By an easy movement he advances to the gospel, to the mode of preaching it as essential to its Divine success, and thus reaches the climax of his reasoning in the first chapter. Other functions of his apostleship will come hereafter into view - the resolute disciplinarian, the firm, administrator, the tender but unyielding executive of the Head of the Church. At present, however, one thing absorbs him, namely, the Divine institution of preaching. What is his foremost relation to these Corinthians? It is that of a preacher of Christ's gospel. And how had he preached it? "Not with wisdom of words" - not as a speculative thinker, not as a Greek rhetorician, not in the spirit of worldly eloquence - "lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." Two things are prominently set forth - the gospel and its manner of presentation; and Christ is in each of them, and in each of them alike, so that not only the substance of the gospel, but the mode of its exhibition, must conform to his sovereignty as the Head of the Church. All preaching of the gospel is not gospel preaching. Looking at the character in the light St. Paul viewed it, the preacher was an original creation of Christ, a new force ordained and anointed of him, and introduced by him for the proclamation of the gospel. It dated no further back than Pentecost; it was of universal adaptation; it was to command all languages, and speak to the simplest instincts, not of men, but of man as man; and this original creation, this new force, was to continue through all time, and never surrender its rights and prerogatives to any successor. And the spirit and matter of fulfilling this grand office were thoroughly unworldly, so much so, indeed, that, it would strike the Greek as "foolishness," and prove to the Jew "a stumbling block." But in contrast with the Greek and his search after wisdom, and with the Jew in his love of national signs as the elect race of Jehovah, Christ was preached as "the power of God and the wisdom of God." The word "power" is not used except in connection with the preaching of "Christ crucified," and its value in the argument is assured by its specialty of application. All the aid of contrast and comparison is given to this one word. Power, God's power, is the designation of preaching Christ crucified. Over against it are put "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble," and the array of dissimilarity is lengthened out by "foolish things," "weak things," "base things," and "things despised." But what bearing has this condensed energy of a single idea and its rapid accumulation of phraseological forms on the partisanship of these Corinthians? Has not the apostle wandered from the main idea of the chapter - the "contentions among you"? Nay, this very partisanship is the exact opposite of Paul, Peter, Apollos, in preaching the gospel, and they can never consent to this abuse of their position. Nay, further, it is in downright antagonism to "Christ crucified." There is no "power" in it, no "wisdom." It is the idolatry of the senses. It is the intellect of the senses repeating the folly of Greek and Jew in another but equally fatal shape. It is mere seeking to find themselves and their glory in man. Directly opposite to this, St. Paul argues, we preach "Christ crucified," so that "no flesh should glory in his presence." A great lesson it is in the true spirituality of Christianity as the only strength and safeguard of the Church. If Christ is "made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption;" if Christ become "the power of God" to our hearts in this fourfold form of the "riches of grace;" the root of all worldliness is destroyed, partisanship is at an end, because self-seeking is ended, and henceforth that Scripture has a very real import to us, "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." A man may admire others for their own sakes, and this admiration may be very helpful. To admire others because our image is projected upon them can only augment our own weakness. Our praise in such cases is but the echo of our self admiration, and echoes are dying sounds. - L.

I. ITS CHARACTER.

1. Simple in its facts.

2. Humiliating in its doctrines.

3. Startling in its announcements.

II. THE RESULT.

1. Foolishness to them that perish.

2. The power of God unto them that are saved.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

In ver. 17 Paul had renounced the "wisdom of words." It is clear, therefore, that there is an eloquence which would deprive the gospel of its due effect. This "wisdom of words" —

1. Veils the truth which ought to be set forth in the clearest possible manner.

2. Explains the gospel away. It is possible to refine a doctrine till the very soul of it is gone. Under pretence of winning the cultured intellects of the age, it has gradually landed us in a denial of those first principles for which the martyrs died.

3. Is frequently used with the intent of making the gospel appear more beautiful. They would paint the rose and enamel the lily, add whiteness to the snow and brightness to the sun. With their wretched candles they would help us to see the stars. To adorn the Cross is to dishonour it, One of the old masters found that certain vases which he had depicted upon the sacramental table attracted more notice than the Lord Himself, and therefore he struck them out at once: let us do the same whenever anything of ours withdraws the mind from Jesus.

