Christ Crucified Preached 1 Corinthians 1:23

“The Jews”, according to the apostle Paul, “required a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom”, but in chapter one and verse twenty-three of First Corinthians, Paul the apostle continued his letter by declaring how he and his companions “preach Christ crucified” where we read:

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

The verse begins, “But we preach Christ crucified,...” Paul began with the word, “But” which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be written takes precedence over what was just stated “” “we preach” which means “herald, proclaim, and publish openly” “Christ” which refers to “the anointed one, the Messiah and the Son of God” “crucified” or “driven down and fortified with stakes, to palisade and impale on the cross which figuratively means to extinguish or subdue passion or selfishness”. Rather than preaching “signs” or earthly “wisdom”, Paul and his companions “preached” about “Jesus Christ” being “crucified”.

The verse continues, “...unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;”. Paul added the words, “unto the Jews” or “the people who belong to, are birthed in, have origin and religion in the Jewish nation” “a stumblingblock” which means “truly, certainly and indeed a movable stick or trigger of a trap, a snare or impediment place in the way and causing one to stumble or fall such as a rock which is the cause of stumbling” “and unto the Greeks” or “the inhabitants of Hellas or Greek speaking people who are Gentiles or non-Jews” “foolishness” which means “absurdity and silliness”. Because Paul and his companions “preached Christ crucified”, the Jewish people were tripped by it, and the Greek people thought it was “absurd and silly”.

When we think through these words from Paul, we notice the two responses to the “gospel” of Jesus Christ exhibited by the Jews and the Greeks. The Jews were “tripped over” or “stumbled” at the lack of “miraculous symbol” that was involved, and the Greeks thought the idea of Jesus dying on a cross for their sins was “absurd”. Each of these groups could not reconcile God's wisdom to save people. They thought there should have been some other way to be proclaimed either by “miracles and prophetic reconciliation” or by “intelligent explanation”. However, God chose the simple “preaching of the good news” that Jesus Christ came to the earth as a man, lived a sinless life, died for the sins of all mankind, rose from the dead three days later and now offers “eternal life” to all who believe. Lest we be like those unbelieving Jews and Gentiles who need the “gospel” of God to be according to their way, let us believe in the “wisdom of God” and simply believe in the sacrifice of Jesus unto “everlasting life”.

Next time Paul shares how to them that “are called”, “Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.