Thought of the day:
The Scripture passages, “we preach Christ crucified,” (1 Cor. 1:23) and “I desire to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified,” (1 Cor. 2:2) are often taken out of context.
In particular, I will sometimes hear people use these passages to say that the gospel message that Christians preach should be nothing other than the message of Christ’s crucifixion. If taken narrowly, this becomes a sort of Gospel Reductionism—not in the sense of reducing the Scriptures to the Gospel, but rather in the sense of reducing the meaning and significance of the word “Gospel”.
Let’s look at the surrounding context of that portion of 1 Corinthians 1-2:
“1:18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’ 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’ 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”
(And see 1 Cor. 3 where Paul continues by arguing against boasting in men or preachers like Paul or Apollos, but to instead boast in God. And see 1 Cor. 4:6-7 where Paul explains that his purpose to keep his readers from arrogance.)
The point of what Paul is saying is not that he never says anything other than the message of the crucifixion. He says in the same breath in 2:5 that his preaching was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. His preaching points to what that death means, which is not simply that your sins are covered, but that after that death now comes union with God and paradise in eternity.
To make it clear, Paul summarizes the preaching of the Gospel as including both Christ’s crucifixion and His resurrection in chapter 15:
“15:1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to [many].”
The life we have now, having died to sin through baptism into Christ’s death and being raised with Him to life in the Spirit, even as we look forward to the full resurrection when Christ returns, is a life in the Spirit, as Paul writes in Romans 6:
“6:2 How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.”
Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians is that our life now, in faith under Christ and in His Spirit, is a life of humiliation and pursuit of the cross, in the image of Christ. When we preach, we do not speak to glorify ourselves, but to glorify God and grow His kingdom. The way we live and speak and act is in the footsteps of Christ crucified.
And our goal of following the Way of Christ crucified is the same goal of joy that Christ pursued as he endured the cross, as it is written in Hebrews 12:
“12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
That’s what Paul is talking about when he says he preaches Christ crucified. And all of that, our death, new life, and inheritance in Christ, is all included in the Gospel message.
We do not boast in ourselves as somehow earning paradise, not even by our efforts at living the life Christ gives us through His death. But because Christ has given us that life, we follow His image and we put away the things of death (sin) while we await our promised, gifted, inheritance. To refuse to do so is to refuse the gift of life. So we walk the Way of Christ crucified until He returns to carry us home.
Come, Lord Jesus!