4. Is employed to augment the power of the gospel. Paul says it makes it of none effect (see 1 Corinthians 2:4, 5). Having cleared our way of the wisdom of words, we now come to the word of wisdom.

I. "THE WORD OF THE CROSS" (R. V.).This is exactly what the gospel is. From which I gather that the Cross —

1. Has one uniform teaching. There are not two gospels any more than there are two Gods: there are not two atonements any more than there are two Saviours (1 Corinthians 3:11; Galatians 1:8, 9).

2. Is one word in contradistinction from many other words which are constantly being uttered. Christ's voice from the Cross is, "Look unto Me and be ye saved"; but another voice cries aloud, "This do and thou shalt live." The doctrine of salvation by works, or feelings, is not the word of the Cross. Much less is the word of ceremonialism and priestcraft.

3. Should be allowed to speak for itself. It cries, let us hear this word of the Cross, for in effect my text says, "Let the Cross speak for itself."(1) God must be just. The Cross thunders more terribly than Sinai against sin. If God smites the perfect One who bears our sin, how will He smite the guilty one who rejects His love?(2) God loves men, and delights in mercy. God commendeth His love to us, &c.(3) The one sacrifice is accepted and the atonement is complete. "God was in Christ," &c.(4) Come and welcome! "Whosoever will," &c.

II. THE WORD OF ITS DESPISERS.

1. They call the doctrine of the atonement "foolishness."(1) "Because," say they, "see how the common people take it up. Why, the very children are able to believe it." But are the well-known facts of nature foolishness because they are open to all? Is it quite certain that all the wisdom in the world dwells with the superfine gentlemen who sneer at everything and take in a Review? I wish that their culture had taught them modesty.(2) Because this doctrine of the Cross is not the offspring of reason, but the gift of revelation. All the thinkers of the ages continued to think, but they never invented a plan of salvation. As a thought it originated with the Infinite Mind, and could have originated nowhere else. It is God telling men something which they could not else have known, and this suits not the profound thinkers, who must needs excogitare everything.(3) Because anything which proves a man to be a fool will at once strike men as being very foolish. Our conscience is dull, and therefore we retaliate upon those who tell us unpleasant truth.(4) Because it treats on subjects for which we have no care. If I were able to show how to make unlimited profit, all the world would 'listen; but when the sermon is only about the Word of God, and eternity, and the soul, and the blood of Jesus — most people turn on their heel. They call the gospel foolishness because they look after the main chance, and care more for the body than for the soul.(5) Because they regard all the truths with which it deals as insignificant trifles.

2. These gentlemen —(1) Are not qualified to form a judgment upon the subject. A blind man is no judge of colours, a deaf man of sound, and a man who has never been quickened into spiritual life of spiritual things.(2) Are proofs of their own folly and of the sad results of unbelief. Paul says that such men are perishing. What a calamity! Men who are not living to God are missing the end of their being, and like deserted houses are falling into ruin. Yonder is a tree: around its trunk the ivy has twisted itself, grasping it like a huge python, and crushing it in its folds. Multitudes have about them sins and errors that are eating out their life — they are perishing. Those that believe not in Jesus are drifting towards an immortality of misery; and yet while they perish, they condemn the means of rescue. Fancy drowning mariners mocking at the life. boat! Imagine a diseased man ridiculing the only remedy!

III. THE WORD OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE. What do they say of the Cross? They call it power, the power of God.

1. The phenomenon of conversion is a fact. Men and women are totally changed, and the whole manner of their life is altered. The word of the Cross has delivered us from —(1) The love of sin: no sin is now our master. We fall into sin, but we mourn over it, and hate the sin, and hate ourselves for committing it.(2) From the dread which once held us in bondage, and made us tremble before our Father and our Friend. But now we love Him and delight in Him.(3) From the power of Satan.(4) From self and from the world, and from all things that would enthral us. We are saved. We feel that heaven is born within us — born by the word of the Cross through the Spirit.

2. The power with which God created and sustains the world is no greater than the power with which He made us new men in Christ, and by which He sustains His people under trial; and even the raising of the dead will be no greater display of it than the raising of dead souls out of their spiritual graves. Conclusion: Believe in the power of the Cross for the conversion of those around you. Do not say of any man that he cannot be saved. The blood of Jesus is omnipotent.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. THE ONE IS PERISHING, THE OTHER IS BEING SAVED. The perishing and the saving are gradual.

