Friday 2 May 2025
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (v. 2)
Background
Paul in his letter to the Corinthians continues his call to focus on the Cross of Jesus Christ (meaning his sacrifice and his forgiveness of sins) as the clue to the reality of God and the hope for humanity.
In this passage, Paul suggests that he’s not the best public speaker, not able to compete with the philosophers of his time, nor with those who were dazzling some Corinthian Christians with a plausible, but misleading picture of Christian faith. In our day we might say that he’d be neither an effective tele-evangelist, nor a populist politician. Of course, he does have skills as a communicator – otherwise we wouldn’t still be reading and reflecting on his words 2000 years later – but it’s as if he wants to make sure that he doesn’t get in the way of the core message of Christianity. God has intervened decisively in our world through the unlikely event of Jesus Christ being crucified by the Roman authorities and rejected by most of his own people.
In some ways it’s surprising that Paul puts so much emphasis on the Cross – especially as we are reading these passages during the Easter season, when our thoughts more naturally turn to the Resurrection. Of course, Paul believes in the Resurrection, and he will come to write extensively and movingly on that topic towards the end of the letter. Now, though, he wants to demonstrate how the Cross shows God turning upside-down the way we look at the order of things in the world: power and weakness, wisdom and foolishness.
To Ponder:
- Think of the dominant displays of power in the contemporary world. How might Paul’s message of the Cross challenge them?
- How might you explain the importance of the Cross as a symbol of faith?
Prayer
Give us, Lord, a discerning spirit, so that what we hear and what we say is guided by your wisdom. Amen.
Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Richard Clutterbuck
Richard is a supernumerary presbyter, living in Gloucestershire after a ministry that has taken him to Tonga, London, Gloucester and Belfast. He was formerly Principal of the West of England Ministerial Training Course and of Edgehill Theological College.