In Acts 18, Paul travels to Corinth and reasons with the people there, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Later, in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth what it was he preached, how he preached, and why he preached that way.
In 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, Paul has been rebuking the Corinthians for their divisions — some seemed to be more loyal to Christ’s messengers than to Christ Himself. In 1 Corinthians 1:23, he says, “we preach Christ crucified” and points out how God uses things that seem absurd to the world to be His power. The fact that the Christ was crucified seems insane to the world, yet it was Paul’s focus. It’s what is missing from any human philosophy.
Then, in 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, Paul tells them he proclaimed the testimony of God, the heart of which is Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. It was so important, he had determined to know only that among them. The testimony of God was something that had to be revealed through revelation, not something that could be reasoned or researched by man to find it out. Christ crucified and shown to mankind is the truth that provides the answers to the vital questions of life. No philosophy from man can truly, finally answer these sorts of questions — not that they haven’t tried, but that they simply don’t have the ability.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:2 that as he proclaimed the testimony of God, he “did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom”. Paul didn’t use a fancy way of speaking and his words were not just a philosophy. He said in 1 Corinthians 2:3 that he was with them “in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” … a thing that may at first seem surprising in an apostle! Some would even say, “his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible” (2 Corinthians 10:10). But it was not fear from uncertainty about the message he was preaching, but something about himself.
In 1 Corinthians 2:5, Paul tells them that he wanted their faith to rest on “the power of God” — if their faith rested anywhere else, like the wisdom of men, it would be on a foundation of sand and unable to stand through storms (Matthew 7:24-27).
We, as individuals and the church, have a message to announce: that Jesus Christ came, was crucified, and was raised again! It’s what Paul proclaimed, it’s what Peter proclaimed, it’s what all the apostles proclaimed, and it’s what the early Christians proclaimed. Is it what you’re proclaiming? Is it what your faith is in?
— Stefan Richardson