Word for Every Day ~ September 21 And I, Brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the Testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified (I Cor. 2:1–2). Concerning Paul’s statement, Williams says, “As today, so in Paul’s day, people demanded that the Gospel should be preached in ‘terms of modern thought’ embellished with scholastic learning, convincing logic, forensic reasoning and cultured eloquence. The Apostle refused, declared such culture to be the wisdom of this world, and said that preaching according to the Divine Wisdom was preaching in the Power of the Holy Spirit, and that that was the only power which effected the moral result of the new birth.” So the theme of the preaching of the Apostle, which also should be our theme—which must be our theme—was the Divine Person and atoning Work of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. I think Paul definitely could have been labeled an “intellectual.” He was one of the most educated men used by the Holy Spirit in the writing of the Scriptures. However, he purposely never used any of that particular learning, rather concentrating on one aspect, which from him we learn is the very heart of the Gospel—“Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.” Changed lives are to be the end result of the Gospel. That refers to the entire gamut of society, even to the worst cases of bondage. Every single person in history who has ever been changed for the good, that change has been effected by the Lord Jesus Christ, and only by the Lord Jesus Christ. Millions down through the ages can declare that testimony. But Paul proclaims here that that which makes the work of Regeneration, the work of change brought about in the hearts and lives of individuals, is the Cross of Christ. As we keep saying, and even as Paul proclaims here, Christ and His Cross must never be separated. By that we speak of the benefits of what He did. As we have stated many times: Jesus Christ is the Source, and the Cross is the means, by which all these things are done. The word “determined” lends credence to the idea that Paul was tempted to go in other directions; however, the Holy Spirit insisted that if the purpose of the Gospel is to be realized, then the theme must always be “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.” That, and that alone, is the answer for hurting, dying, sin-benighted humanity. There is no other solution for man’s dilemma, even as there needs be no other solution. Swaggart, Jimmy: The Expositors Word For Every Day. Baton Rouge, LA : World Evangelism Press, 2005, S. 606
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 12:17:23 +0000