1. There is a class gradually losing sensibility — contracting fresh guilt, &c. They are not damned at once.

2. There is a class gradually being saved. Salvation in its fullest extent is not an instantaneous thing, as some suppose.

II. TO THE ONE CLASS THE GOSPEL IS FOOLISHNESS, TO THE OTHER THE POWER OF GOD.

1. It is foolishness to them that are perishing, because it has no meaning, no reality.

2. It is a Divine power to them that are being saved. Enlightening, renovating, purifying, ennobling. The power of God stands in contrust with mere human philosophy and eloquence.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

I. ITS THEME — the Cross.

II. ITS DISPENSATION — by preaching.

III. ITS RECEPTION —

1. To them that believe not, both the subject and the means are foolishness, because they humble human pride, discountenance merit, oppose the wisdom of this world.

2. To them that believe it is the power of God in the conscience, the heart, the life.

IV. THE ISSUE — those perish — these are saved.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

I. BY THE "PREACHING OF THE CROSS" WE UNDERSTAND THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. There are two circumstances which may have led to the use of this name.

1. The apostle did not so preach the gospel as to conceal the Cross. This has sometimes been done. The Roman Catholic missionaries that went out to the East held back the fact that the great Saviour had died in ignominy upon the Cross, and told their hearers only of those facts concerning Him which had a glorious appearance, such as His resurrection and ascension. And the first disciples may have sympathised in such a feeling. The Cross tended to attach dishonour to Christ and to His gospel. But the apostles did not do so; they told the whole story.

2. The crucifixion supplied, and was the whole origin of, the great topics which their preaching of the gospel contained. It would have been nothing for Paul to have preached the resurrection, &c., if he had not preached His death. These facts have no evangelical glory or meaning if you separate them from the Cross. Take away the Cross, and you take away the very life and soul of the gospel itself.

II. THIS GOSPEL IS PERVERTED.

1. By those who say that it derives its power not so much from the death of Christ, but mainly from His life. Now I do not mean to depreciate the life of Christ, which was superlatively grand and striking in all respects. But the presenting to the world of a life of virtue will not in any degree be influential in its regeneration, and as for presenting an aspect of the benignity of God this is infinitely exceeded in the death of Christ. What Paul preached was not Christ's life, but Christ's death.

2. By those who say that the death of Christ has an influence, but that it is not an atonement. What is it then? It is a "way of speaking"! To this I would say —(1) If God tells us about an atonement, and there really is none, that is not truth.(2) Unless the Atonement be a fact it cannot be a power.

III. THE GOSPEL IS A POWER IN THAT IT PRESENTS A SET OF TOPICS AND CONSIDERATIONS INTENDED TO WORK UPON MEN'S HEARTS AND CONSCIENCES. If the atoning death of Christ be a fact —

1. What a fact must sin itself be! He is God making a vast provision by the humiliating death of His own Son for the expiation of the sin of the world. What a proof it is of the lost state of man!

2. What a fact is God's justice! The sinner says, "Well, I have sinned, but God is merciful." Well, now, come again with me to the Cross. See a dying Saviour; there is God's vengeance against man's representative.

3. How great the love of God to a rebellious world. See to what an expense He has gone to save you.

4. What a fact is the foundation of a sinner's hope. None need despair; whosoever believeth in Him shall be saved.

5. What a fact is a believer's obligation to devotedness and love. If we have been bought at such a price, we are no more our own, but our Purchaser's.

6. What a fact is the guarantee of a believer's faith! "He that spared not His own Son," &c.Conclusion:

1. How wonderful it is that God should be pleased thus to deal with men!

2. What a thought it is for ungodly men that there is a Divine power in the gospel, and that in it God puts forth all His powers of persuasion.

3. And it is for us to remember that the gospel is a power for all the exigencies of the Christian life.

(J. H. Hinton, M. A.)

A slight variation of rendering, which will be found in the Revised Version, brings out the true meaning of these words. Instead of reading "them that perish" and "us which are saved," we ought to read "them that are perishing," and "us which are being saved." That is to say, the apostle represents the two contrasted conditions, not so much as fixed states, either present or future, but rather as processes which are going on, and are manifestly, in the present, incomplete. That opens some very solemn and practical considerations. Then I may further note that this antithesis includes the whole of the persons to whom the gospel is preached. In one or other of these two classes they all stand. Further, we have to observe that the consideration which determines the class to which men belong is the attitude which they respectively take to the preaching of the Cross.

