1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Proclaiming Christ Crucified: 1 Corinthians 2:1–5✞

Passage

This passage continues the thought from the previous one: when Paul was talking to the Corinthians he eschewed the wisdom of the world in favour of the wisdom of God. And so, when he preached to the Corinthians, all he preached was the crucifixion of Christ:

¹ And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Does this mean that Paul never spoke of anything but the crucifixion? No, I’m sure he talked about a lot of things – but they were all rooted in the crucifixion. The Corinthians were left with no doubt that the crucifixion is the central teaching of Christianity.

So he was probably pretty confident, then, right? No, quite the opposite:

³ And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,

This might be a message for preachers throughout the ages even more than it was a message for the Corinthians: preaching the Word is important. Paul, arguably the father of modern Christian thought, approached preaching with “fear and much trembling” – how much more should any other preacher!

That being said, though, Paul wasn’t relying on his own strength for his message to get across to the Corinthians, he was relying on the Spirit:

⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

I think it’s worth recalling the previous passage again: we’ve already seen that Paul is talking about the wisdom of this world vs. the wisdom of God, but let’s zoom in on the word “plausible.” Is Paul saying Christianity is implausible? It’s an important question because there is a view—sometimes even held by Christians!—that Christianity is a religion which requires you to turn off your brain and just take things on faith – is that what Paul is saying?

He isn’t saying that. He makes it clear in all of his letters that Christianity is a religion that requires you to think. To puzzle things out; to read the Scriptures and honestly ask ourselves: “Is that true? If it is, what does that mean for me? If it’s not, what does that mean for Christianity as a whole?”

When Paul says his speech and message were not in plausible words of wisdom, he means how the world views plausibility. Paul is saying that all of life hinges on the fact that a man was crucified; that doesn’t sound plausible to most people – and yet it’s the actual concrete truth of the matter.

Thoughts

Above I said that Paul wasn’t relying on his own strength he was relying on the Spirit, but then the verses I quoted talk a lot about power:

⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

emphasis added

What kind of “power” is Paul talking about? Because he (and others) performed a lot of miracles in the book of Acts; is that what he’s talking about here? The power of God, as demonstrated by miracles?

No, I don’t think so. I think Paul is talking about something that we consider to be much more mundane (though it isn’t at all): the Spirit of God bringing the people of Corinth to faith. Paul didn’t use the form of rhetoric used in his day for making lofty speeches – but the Spirit demonstrated power by moving people to believe anyway. The people of Corinth needed to eschew the wisdom of men – but the power of God worked in them anyway.

I’m not trying to argue either for or against modern-day miracles—and yes, miracles were definitely performed in the book of Acts—but I just don’t think that’s what Paul is talking about here. He’s talking about the Spirit of God bringing people to faith in Christ, which is God’s power at work.