The Message and the Method of the Cross

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 (ESV)

¹And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

²For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

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

⁴and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

⁵so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Here we see that not only was the cross at the center of Paul’s message, but it was also at the center of his method. That is, the cross not only determined what he said, but also how he said it.

And how did he, in fact, say it? Verse three tells us: “…in weakness and in fear and much trembling.” Astonishing! The Apostle Paul! The Mighty Apostle! The Great Missionary, Preacher, and Evangelist! In weakness and in fear?!? Surely not?!

Indeed. The apostle Paul was afraid. He trembled. He was weak. And this was his method of proclaiming the message of the cross. And God through this weakness worked mightily.

Just like at Calvary. On the cross, that symbol of helplessness, that “emblem of suff’ring and shame,” God’s might was unveiled most majestically and decisively. The ultimate contradiction: power through weakness. God’s chosen method to bring his salvation.

And also Paul’s chosen method to bring the message of salvation.

Surely we are confronted here with a convicting truth: Why, given God’s and Paul’s approach, do we set ourselves so earnestly upon the path of power and prestige as the method by which we will proclaim the message? Is it not, to reference Martin Luther (thanks Carl Trueman: http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2011/11/the-forgotten-insight.php) because we have a theology of the cross but are not ourselves theologians of the cross?

God help me and us to be such theologians.