I. I desire, first, to look at THE TWO CONTRASTED CONDITIONS, "perishing" and "being saved." We shall best understand the force of the darker of these two terms if we first ask what is the force of the brighter and more radiant. If we understand what the apostle means by "saving" and "salvation," we shall understand, also, what he means by "perishing." If, then, we turn for a moment to Scripture analogy and teaching, we find that well-worn word "salvation" starts from a double metaphorical meaning. It is used for both being healed or being made safe. In the one sense it is often employed in the gospel narratives of our Lord's miracles. It involves the metaphor of a sick man and his cure; in the other it involves the metaphor of a man in peril and his deliverance and security. The sickness of soul and the perils that threaten life flow from the central fact of sin. And salvation consists, negatively, in the sweeping away of all these, .whether the sin itself, or the fatal facility with which we yield to it, or the desolation and perversion which it brings into all the faculties and susceptibilities or the perversion of relation to God, and the consequent evils, here and hereafter, which throng around the evil-doer. The sick man is healed, and the man in peril is set in safety. But, besides that, there is a great deal more. The cure is incomplete till the full tide of health follows convalescence. When God saves He does not only bar up the iron gate through which the hosts of evil rush out upon the defenceless soul, but He flings wide the golden gate through which the glad troops of blessings and of graces flock around the delivered spirit, and enrich it with all joys and with all beauties. So the positive side of salvation is the investiture of the saved man with throbbing health through all his veins, and the strength that comes from a Divine life. It is the bestowal upon the delivered man of everything that he needs for blessedness and for duty. This, then, being the one side, what about the other? If salvation be the cure of the sickness, perishing is the fatal end of the unchecked disease. If salvation be the deliverance from the outstretched claws of the harpy evils that crowd about the trembling soul, then perishing is the fixing of their poisoned talons into their prey, and their rending of it into fragments.

II. Now note, secondly, THE PROGRESSIVENESS OF BOTH MEMBERS OF THE ALTERNATIVE. All states of heart or mind tend to increase, by the very fact of continuance. Look, then, at this thought of the process by which these two conditions become more and more confirmed and complete. Salvation is a progressive thing. In the New Testament we have that great idea looked at from three points of view. Sometimes it is spoken of as having been accomplished in the past in the case of every believing soul — "Ye have been saved" is said more than once. Sometimes it is spoken of as being accomplished in the present — "Ye are saved" is said more than once. And sometimes it is relegated to the future — "Now is your salvation nearer than when ye believed," and the like. But there are a number of New Testament passages which coincide with this text in regarding salvation as, not the work of any one moment, but as a continuous operation running through life. As, for instance, "The Lord added to the Church daily those that were being saved." By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are being sanctified. So the process of being saved is going on as long as a Christian man lives in this world. Ah I that notion of a progressive salvation, at work in all true Christians, has all but faded away out of the beliefs, as it has all but disappeared from the experience, of hosts of you that call yourselves Christ's followers, and are not a bit further on than you were ten years ago; are no more healed of your corruptions (perhaps less, for relapses are dangerous) than you were then. Growing Christians — may I venture to say? — are not the majority of professing Christians. And, on the other side, as certainly, there is progressive deterioration and approximation to disintegration and ruin. I am sure that there are people in this place this morning who were far better, and far happier, when they were poor and young, and could still thrill with generous emotion and tremble at the Word of God, than they are to-day. Now, notice, the apostle treats these two classes as covering the whole ground of the hearers of the Word, and as alternatives. If not in the one class, we are in the other. If you are not more saved, you arc less saved. Further, note what a light such considerations as these, that salvation and perishing are vital processes — "going on all the time" — throw upon the future. Clearly the two processes are incomplete here. You get the direction of the line, but not its natural termination. And thus a heaven and a hell are demanded by the phenomena of growing goodness and of growing badness which we see round about us.

