—faith in the man or faith in the power of God. (2:2-4)
- Knowing Nothing Except Jesus Christ and Him Crucified
- As we briefly noted, Paul’s concern is to rid the church of preaching that lifts up human wisdom and calls attention to the eloquence of the preacher instead of presenting the message of Christ crucified (2:2). We must get the significance of those words: “Jesus, the Christ (Messiah, King) crucified.” That really is foolish! It makes no sense!
- Combine 2:2 with 1:17. Paul was sent to preach a gospel that is grounded in Jesus Christ/King being crucified. Thus every part of Paul’s message had as its foundation crucifixion. Anything else would empty the message of its power.
- But why is a crucified Messiah/King so important? Sure, we need to teach people why Jesus died and was raised and that he is enthroned as King. Yes, we want to urge them to obey Jesus, to repent of their sins and be baptized so they can be free from the bondage of sin. All of us get that point. But why does Paul say, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified?” In fact, in 1:18 Paul refers to the gospel as the “word of the cross,” or the “message of the cross.” Paul is obviously magnifying the word “cross” to the extent that anything taught about Jesus or any teaching of Jesus would go right back to the cross!
- The problem wasn’t so much that “Jesus died for our sins,” but the implications of Christ crucified. The message of the cross is that if we believe in Christ crucified we must also accept the teaching of disciple–crucified. In 2:7, this is the hidden wisdom God decreed “before the ages to our glory.” That is in contrast to 1:27, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” Do you see the message? The world seeks glory in themselves, boasting in their mental acuity, strength, and wealth. But a life of disciple–crucified seeks no glory in this world, but only the glory God has promised.
- Paul will later summarize the message of the cross in 2 Corinthians 4:11-12, “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”
- The Gospel of Christ Crucified Applied, Chapters 3-4
- What does Christ crucified have to do with division in the church and solving the Corinthian problem? In chapters 3-4 Paul transitions from his explanation of the gospel to how that gospel (disciple-crucified) message should be lived.
- When we read these first seven verses it is not difficult to see that the Corinthians are living out the wisdom of the world instead of what was considered the “foolishness of Christ crucified.” Look at Paul’s directness! Imagine it read to the church!
- “You are still of the flesh!” I’m feeding you like an infant (Greek for “baby”) sucking on “milk!” You are “behaving in a human way” practicing jealousy and strife, exalting one teacher over another and boasting in them! “Are you not being merely human!”
- “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants…!”
- Vs. 6-7, “…but God gave the growth. Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth!”
- Vs. 16-21 Listen to the power in Paul’s words as he drives home how these Christians are to act in accordance with Christ crucified:
- You are God’s temple. Destroy God’s temple and God will destroy you! (17).
- “If anyone thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” How dare any Christian to act independently of the rest of the body! Ephesians 5:22, “Submitting to one another out of reverence to Christ.”
- “For the wisdom of this world is folly to God. The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile!”
- “So let no one boast in men!”
- 4:
- 1: Regard us as servants and stewards. It is a small thing that I should be judged by you!
- 6-21 Mic drop!
Conclusion: The Gospel of Christ Crucified Is Lived as a Disciple Crucified
“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’”
(Matt. 16:24)
Berry Kercheville
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