Nothing but Jesus-1 Cor 2:1-5

• God’s folly–a crucified Messiah (1:17-25).
• God’s folly–the Corinthian believers (1:26-31).
• God’s folly–Paul’s preaching (2:1-5).

Jimmon and a FB friend I’ve never met quoted from my sermon: “You cannot boast in the Lord if you’re full of yourself.” God created us such that we will ultimately express who we truly are at the very core of our being.

What‘s your core identity? Your primary core identity is what you’re most passionate and emotional about. Does Jesus move you more or does something else push your buttons more? If Christ is not embodied by our core being and core identity, they’ll be conflicts & confrontations, arguments & aggressions, divisions & disagreements (1 Cor 1:10). This happens in the world. What about the church?

What are you most emotional about? Being a UBF lifer for 40 years, we can become very sensitive, emotional and defensive about UBF, for our UBF identity is overwhelmingly our primary, preeminent and predominant identity. My son reminds me how much I defended and justified UBF and UBF practices. This collectivist communal mindset arises from the honor shame culture of Korea. So I defend my tribe even when it’s bad or wrong. But Christians from any culture also identify themselves emotionally and passionately based on some attribute or identity. “Angry” Calvinists disparaged Rick Warren’s faith when his son committed suicide. Egalitarian Christians criticize John Piper’s “harsh” theology. Often Christians are influenced by their politics rather than by Christ alone. But Paul is crystal clear that he preaches Christ and resolves to know nothing but Christ–synonymous to Christ crucified (1 Cor 1:23; 2:2).

Paul points to his own preaching—which the Corinthians had heard directly—to illustrate his argument. He didn’t preach with dazzling rhetoric or intricate wisdom, but proclaimed “the testimony of God” (preferred to “the mystery of God”) in simple and blunt terms: “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Paul’s emphatic point: the Corinthians’ own faith was elicited not by some refined discourse but by the straightforward narrative of Jesus’ death as God’s saving event (Gal 3:1). Though this very passage illustrates Paul’s quite considerable rhetorical skill, he insists that it was the kerygmatic content of his preaching, not the manner of presentation, that won the Corinthians to the gospel.

Crucified (1 Cor 2:2; 1:23) in Greek describes actions completed in the past whose effects continue into the present. So, when Paul summarizes the content of the gospel as “Christ crucified,” he identifies Christ as one whose identity remains stamped by the cross. The cross has not been canceled out by the resurrection; rather, to know even the risen Jesus is to know him precisely as the crucified one. Any other account of his identity is not the gospel.

Paul embodies/mirrors his message. His self-presentation wasn’t like that of the esteemed confident Greek orators. Rather, his weakness and fear corresponded to his foolish proclamation of a crucified messiah. Some rival preachers regard Paul as unimpressive: “For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible’” (2 Cor 10:10). Interestingly, the words weak and contemptible (“despised” 1:28 NRSV) are 2 words Paul uses in 1 Cor 1:27–28 to describe the vehicles that God has chosen to shame the strong and privileged. Paul didn’t fit the popular stereotype of the dynamic orator, and he didn’t employ artful rhetoric to sway his hearers. Why? Because he wanted his preaching strategy to be consistent with “the word of the cross,” with the workings of a God who refuses to play games of power and prestige on human terms.

The efficacy of the preached word depends not on superficial packaging but solely on the power of God to make the word fruitful. The “demonstration of the spirit and of power” (1 Cor 2:4) probably refers to miraculous events, such as healings and outpourings of prophecy, that accompanied Paul’s preaching (2 Cor 12:12, “signs and wonders and mighty works”; Gal 3:5; “God suppl[ies] you with the Spirit and work[s] miracles among you”). By referring to such evidence, Paul runs the risk of appealing to some of the very criteria that he has tried to avoid: signs and power. His point is that such remarkable events WEREN’T engineered or manipulated by the forcefulness/brilliance of his preaching. They can only have been the work of God. The same applies to the blossoming of faith among the Corinthians; it’s an indication of God’s powerful presence, for it’s certainly not produced by the attractiveness of the message or the messenger. The theme of the whole section (1:18–2:5) is restated one last time in 2:5, which creates an effective inclusio with 1:18: The reason Paul avoided sophisticated rhetoric was so that the Corinthians’ faith would be based “not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” This closes the circle of the argument and closes the door one final time on the Corinthians’ infatuation with wisdom.

REFLECTIONS FOR TEACHERS AND PREACHERS. This passage is foundational for understanding Paul’s message and grasping the teaching that he will give throughout this letter. Reflect at some length on how 1 Cor 1:18–2:5 might shape our teaching/preaching of the gospel. 6 implications of this text:

