“I Want To Know Nothing But Christ…!”

“I Want To Know Nothing But Christ…!”
To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “…I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God…I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power”(I Cor.1:1-5).
Biblical scholars in the majority will tell you that Paul was a great biblical scholar and some say he still is the greatest. Before his conversion he studied under some of the finest Jewish Rabbis of the time. He was even considered a complicated writer as Peter acknowledged that “his letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable persons distort, as they do other Scriptures…”(II Pt.3: 16).
There is no doubt that we are dealing with an intellectual who shelved his wealth of wisdom just so that he could present the message of Christ about Christ with merely “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”
Paul did not lack eloquence or superior wisdom, he simply “resolved to know nothing” while he was with the Corinthians “except Jesus Christ and him crucified…” Like the others he was just a servant assigned by God (II 3:5f). Even though he resolved to know nothing but Christ, he humbly declared, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”(II 13:12).
Dear friend, like we said yesterday, “Jesus Christ is the reason for the season,” for it is all about Jesus. As you journey with Christ during these forty days and all through your christian pilgrimage, do not let your faith to rest on the wisdom of men but on God’s power! Resolve to know nothing but Christ and him crucified. Do not be swept off your feet by the eloquence and superior wisdom of men.
Weekend prayer: Lord let my words be a demonstration of the Spirit’s power and let not my faith rest on men’s wisdom but on God’s power. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!