1 Corinthians 1:17-31
The First Epistle to the Corinthians was written from Ephesus in the spring of A.D. 57. The apostle had heard that dissensions were troubling the church at Corinth, and he wrote to them giving many exhortations and commands. Early in the letter he stated his conception of his mission, “Christ sent me… to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” As if one should prepare a fountain of pure, fresh water by a great duty highway, to give drink to the weary pilgrims who pass by, but should plant so many lovely trees and flowers about the fountain as to hide it from the eyes of those whom it was designed to refresh. That is the danger when men us the wisdom of this world in preaching the gospel; the perishing ones who listen are too often charmed by the beautiful flowers of rhetoric or poetry or science with which the cross is ornamented, and fail to see the cross itself. The story is familiar of the artist who had painted his picture of the Last Supper, and then called his friends to look at it. He had tried to make the Master’s face the central object of attraction, and was pained to hear his friends praise this and that subordinate feature in the picture, while they did not speak of the Blessed Face. Taking his brush he erased from the canvas the features that had won the beholders, that nothing might keep any eye from the Saviour himself. Those of us who teach and preach need to learn this lesson well, lest in our desire to make our lessons and sermons attractive we hide the Redeemer and the cross which we desire all to see.
“The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.” There is nothing grand or noble about this way of salvation to proud human wisdom. Men have nothing to do themselves, no chance to display their own power or wealth or skill. If heaven could be gotten by philosophical or scientific research, or won in battle by brave deeds, or achieved by power, or bought with money, the world would have been far readier to accept it. The very simplicity of the gospel makes it appear foolishness to the world’s wise men; then its ignominy adds to the impression. What makes it all the sadder is that it is to perishing souls the cross seems foolishness. If it were to some unfallen race it would not matter so much; but here it leads the lost to reject the only way of salvation that ever has been or will be offered to them. It is as if starving men were refused bread because it was not offered in dainty forms on delicate plates; or, as if drowning men were to reject rescue because the lifeboat was not decorated in an artistic way, or was rowed by rough, weather beaten sailors, and not by kid gloved gentlemen. Surely the “foolishness” is not in the gospel, but in the rejecters.
Page 1