1 Corinthians2:1-12—The Christian life results from a
gospel of power. Paul decided to know nothing except Christ. Is that smart?
Paul knew more than most. He knew how to make a living by making tents; the
Bible thoroughly, for he was a student of the great Gamaliel; the philosophies
of the day, for he was a university student. When it came to making a living,
we need to know much. When it comes to making a life, knowledge and wisdom are
useless. It is enough to know Christ, for He is the truth about God and life.
Weakness can be strength. This was the
case with Paul He felt that his ability to speak an oratorical in great wisdom,
as was the custom of his day, was inferior.
With fear and trembling, he perhaps stuttered
and stammered the words of the gospel. In spite of his halting speech, people
came to accept Christ as Savior. What did this prove? The Word of the cross is
the power to win people to Christ.
Paul shows how the foolishness of the
cross is at once the content and method of his approach to the Corinthians. One
commentator remarks, “Paul himself, the apostle of the crucified and risen
Christ becomes the proclamation of the cross, for his congregation, in that in
his life of suffering there congregations encounter him as the primary living
commentary on his theology of the cross. “
Paul came to Corinth clothed in
weakness (see 2 Corinthians 10:10; 12:7-10) yet, it was in that weakness that
the power of God was made manifest so that faith might rest secure in the power
of God rather than in the “wisdom of men.”
(2:15)
Collects for Epiphany 5: O
Lord, keep Your Church continually in the true faith that, relying on the hope
of Your heavenly grace, we may be ever defended by Your mighty power. [2]
Collect for Thursday of the week of
Epiphany 4: Thou hast called us into thy
presence, O God. Be Thou therefore light for our darkness; and strength for
every high purpose wherein we are weak. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen [3] 02 February
[2] Collect for Epiphany 5, Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
[3] Collect for Thursday of the week of Epiphany 4. For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church, © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
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