III. And now, lastly, notice THE DETERMINING ATTITUDE TO THE CROSS WHICH SETTLES THE CLASS TO WHICH WE BELONG. So there are two thoughts suggested which sound as if they were illogically combined, but which yet are both true. It is true that men perish, or are saved, because the Cross is to them respectively "foolishness," or "the power of God." And the other thing is true, that the Cross is to them "foolishness," or "the power of God," because respectively they are perishing or being saved. That is not putting the cart before the horse, but both aspects of the truth are true. If you see nothing in Jesus Christ, and His death for us all, except "foolishness," something unfit to do you any good, and unnecessary to be taken into account in your lives, that is the condemnation of your eyes, and not of the thing you look at. It a man, gazing on the sun at twelve o'clock on a June day, says to me, "It is not bright," the only thing I have to say to him is, "Friend, you had better go to an oculist." And if to us the Cross is "foolishness," it is because already a process of "perishing" has gone so far that it has attacked our capacity of recognising the wisdom and love of God when we see it. But, on the other hand, if we clasp that Cross in simple trust, we find that it is the power which saves us out of all sins, sorrows, and dangers, and "shall save us," at last, "into His heavenly kingdom." That message leaves no man exactly as it found him.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

This the apostle demonstrates —

1. By the irrational character of the central fact of the gospel (vers. 18-25).

2. By the mode of gaining members to, and the composition of the Church (vers. 26-31).

3. By the attitude taken in the midst of them by the preacher of the gospel.

(Prof. Godet, D. D.)

Look at —

I. THE MEANS — the simple preaching of the Cross — which —

1. Is foolishness to the wise.

2. Yet triumphs over human wisdom.

3. Effects what the wisdom of this world has failed to do.

4. And in spite of the opposition of the Jew and the philosophy of the Greek demonstrates Christ the wisdom and the power of God.

II. THE AGENTS — "not many wise, not many noble are called."

1. God has chosen the most unlikely instrumentalities.

2. And made them successful through Christ.

3. That no flesh might glory in His presence.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

I. IN THEM THAT PERISH — they deem it foolish — yet it confounds their wisdom — succeeds where it has failed.

II. IN THEM THAT ARE SAVED — because it conquers their opposition — and becomes in them the power of God and the wisdom of God.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

Apollos, Cephas, Chloe, Corinthians, Crispus, Gaius, Paul, Peter, Sosthenes, StephanasCorinthCross, Destruction, Dying, Folly, Foolish, Foolishness, God's, Indeed, Message, Perdition, Perish, Perishing, Power, Preaching, Salvation, Saved, Saving, Seems1. After his salutation and thanksgiving for the Corinthians,
10. Paul exhorts them to unity,
12. and reproves their dissensions.
18. God destroys the wisdom of the wise,
21. by the foolishness of preaching;
26. and calls not the wise, mighty, and noble,
28. but the foolish, weak, and men of no account.

1 Corinthians 1:18

     1105   God, power of
     2324   Christ, as Saviour
     5815   confusion
     8756   folly, examples
     8760   fools, characteristics

1 Corinthians 1:17-18

     2414   cross, centrality
     7755   preaching, importance
     8426   evangelism, motivation

1 Corinthians 1:17-25

     7703   apologetics
     7757   preaching, effects

1 Corinthians 1:17-27

     8366   wisdom, source of

1 Corinthians 1:18-21

     1180   God, wisdom of

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

     1445   revelation, responses
     5441   philosophy
     7756   preaching, content
     8365   wisdom, human

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

     5050   reason

Father and Child
Eversley. 1861. 1 Cor. i. 4, 5, 7. "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. That in every thing ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge . . . So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." This text is a very important one. It ought to teach me how I should treat you. It …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity Treasure Christians have in the Gospel.
Text: 1 Corinthians 1, 4-9. 4 I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus; 5 that in everything ye were enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge; 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8 who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, through whom ye were called …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Second Day. God's Provision for Holiness.
To those that are made holy in Christ Jesus, called to be holy.'--1 Cor. i. 2. 'To all the holy ones in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. Salute every holy one in Christ Jesus.'[1]--Phil. i. 1, iv. 21. HOLY! IN CHRIST! In these two expressions we have perhaps the most wonderful words of all the Bible. HOLY! the word of unfathomable meaning, which the Seraphs utter with veiled faces. HOLY! the word in which all God's perfections centre, and of which His glory is but the streaming forth. …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

Twenty-Second Day. In Christ Our Sanctification.
'Of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.'--1 Cor. i. 30, 31. These words lead us on now to the very centre of God's revelation of the way of holiness. We know the steps of the road leading hither. He is holy, and holiness is His. He makes holy by coming near. His presence is holiness. In Christ's life, the holiness that had only been revealed …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

