1 Corinthians 1:22-24 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:… I. WHAT ST. PAUL PREACHED. "Christ crucified" — i.e., not so much the sufferings of Christ on the Cross as the doctrines connected with the Cross and all the benefits which are secured to us by it. He preached — 1. The dignity of Him who suffered. 2. His humiliation. 3. His willingness. 4. The shamefulness of His death. 5. The intensity of His sufferings. His death was lingering, not sudden. He suffered from men, from devils, from God. II. SOME REASONS FOR HIS SO PREACHING. There were — 1. Personal reasons. A dispensation was committed unto him. St. Paul preached thus because he was commanded. "Woe is unto me," &c. 2. Doctrinal reasons. He preached Christ crucified because by the Cross — (I) God's wrath is appeased. God was willing to be appeased; but God's justice could not be appeased except by the death of Christ. (2) God's law is silenced. For every breach of its commands the law thunders forth against us, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." But Christ has undergone all the curses of the broken law in our behalf. "He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." "There is now no condemnation," &c. (3) Our guilt is removed. If God's law, which we have broken, has been satisfied by Christ, then must necessarily follow the removal of our guilt. (4) The devil's power is subdued. (5) Holiness is promoted Dr. Chalmers tells us that, so long as he preached only moral duties, he saw no results of his labours. All the vehemence of his powerful oratory had not the weight of a feather in making the drunkard sober, and the unchaste man clean. But when he began to preach the atonement, he saw in rich abundance the precious fruits of holiness; and so John Berridge tells us that for six years he preached morality to his parishioners at Stapleford till there was hardly a moral man left in the parish; but when he was taught by God's Spirit to lift up Christ, the people came flocking to the sanctuary in deep concern about their souls. (6) Heaven is opened.Conclusion: We hence see the duty of ministers, viz., to walk in the steps of Paul. 1. He was emphatically a preacher. We, too, who are ministers, should aim to be preachers. Our Lord's commission ran, "Go ye into all the world and preach." "Christ sent me," says Paul, "not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." Others, uninspired men, have said the same. Latimer said, "Take away preaching, take away salvation." St. affirms, "My whole priesthood is to teach and preach the gospel. This is my sacrifice." 2. But what are we to preach? Christ crucified. The preach Christ, but only as a bright example, not as a vacarious sacrifice. But we, like St. Paul, preach Christ crucified, because we know that this is the only preaching which God the Holy Ghost will honour. As Cecil says, "A philosopher may philosophise his hearers, but the preaching of Christ will alone convert them. Men may preach Christ ignorantly, blunderingly, absurdly, yet God will give that preaching efficacy, because He is determined to magnify His own ordinance." (C. Clayton, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: |
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