Twin City church of Christ Blog
“March 8, 2024 - Just Jesus”
Categories: 2024 Reading DevotionalsJust Jesus
Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Paul is still correcting the Corinthian tendency to divide based on men, stressing that God’s goal is that “no human being might boast in the presence of God”(1 Cor 1:29). Here he recounts his time in Corinth: “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified”(1 Cor 2:1-2). Paul again (as in 1:17) insists that his preaching was not awesome and eloquent or full of the elaborate sophistry that characterized speech in the Greek world. His message was just Jesus—stark and unvarnished. He told the story of God made flesh, sacrificing himself to take away the sins of the world. Paul wanted his listeners to leave encounters with him impressed with Jesus, not with Paul.
He also stresses that he was not that impressive because of his “weakness” and “fear” and “much trembling”(1 Cor 2:3). Paul is just a guy, utterly unworthy of veneration. “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God”(1 Cor 2:4-5). Some arguments are so elaborate that we forget the reasoning but remember the genius of the speaker; Paul was not so. He mentions “demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” which may mean that he performed miracles in Corinth to confirm his message. Yet even this was not to exalt Paul, but the God empowering him. The goal is for them to put faith in God, never “the wisdom of men.”
God has chosen to spread his message through humans (“jars of clay,” 2 Cor 4:7). This has always held the danger that we will fixate on the person spreading it rather than the God he is declaring. Paul’s answer to this is to “know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Just Jesus. Such preaching might not be full of hot takes on the issues of the day—it might not build his “brand”—it might not wow the masses—but it will express faithfulness to the message and exalt Jesus. We need to preach “just Jesus”—and value such preaching—and put our faith in the God behind it.
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One Thing to Think About: Why do we tend to exalt humans?
One Thing to Pray For: An appetite for the simple message of Jesus—and not the opinions of man