Perishing or Being Saved
For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.'--1 COR. i. 18. The starting-point of my remarks is the observation that a slight variation of rendering, which will be found in the Revised Version, brings out the true meaning of these words. Instead of reading 'them that perish' and 'us which are saved,' we ought to read 'them that are perishing,' and 'us which are being saved.' That is to say, the Apostle represents the …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Corinthians. Calling on the Name
'All that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.'--1 COR. i. 2. There are some difficulties, with which I need not trouble you, about both the translation and the connection of these words. One thing is quite clear, that in them the Apostle associates the church at Corinth with the whole mass of Christian believers in the world. The question may arise whether he does so in the sense that he addresses his letter both to the church at Corinth and to the whole …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Wisdom of God in the Means Used to Propagate the Gospel.
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and god hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are." * * The two discourses on this text were originally one, and preached before Windham Association, at Thompson, October Session, 1798. Probably some of the ideas which they contain, may have been …
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

Christ Crucified
Wisdom had had its time, and time enough; it had done its all, and that was little enough; it had made the world worse than it was before it stepped upon it, and "now," says God, "Foolishness shall overcome wisdom; now ignorance, as ye call it, shall sweep away science; now, humble, child-like faith shall crumble to the dust all the colossal systems your hands have piled." He calls his armies. Christ puts his trumpet to his mouth, and up come the warriors, clad in fishermen's garb, with the brogue …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

The Fourfold Treasure
To-night we have before us a text which is extraordinarily comprehensive, and contains infinitely more of meaning than mind shall grasp, or tongue shall utter at this hour. Considering it carefully, let us observe, first, that the apostle here attributes the fact that we are in Christ Jesus to the Lord alone. He shows that there is a connection between our very being as Christians, and the love and grace of God in Christ. "Of him" (that is of God) "are ye in Christ Jesus." So we will first speak …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Christ --The Power and Wisdom of God
Now, this morning, we shall try to bring out these two thoughts of the gospel; and it may be that God shall bless what we shall say to the removing of the objection of either Jew or Greek; that the one requiring a sign may see it in the power of God in Christ, and that he who requireth wisdom may behold it in the wisdom of God in Christ. We shall understand our text in a threefold manner: Christ, that is, Christ personally, is "the power of God and the wisdom of God;" Christ, that is, Christ's gospel, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Firm to the End.
(Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity.) 1 COR. i. 8. "Who also shall confirm you unto the end." Steadfastness is one of the most important characteristics of a Christian. Perhaps you will tell me that love, and self-denial, and patience, and faith are the chief marks of Christ's followers. And I answer that these things are useless without steadfastness. It will not avail us to be very loving, and self-sacrificing, and patient, and trustful for a little while, and then to fall away, and be selfish, …
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

The National Preacher.
Go ... Teach all Nations.... Matt. xxviii. 19. VOL. II. NEW-YORK, DECEMBER, 1827. NO. 7. SERMON XXVI. By AARON W. LELAND, D.D. CHARLESTON, S. CAROLINA. THE PURE GOSPEL REJECTED BY THE PERISHING. 1 COR. I. 18.--For the preaching of the cross is, to them that perish, foolishness. In the Christian revelation, there is an evident purpose of infinite wisdom, that in all the provisions for man's salvation, his moral agency should be left free and uncontrolled. Instead of accommodation to human …
Aaron W. Leland—The National Preacher, Vol. 2 No. 7 Dec. 1827

Good Friday, 1860
(Good Friday, 1860.) 1 Corinthians i. 23-25. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. The foolishness of God? The weakness of God? These are strange words. But they are St. Paul's words, not mine. If he had not said them first, I should not …
Charles Kingsley—Town and Country Sermons

The Introduction, with Some General Observations from the Cohesion.
Doubtless it is always useful, yea, necessary, for the children of God to know the right way of making use of Christ, who is made all things to them which they need, even "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30. But it is never more necessary for believers to be clear and distinct in this matter, than when Satan, by all means, is seeking to pervert the right ways of the Lord, and, one way or other, to lead souls away, and draw them off Christ; knowing that, if he prevail …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

