We Preach Christ Crucified

Attention

Significance

Let’s return to the first chapter of 1 Corinthians. We pick up where we left off in verse 22, and Paul is still dealing with division at Corinth. A few weeks ago, we looked at verses 12-13 where Paul addressed their political party spirit, “I am of Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or Christ.” While the church was busy name-dropping celebrity preachers to boost their own ego, Paul rebuked them for missing the point. With one essential question, he stops them dead in their tracks, “Was Paul crucified for you?” Why were they so attached to men rather than to God? It was because of unbelief.

In Hebrews 3:12, we are warned of an “evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” This is exactly the kind of problem the Corinthians were experiencing. In our text tonight, Paul is warning them of danger and he is urging them to remember their calling. In the midst of their party spirit, would they continue to “love the glory of men rather than the glory of God”? It is so easy to make excuses for disobedience. It is so easy to redirect the conversation away from your own failures. It’s not that you reject Christ, and it’s not that your lack of action constitutes negligence, it’s just that you still have some questions that need to be answered first. You’re sure you’d get right on it, if only God would help you sort a few things out.

But this is not true. Even if you seek after things like miracles and wisdom that are genuinely good, they become idols when they occupy the place in your heart that should have been saved for submission to your Savior. This is like the parable of the vinedressers. The master left them to care for the vineyard, but they decided to kill the Son and maintain their own position. Signs and wisdom are great servants, but they make for terrible masters.

Thesis & Beginning

Look with me at 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 as I read our text for tonight,

1 Corinthians 1:22–25 LSB

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.

Pray with me now.

Tonight we are going to take this text in three pieces, based on the first few lines. Jews ask for signs, Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. These are our three points for tonight, and everything that follows is simply an explanation of these main ideas.

As we consider each point, remember the context. Paul is writing this to quell a conflict. We face the same kind of problems today. Every time you have a disagreement with another believer, every time you feel like they’re doing it wrong, remember this passage. It’s just super practical.

In our passage, Paul talks about a few groups of people. In verse 22, he mentions the Jews and the Greeks. Then in verse 24, he refers to those who are the called, which is a subset or a part of the total number of Jews and Greeks. This implies that there are many Jews and Greeks who are not called. You can put all of this together in a chart with four quadrants. You’re either a Greek or a Jew, and you’re either called or not called.

Jews Ask for Signs

We’ll start by looking at these two groups of Jews. Paul speaks in verse 22 of all Jews, saying that they “ask for signs.” He doesn’t directly say that seeking for signs is wrong, but he does contrast it with preaching Christ crucified in verse 23. So that seems to hint at some tension.

Then at the end of verse 24, Paul refers to the power of God and the wisdom of God. It seems like the Jews correlate to power and the Greeks correlate to wisdom. So we can infer that by asking for a sign, the Jews were asking for a demonstration of the power of God. And of course, the Old Testament is full of stories exactly like this. The term “signs and wonders” typically refers to acts of God, moments where He appears to suspend or violate the very laws of nature. This term is most often used to describe the Exodus from Egypt, and it also refers to the plagues of the latter days in Revelation.

That Old Testament precedent is why the Jews wanted to see God free their people by crushing the Romans. And at first Jesus seemed to deliver. He was healing the crowds and amassed a little army of followers. The whole gospel of John is built around seven miraculous signs, enough to prove beyond a doubt that He was the Son of God. And when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the Jews were ready to crown Him as their King. This was the moment they had been waiting for. But then things took a turn for the worse, and Jesus was crucified instead. That was just too much.

1 Corinthians b. The Cross Outsmarts Human Wisdom and Overpowers Human Strength (1:22–25)

In the second century, in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho 31–32, Justin attempts to convince Rabbi Trypho that Jesus is the Messiah with reference to Daniel 7, and Trypho responds: “Sir, these and such-like passages of scripture compel us to await One who is great and glorious, and takes the everlasting Kingdom from the Ancient of Days as Son of Man. But this your so-called Christ is without honor and glory, so that he has even fallen into the uttermost curse that is in the Law of God, for he was crucified” (cf. Deut 21:23).

So Paul says Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jews who were not called. A stumbling block is literally the trigger in a mousetrap. It’s not like stumbling on a safe path. It’s like tripping over a stone on the edge of a cliff. It means to stumble so as to fall to destruction.

