OUR FATHER WHOSE SALVATION IS PROVIDED ONLY THROUGH THE POWER OF THE CROSS

The Apostle Paul, writing in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17, says this;

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Paul had become aware that believers in the Corinthian church were being divided by claims of following one leader in the church over the next. Some were saying that they followed Apollos and others were saying they followed Christ and others yet, said they followed Cephas while others claimed to  follow Paul.

In refuting the validity of these divisive arguments, Paul asked the Corinthians if Christ was divided or if Paul died for them. He pressed them further by asking if any of them were baptized into his name.

Paul wrote that he was grateful that he  did not baptize many people because if people were adopting positions of loyalty based on who baptized them, he would have had many people wrongly claiming to be baptized in the name of Paul.

He then said that he was not sent by the Lord to baptize but instead, to  preach the gospel. And in preaching the gospel, he said he did not come with wisdom and eloquence but rather with simplicity of speech so that  the message of the cross was not emptied of its power.

As Paul explained in the next verse down, verse 18;

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The gospel, unadorned by the wisdom and the eloquence of men, carries its own power of God unto salvation.

It was for this reason that Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 2 says;

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

In his  service to the Lord Jesus among the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul, inspite of knowing a great many things about Christ and His Kingdom, resolved to know only the Lord Jesus and the message of the cross so that the people of Corinth would benefit from the undiluted power of the gospel.

Amen.