When I Rely On My Skill Too Much (1 Corinthians 1-2)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

What style of preacher or teacher do you like? 

It’s easy to get caught up in the charisma and teaching styles of different Christian leaders, but the truth of the gospel isn’t based on who teaches it—it’s based on Jesus. The Apostle Paul certainly understood this, and in 1 Corinthians 1:17-18, he says, ¹⁷ “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect. ¹⁸ For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.”

Greeks in Paul’s time sought wisdom and couldn’t understand how a god would become incarnate to atone for sin. Jews were looking for a political savior, and the idea of a crucified Messiah was a stumbling block for them. To the Gentiles, the cross was folly—a place where criminals died. Yet, despite all this, Paul understood the message of the cross remained powerful.

As Bruce Winter writes, “A first–century orator or public speaker was expected to produce carefully crafted speeches which drew attention to his skilful use of rhetorical conventions. Oratory was called ‘magic’ because it was seen to bewitch the hearers. The content of the speech was immaterial, only the performance mattered. They spoke to gain the adulation of their audiences.”^[1] But Paul had a very different approach, and in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 he says,

¹ When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. ² I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴ My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.

As a Jewish Pharisee, born in Tarsus and trained under the respected rabbi Gamaliel, Paul was skilled in the art of oral communication. In Acts, we see that he certainly knew how to address different audiences as they needed to hear the truth communicated. But he also realized that no amount of rhetorical communication would change a heart and that “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”[2]

Paul recognized that the Holy Spirit’s anointing makes the difference when we speak. Because of this, he decided to know nothing except Jesus and him crucified.