It’s interesting, though, that the Jews had rejected Jesus even before his death. In John 2:18, right out of the gate, they demand, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” In Matthew 12:38, they said, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” Luke 11:16 says they “were seeking from Him a sign from heaven.” Repeatedly they demanded signs, but clearly they were not convinced. So what was the problem?

Well, today you might hear someone talk about waiting for a sign or a word from the Lord. You might call it the providence of God. Whatever the label, the idea is that some event or circumstance clarifies God’s will for your life. And sometimes it seems to work! You believe that God has answered prayer. But then other times it doesn’t seem to work out. The Jews watched Jesus get crucified. If there was ever a bad omen or sign, that was it. Who in their right mind would follow? But the problem is that these little tests we devise for God are usually symptoms of self-centered unbelief.

Often our sinful heart devises a plan to satisfy its desires, regardless of the outcome. We loosen our criteria and expectations as much as we need to get a good answer. We’re like King Ahab who didn’t listen to the prophet Micaiah because he always prophesied evil about him. We tend to tune out any instance of God’s providence that contradicts our desires, and we mostly just pay attention to things that seem to confirm our expectations.

This is why the Jews rejected Jesus. They wanted someone who would tell them they were right and that Rome was wrong. They wanted to be left alone in their syncretism and sin. They had no interest in suffering and enduring hardship. There’s no way Jesus’ death could be a sign from God!

And so Christ crucified became a stumbling block for them. They rejected Jesus not so much for lack of signs as they did for lack of faith.

Greeks Search for Wisdom

And while the Jews ask for signs, Paul says the Greeks search for wisdom. In verse 23, it seems like the Greeks represent the Gentile nations because we can see that to the Gentiles who are not called, Christ crucified is foolishness. And in verse 24 Paul says that to the Greeks who are called, Christ is the wisdom of God. This is right in line with our text from last week, so we’ll just briefly look at a few key ideas here.

First, it is interesting that Paul never really defines Greek wisdom. He repeats the words wisdom and wise many times, but we are left to figure out the exact meaning. Probably if Paul had given a definition, the Corinthians would have tried to wriggle out of it by claiming he didn’t have it quite right. So by leaving it vague, he’s got them trapped. But in order to follow Paul’s argument, it is helpful to consider what we know of Greek wisdom.

Typically Greek wisdom is understood as highly intelligent reason applied to physics, logic, and ethics. And from this perspective, it is easy to see why they would have thought a crucified Christ was foolish. The resurrection of Christ from the dead defies ordinary physics, the idea that Jesus would give up divine glory to take on human flesh is illogical, and the execution of an innocent man is an ethical atrocity. The whole thing is just nonsensical.

But actually, Paul says, Christ crucified demonstrates the wisdom of God! When we understand the justice and the holiness of God, the amazing thing is not that a man needed to die but that through only one man’s death, God could save the world! This is the wisdom of God.

Just like with the Jews, the Greeks’ problem was unbelief. Their claim to seek wisdom was really just a cover up for fleshly desires. Worldly wisdom thrives on novelty. In Acts 17, the Greeks in Athens spent their time in nothing else than telling or hearing something new. Read Ecclesiastes if you want to see how Solomon also suffered under this delusion of trying new things. Fundamentally, wisdom deals with ethics, with right and wrong ways of doing things. And biblical wisdom encourages us to do what is right, while worldly wisdom tempts us to try what is wrong. The idea is that if we just try the bad stuff, then we’ll be better educated. That was the original temptation: Satan told Eve that she would become wise if she tried the fruit. And her response proves the danger of fixating on novelty. It leads us to excuse questionable things in our pursuit of supposed wisdom and experience. This is sinful. You should be satisfied with God’s word, just like a man should be satisfied with his wife. Jesus commands us to be wise as serpents but also innocent as doves. Like Job, true wisdom comes from fearing God and turning away from evil. Dabbling in darkness will never enlighten you.

This is why Paul concludes in verse 25 that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” We cannot hope to replicate what God offers. One commentator said, “The most insignificant thought of God is wiser than the most profound thought a human being can come up with. And when unleashed, the tiniest particle of earthly matter (the atom) created by God is more powerful than any human strength.” Isn’t this true? The Jews and the Greeks prove for us that it is impossible find either power or wisdom apart from the cross of Christ.