How Christ is to be Made Use Of, as the Way, for Sanctification in General.
Having shown how a poor soul, lying under the burden of sin and wrath, is to make use of Jesus Christ for righteousness and justification, and so to make use of him, go out to him, and apply him, as "he is made of God to us righteousness," 1 Cor. i. 30, and that but briefly. This whole great business being more fully and satisfactorily handled, in that forementioned great, though small treatise, viz. "The Christian's Great Interest," we shall now come and show, how a believer or a justified soul …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

With How Great Reverence Christ must be Received
The Voice of the Disciple These are Thy words, O Christ, Eternal Truth; though not uttered at one time nor written together in one place of Scripture. Because therefore they are Thy words and true, I must gratefully and faithfully receive them all. They are Thine, and Thou hast uttered them; and they are mine also, because Thou didst speak them for my salvation. Gladly I receive them from Thy mouth, that they may be more deeply implanted in my heart. Words of such great grace arouse me, for they …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Of the Effects of those Prerogatives.
From these prerogatives there will arise to the elect in heaven, five notable effects:-- 1. They shall know God with a perfect knowledge (1 Cor. i. 10), so far as creatures can possibly comprehend the Creator. For there we shall see the Word, the Creator; and in the Word, all creatures that by the Word were created; so that we shall not need to learn (of the things which were made) the knowledge of him by whom all things were made. The most excellent creatures in this life, are but as a dark veil …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Sanctification.
"Of Him ye are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."--1 Cor. i. 30. Sanctification is one of the most glorious gifts which, by the Covenant of Grace, the Mediator bestows upon the saint. It covers his entire mental, spiritual, and physical nature. We should, therefore, thoroughly understand it, and learn how to obtain it, and every believer, whatever the measure of his faith, should be fully aware of his attitude toward it; for …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Christ Our Sanctification.
"Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us...sanctification."--1 Cor. i. 30. The redeemed soul possesses all things in Christ. He is a complete Savior. He lacks nothing. Having Him we are saved to the uttermost; without Him we are utterly lost and undone. We must earnestly maintain this point, especially with reference to sanctification; and repeat with increasing clearness that Christ is given us of God not only for wisdom and righteousness, but also for sanctification. It reads distinctly that Christ …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Joyful Sound
C. P. C. I Cor. i. 23, 24 O that Thy Name may be sounded Afar over earth and sea, Till the dead awaken and praise Thee, And the dumb lips sing to Thee! Sound forth as a song of triumph Wherever man's foot has trod, The despised, the derided message, The foolishness of God. Jesus, dishonoured and dying, A felon on either side-- Jesus, the song of the drunkards, Jesus the Crucified! Name of God's tender comfort, Name of His glorious power, Name that is song and sweetness, The strong everlasting tower. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Christian Churches.
The large number of churches in Rome.--The six classes of the earliest of these.--I. Private oratories.--The houses of Pudens and Prisca.--The evolution of the church from the private house.--II. Scholae.--The memorial services and banquets of the pagans.--Two extant specimens of early Christian scholae.--That in the Cemetery of Callixtus.--III. Oratories and churches built over the tombs of martyrs and confessors.--How they came to be built.--These the originals of the greatest sanctuaries of modern …
Rodolfo Lanciani—Pagan and Christian Rome

St. Augustine (Ad 354-430)
PART I The church in the north of Africa has hardly been mentioned since the time of St. Cyprian (Chapter VIII). But we must now look towards it again, since in the days of St. Chrysostom it produced a man who was perhaps the greatest of all the old Christian fathers--St. Augustine. Augustine was born at Thagaste, a city of Numidia, in the year 354. His mother, Monica, was a pious Christian, but his father, Patricius, was a heathen, and a man of no very good character. Monica was resolved to bring …
J. C. Roberston—Sketches of Church History, from AD 33 to the Reformation

Additional Introduction.
Towards the close of 1875, at Constantinople, Philotheus Bryennius, Metropolitan of Serræ, published the first complete edition of the epistles ascribed to Clement. This he was enabled to do by the discovery of a ms. in the library of the Holy Sepulchre at Fanari in Constantinople. This ms., of vellum, consists of one hundred and twenty leaves in small octavo, nearly seven and a half inches in length and six in breadth. The ms. bears the date 1056, and was written by one Leo. Its contents …
Rev. John Keith, D.D.—The Epistles of Clement

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