I Corinthians 2
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. …Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Prompted by the Lord's command, Paul stayed with the Corinthians for eighteen months and taught the Word of God among them. It is because of this that he treats them with great confidence and loving affection, sometimes warning and sometimes censuring them, and sometimes treating them fondly as if they were his own children.
*Ambrosiaster (c. 366-384), Commentary on Paul's Epistles, Proem
*Ambrosiaster, the name given to the author of a commentary on all the Epistles of St. Paul, with the exception of that to the Hebrews.
Proclaiming to you the testimony of God. … For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. St Paul founded the church at Corinth on his second missionary journey (50-52 AD). At Corinth St Paul stayed with Priscilla and Aquila (fellow tent-makers) and went to a local synagogue, bearing witness that Jesus was the Christ. (A leader of another synagogue, Crispis, along with all his household, believed in the Lord.) During his 18-month missionary sojourn in Corinth, many believed and were baptized. (See Acts 18:1-11.) When St Paul was on his third missionary journey (55-57 AD) in Ephesus, he received a letter from Chloe’s household in Corinth that the church at Corinth was being torn apart by party divisions: “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”
St Paul lovingly admonishes the Corinthians that the way that leads to true wisdom is the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. God’s grace is at work in the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no substitute for this Gospel … It is wisdom that is not of this world; it is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation.
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
St Paul desires to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. That is, St Paul preached Christ despite the ignominy and reproach of the cross, which the proud and wise of this world regard as foolishness. St Paul comprehends in this Gospel of Jesus Christ God’s wisdom unto salvation. This does not mean that St Paul preached nothing else with regard to Christ except the cross. In this epistle to Corinth alone St Paul addressed the divisions and conflicts, the abuse of freedom, moral failures, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, the disorder in liturgical worship, the misuse of spiritual gifts and the necessity of rightly understanding the meaning and importance of the resurrection. All of St Paul’s preaching flows from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
The church at Corinth may have been a mess, but it was still the Church of Jesus Christ, notwithstanding its many sins and shortcomings. St Paul did not give up on the work of God’s grace there … “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (II Cor 11:2). Now that should be an encouragement to clergy and laity alike!
JSH+