Context No. 3514 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians
Context · Reflection
1 Corinthians 2:1-5: in context
1When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Paul recalls that when he came to Corinth he deliberately set aside impressive rhetoric and clever argument: I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. He came in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling, not projecting strength or eloquence.
And his preaching relied not on persuasive words of human wisdom but on the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. There was a clear purpose in this: so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Paul deliberately made himself and his eloquence small, so that people's faith would be anchored in God's power and not in a persuasive speaker. There is wisdom here for anyone who serves God: the goal is not to impress people with ourselves but to point them to Christ crucified, so that their faith rests on God and not on us. When we get out of the way, God's power is the more clearly seen.
Do I make Christ crucified, not my own impressiveness, the center of my witness, so that others' faith rests on God's power rather than on me?
Sources
- 1 Corinthians 2:2: "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."
- 1 Corinthians 2:4: "My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
- 1 Corinthians 2:5: "That your faith wouldn't stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."