1. Paul’s message focuses on the cross. Ponder seriously the implications for your preaching and motivation.
   1. recover and emphasize the apocalyptic significance of the death of Jesus. In this passage Paul says nothing about blood atonement or forgiveness of sins as the meaning of the cross. Rather, the cross marks God’s intervention to destroy the old age and bring the new into being.
   2. focus on the cross in Paul’s way must emphasize that the death of Jesus is God’s act for our salvation. All the weight of proclamation must fall on what God has done, not on how we respond to God. The only reference to faith in the passage is in its final sentence (1 Cor 2:5), which insists that faith rests “on the power of God.” We become so used to anthropocentric preaching and theology that we hardly know how to think and talk in theocentric terms. But Paul insists that we must—and models how to do so. The preacher should note how often God is the subject of the verbs (in 1:18–31), both explicitly and implicitly: God destroys and saves, God made them foolish, God decided, God chose, God is the source of your life in Christ Jesus.
   3. focusing on the cross isn‘t comforting and cheerful. It exposes human depravity fully and meditates deeply on the radical character of God’s solution. No upbeat self–help messages here! Such preaching may sound impractical and heavy, but when we’re surrounded by activism, sugar-coated hype and superficial gladness, only the honest preaching of the cross can deeply transform the human heart. Our situation is desperate. Only when that truth is told can the depth of God’s grace be rightly grasped.
2. Paul’s message confronts human boasting. Where do we confront boasting in the church in our time? Some churches are infested by flag waving nationalism or denominational chauvinism. Boasting reeks in those who think of themselves more highly than they ought to (Rom 12:3). There are also less obvious ways to boast. Paul critiques those who boasted of wisdom, which was linked closely with rhetorical eloquence. In our increasingly postliterate age, rhetorical eloquence is no longer highly valued, but self–presentation is. Image is everything. This is closely analogous to the ancient Hellenistic obsession with rhetorical self-presentation. Thus, anywhere we find the church infatuated with impressive individual leaders, Paul’s critique of boasting is relevant. God should receive glory, not forceful charismatic leaders or what we do. Wherever Christian faith is presented in slick, high-tech, high-gloss images, as though it’s a product to be marketed, we should ask whether the gospel that is being proclaimed here is the word of the cross or whether it is some form of human boasting through activism or image manipulation.
3. The meaning of “wisdom” is controlled by “Christ crucified.” This warning applies to scholars who are tempted to idolize learning for its own sake and to those who celebrate sophia as a form of human self–affirmation. Wisdom is a dangerous category and it can be employed rightly within the grammar of Christian theology only when it is grounded firmly within the canonical narrative whose climax is the death of Jesus.
4. The word of the cross creates a countercultural world for those who are called. God has confounded the wisdom of this world and shown it to be foolish. Thus, Christians must see the world differently and live in light of the wisdom of God. (This should not be confused with Thoreau’s “marching to the beat of a different drummer,” which implies merely individualistic and idiosyncratic behavior.) When told that we must be “responsible” or “realistic,” or act in ways that will be “effective,” we should be wary and ask whose wisdom, whose rationality is being urged upon us. Is it God’s? To whose power are we deferring in the choices we make day in and day out? Christian congregations must engage in critical discernment about such questions. This also means that Christian apologetics, if it can be done at all, cannot proceed in such a way that we identify the culture’s questions and then provide satisfying Christian “answers” (cf. Paul Tillich’s “method of correlation”). In fact, according to Paul, neither Jews nor Greeks will get the answers they seek. What we have to offer instead is the story of Jesus. To believe that story is to find one’s whole life re-framed, one’s questions radically reformulated. Therefore, much of Christian apologetics is to say to people, “No, you’re asking the wrong questions, looking for the wrong thing.”
5. The social composition of the church is a sign of God’s election of the foolish, the weak, the low and despised. Look around our congregations on Sunday. If we see too many of the educated, the powerful, and the wealthy and too few of the poor, we should ask ourselves whether we have somehow gone astray from God’s purpose, distorted the gospel of the cross, and fallen into captivity to human wisdom. Paul does not exactly condemn education, power, and wealth in this passage, but merely suggests that God has made it foolish and irrelevant and gathered a community around different norms.
6. The OT texts 1 Cor 1:19, 1:31 are God’s word to the church. They should understand themselves within the larger story of God’s dealing with Israel. If they did that right, they’d recognize that their excitement about wisdom must be tempered by the prophetic word of judgment. Paul is reshaping their thinking to help them discover their identity by finding themselves addressed by Scripture. Paul employs this hermeneutical strategy again and again in the letter, this being the first time. Christians should ponder how to hear themselves addressed by God’s word to Israel and live increasingly within the world of the biblical story.

The Revised Common Lectionary never links Isaiah 29:13–14 or Jeremiah 9:23–24 or 1 Samuel 2:1–10 with 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5. Thus, anyone preaching on this passage from the epistle must do the work of creating the linkage, either by drawing the relevant OT passages into the sermon or, perhaps better, simply substituting one of these texts for the designated OT reading. The lectionary should not be treated as sacrosanct [too imp. to be interfered with]. If we follow the lines of reflection suggested by Paul’s own discussion, we should explore the OT allusions that he has carefully woven into his argument.

Reference:

1. Richard B. Hays. First Corinthians. Interpretation. A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. 1997.
2. Gordon D. Fee. First Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the NT. 1987.

Sermon Divisions:

1. Always Thank God (1:1-9) [1 Cor 1:4].  Cosmic Epic Calling [1 Cor 1:2].
2. The Devil Divides, God Unites (1:10-17) [1 Cor 1:10]. All Agree. No Divisions. Perfect Unity.
3. The Cross—God‘s Way—is Dumb (1:18-25) [1 Cor 1:18]. The Cross Stumbles. The Cross is like a Cop Out. Foolish Cross.
4. What You Were, Who Christ Is (1:26-31) [1 Cor 1:26, 30]. The Necessity of Lack. No Boasting  [1 Cor 1:31].
5. Nothing but Jesus (2:1-5) [1 Cor 2:2].
6. Mature Wisdom (2:6-16) [1 Cor 2:6].
7. Field Laborers (3:1-9) [1 Cor 3:5].
8. Construction Workers (3:10-15) [1 Cor 3:10-11].
9. God’s Temple (3:16-22) [1 Cor 3:16].
10. True Self (4:1-5) [1 Cor 4:4].
11. Become Scum (4:6-13) [1 Cor 4:13].
12. Final Warning (4:14-21) [1 Cor 4:19].