We Preach Christ Crucified

And this is why Paul declares that “we preach Christ crucified.” Here’s an interesting fact, just to drive home how shocking this proclamation was. Jesus was crucified during Passover, and the feast of Purim always took place a month and a day before Passover. In the Septuagint, when King Xerxes orders Haman’s execution, the verb he uses is Σταυρωθήτω. This is exactly the same word and spelling that the Jews used when they cried out to Pilate about Jesus, “Crucify Him!” (And if you research Persian execution, you’ll find that Haman was not hung on a rope. He was most likely impaled on a tall wooden pole similar to how Jesus was nailed to a wooden cross.) But the point is that the Jews executed Jesus, the Savior of their people, just like Xerxes executed Haman, the Destroyer of their people. Their cry was a worse offense than trading Him in for Barabbas! And yet this just goes to show the extent to which the Jews stumbled over the message of the Messiah. It was humanly incomprehensible, and yet we preach it as good news.

What, then, is so good about Christ’s crucifixion? Well in verse 24, Paul says that Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Only immense wisdom could embrace such a risky plan, and only immense power could cause this plan to succeed. Romans 1:4 says Jesus “was designated as the Son of God in power… by the resurrection from the dead.” And in Acts 2:23, Peter preaches the crucifixion came about “through the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” Christ’s suffering was foretold in Isaiah 53 and elsewhere. His death was necessary for our atonement. Hebrews 9:22 says that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” And it is this forgiveness that restores us to fellowship with God and man.

That is the point the Corinthians had forgotten. Paul was not telling them that Christian preaching should consist of gospel recitations only. He was not saying that it was wrong to preach anything else in the Bible except the Passion week narratives. But he was clear that Christ’s death should be taught and remembered. Christ had died to bring peace, but the Corinthians were brooding strife. Their conflict was emptying the cross of Christ.

Several years later, Paul elaborated on this point in Ephesians 2:13-22. He wrote that we “who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition by abolishing in His flesh the enmity… so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man, making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having in Himself put to death the enmity… for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints… being joined together, growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord.”

It is clear here that Christ died to bring unity, but the Corinthians were promoting disunity. They were flatly contradicting the message of the cross. We should learn from Paul’s admonition. He preached Christ crucified for a reason. If the Jews and Gentiles were able to reconcile their differences in the cross, can’t we do the same? When you are angry with someone or proud that you’re not like them, are you thinking of them as fellow saints? Do you see that the Lord has joined us together into one holy sanctuary, or are you trying to build a little empire for him all on your own?

Praise God that in Christ we have more than we could ever ask or imagine. Paul said the Jews asked for signs, and the Greeks searched for wisdom. It is not as if in Christ, the Jews got power and the Greeks got wisdom. No, Paul says that in Christ, they both got power and they both got wisdom. Down in verse 30, he says they got righteousness, sanctification, and redemption too. And that was just the sampler pack! All good things are in Christ, and there is more than enough. Conflict among the called is unfounded. It is not as if each of us has a corner on Christ. Instead our Savior welcomes all of us to share together in a buffet of blessing. This is why we need to be reminded that Christ died to make peace and unite us in Himself.

Conclusion

These are rich truths! Paul reminded the Corinthians of the Jews and Greeks. Both of those groups had been distracted with other pursuits, like signs and wisdom. Those were good pursuits, but when they supplanted the desire for Christ, they became idols of unbelief. This unbelief was the source of Jewish and Gentile hostility toward Christ and toward one another. The same problem had infected the Corinthian church. Their strife indicated that unbelief was lurking beneath the surface of their lives. Their love for Christ was growing cold, and they were forgetting the reason for His death.

Is this true of your life? Do you need to be reminded that we preach Christ crucified? Consider your relationships with other believers. If you find that there is tension or division, then check your heart. Question whether you are harboring unbelief. See if you can rejoice that Christ died to save that other person and to unite both of you in Himself. If your response is a “Yeah, but they…”, then whatever it is that you’re prioritizing is an idol. Signs and wisdom are wonderful things, but we cannot let pursuits like these uproot our love for Christ. He died to make us one. Do not sell the cross of Christ just to buy an accessory for His church. Give it up your theological fixation, submit in obedience, and agree with one another in the Lord.

