“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” — 1 Cor. 2:1, 21And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1‑2).
IT is the preaching of the cross which is the appointed method of winning souls and building men up in Christ. Paul did not undervalue culture and education, but he dreaded the possibility of the refinements of rhetoric and the cleverness of the orator so occupying the minds of his hearers that they would become occupied with his ability instead of with the Christ he proclaimed. Therefore he studiously avoided anything that would have such a tendency, and in all simplicity he preached the message of the cross in humble dependence on the Holy Spirit to use that proclamation for the salvation of souls. In this he became an example to all other preachers.
“Yonder, on a cross uplifted,
One in ignominy dies;
Wounded, He, for our transgressions,
Bruised for our iniquities;
Utmost love is there revealed;
By those stripes our wounds are healed.
Not by men was He delivered,
Thus to suffer and to die;
God Himself had preordained it,
Had foreknown—eternally;
He is pleased to bruise Him thus,
To provide release for us.
Lo! the land is whelmed in darkness; —
Nature cannot bide the sight;
But upon His anguished spirit
Falls a deeper, denser night,
Whence He cries in agony,
“Why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
Now His suffering is over;
The atonement has been made;
Stilled, the law’s insistent clamors,
As in death He bows His head;
Now may guilty sinners hide
In a Saviour crucified.”
—T. O. Chisholm.