Episode Synopsis:

Paul did not come to Corinth as a typical sage, sophist, or philosopher. He was an unimpressive rabbi and made no attempt to embrace Greco-Roman rhetorical techniques to keep an audience entertained and wanting more. Paul’s mission to the Gentiles was not about him, it was about the message he preached, Christ and him crucified.

When Paul arrived in Corinth he was weak and fearful. He impressed no one with his charisma or eloquent speech. But he did know that the power and wisdom of God are revealed through the preaching of the cross. Despite the fact that Jews and Greeks thought that the message of the cross was foolishness, scandalous, and a stumbling block, it was through this message that God saves sinners. The proof that the Spirit of God was at work? There was a thriving church in Corinth, which despite the issues plaguing them was filled with new converts, both Jews and Greeks.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God, revealing that Jesus is the Lord of glory. But since God’s wisdom was hidden from the rulers of this age, they put Jesus to death. While Greeks and Romans mock and detest the weakness and humiliation of the suffering Savior, it is through Jesus’s apparent weakness, shame, and suffering that the wisdom and power of God are displayed. But apart from the work of the Holy Spirit opening their hearts to the truth, the rulers are doomed to pass away along with this present evil age.

Paul tells the Corinthians that their focus should never be on him, or on Apollos or on Peter, but on the content of his message. That which was hidden throughout the Old Testament has been revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ through the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. Many of our contemporaries think this power is manifest in the signs and wonders that are supposedly present in Pentecostalism and charismatic worship. But for Paul, the demonstration of the Spirit’s power is preaching the gospel and seeing people come to faith in Jesus.

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