Postlude

As we wrap up this evening, I’d like to briefly address a common misinterpretation of Paul’s declaration, “We preach Christ crucified.” The fancy word is the Christological hermeneutic. Many preachers today use this method. They believe that every passage of Scripture should be preached with an emphasis on Christ crucified. Whether or not the author intended for you to do that, they preach it anyways. And they base it on a few texts like ours tonight, and especially 1 Corinthians 2:3 where Paul says he determined to preach nothing else. Are they right? Is that how we should preach?

The answer is no. Every text should be preached in the way that God intended when He inspired the human author to write it down. This is called the grammatical-historical hermeneutic. There are at least four reasons why the grammatical-historical method is the correct way to interpret and preach Scripture.

First, the Old Testament prophets all used this method.

Second, Jesus and the Apostles all used this method.

Third, while some New Testament authors seem to deviate from this method, that only makes up less than 5% of all their uses of the Old Testament—and even those problem passages have plausible explanations that align with the grammatical-historical method.

And fourth, 2 Peter 3 warns that people who twist difficult Scriptures, like that 5%, are in danger of doing so to their own destruction.

So we see that the only biblical model for hermeneutics is the grammatical-historical method.

The Christocentric hermeneutic deviates from this biblical model by asserting what is called sensus plenior, the belief that the divine author of Scripture intended more than the human author did. And they argue that their method is simply bringing to light all that God wanted the text to say about Jesus and His death on the cross. However, this pits the intent of the human and divine authors against each other.

Besides this issue of intent, the Christocentric hermeneutic also creates two other problems:

First, they misinterpret their proof-texts like “We preach Christ crucified.” The proof-texts they reference are all located in contexts where Paul is arguing against improper priorities in preaching. So he is using hyperbole for correction. The epistles themselves cover many more topics than simply Christ crucified. In addition, Paul is also referring to times when he was doing the work of an evangelist church planter. This is different from the purpose of preaching to equip the saints for the work of ministry. It makes sense that Paul's focus in these contexts would be unique.

The Christocentric hermeneutic is also problematic because it levels out Scripture’s testimony regarding Christ. By focusing every text on the same theme of Christ’s death for our sin, it overlooks emphases in Scripture like the other members of the Trinity or the roles of Christ as prophet, king, warrior, deliverer, and sympathetic high priest. In the end, the Christocentric hermeneutic leaves us with a lower view of Christ, not a higher one.

This is why every text must be preached in context, and according to authorial intent. That is the biblical method of interpretation.

But this is not all. Besides provoking God with an “evil, unbelieving heart” as it says in Hebrews, these little tests for God are often a sign of ignorance as well. At times, God may providentially allow for what seems to be a helpful answer. But pragmatism is no friend of the gospel. Just because it seems to work does not mean it is right. Exceptions always prove that pragmatism is flawed. For instance, consider how Satan tempted Jesus. In God’s providence, Jesus had not eaten for 40 days. In God’s providence, Satan reminded Him that he could turn stones into bread. How could that have been anything but a sign from God? The same was true of each other temptation. Every time, Satan fed Jesus some verse from the Bible that appeared to have an answer to his problem. The angels would bear Jesus up. He could worship Satan and get a kingdom without a cross. But the problem is that all these verses were stripped from their contexts and emptied of their inspired meanings. So Jesus rebuked Satan in Luke 4:12, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” In this exchange, Jesus demonstrated the biblical way to make decisions. He had studied Scripture carefully, and He knew which texts were related to the crisis at hand. Jesus was able to follow authorial, inspired intent, so He avoided the trap that caught Eve and Adam. As Pastor Jack preached on Sunday, there is a biblical recipe for every decision or situation. Seek it out, and don’t defer to chance or happenstance.

If the Jews had known their Bibles better, they would have recognized that Jesus’ crucifixion was actually the power of God. It was the greatest sign ever given. The resurrection was the proof in the pudding. Do you want a warrior? How about one that is absolutely invincible, one that even death cannot conquer? But the Jews covered their ears and gnashed their teeth at him. They tested God and refused to believe the evidence.