Jesus Christ, and Him crucified

1 Cor 2:1-2: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

When God provides salvation to us He does so on His terms not ours. For us we try to reason and contemplate how spiritual things should work. The scripture says that God does not provide salvation anyway that we can conjure up, but salvation comes only through the gospel. Paul said that when he visited Corinth that he was plain spoken and not possessing any special oratory skills. He just preached a simple gospel message. That message was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The foundation of our faith is not reason or Logic, but by the demonstration of God, “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Vs. 5

Paul’s only goal while at Corinth was to preach Christ. Jesus was not just a good man, philosopher, or just a prophet. Jesus is the only way to salvation. John 14:6 says, “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” This makes Jesus the only way. Many people think that if they are good enough that God will somehow look past His own rules and let them into heaven. That line of thinking concludes that Jesus was either a liar or crazy.
Paul was very clear that many in Corinth accepted the message that Christ died so that they could live. He also mentioned that many did not accept this message.

Even today, we as a people struggle with the understanding of God’s salvation. We try to use our intellect to understand these great truths. We are brought to a point of making a decision. There are only two decisions that can be made when given the gospel; that is to accept in faith that God gave me this gift of salvation, which costs me nothing. Or, do not accept the gift of God. For Paul, no matter what the people chose he was going to preach Christ no matter what.

Application – The message of Jesus Christ and him crucified must be preached.

Challenge – Accept the gift of God, and when you have, Preach Christ and Him crucified.

Tomorrows Readings:
Old Testament: psalm 119:1-48 New Testament I Cor. 3