1 Corinthians 2:2-5 (NKJV) 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Last time we began looking at this scripture in light of what our world really needs right now. Paul was writing to the church in the city of Corinth. Corinth was in Greece however, the city Paul was writing to had been destroyed and rebuilt as a Roman city. It was large, progressive and filled with Idol worship. I think if we look at the world in which we live, we can see many parallels with Corinth. It would have been difficult for Paul, a Jew sent to the gentiles, to break through in this city in a way that would lead people to a vibrant relationship with Jesus. How did he do it?
We find the same challenge today. I started ministry 42 years ago during the Charismatic renewal. I built three churches, the last one at the end of that movement. During that time, there was a hunger for God, the Holy Spirit and the Bible. Many people came because they were seeking more of all those things. As we progressed through that time, outreach to those who did not share that hunger lagged. I believe God led us to teach the word of God because the Bible says, “My people perish for a lack of knowledge.” We taught and people came for the teaching, the worship and the move of the spirit.
As is often the case, the pendulum of our experience swung past the center. In the early days of the Charismatic movement there was a great deal of evangelism. Many organizations grew up with the purpose of meeting the needs of businessmen, women and many other groups outside of the church. We were more willing and able to go to the community. We just wanted people to know Jesus. As they came, we knew they needed more. The problem that developed as we saw God move wonderfully in our churches, was that we grew increasingly away from those who did not know him. As the Charismatic move waned, so did the hunger we built upon. Since we had lost much of our skill in reaching to the unchurched world, we found that we had no new people to teach and lead into those experiences. I do not think we should stop teaching, but I think the pendulum needs to swing back to the middle.
To me, Paul was the greatest teacher of the Bible to ever live with the exception of Jesus himself. In Corinth he found a sophisticated and educated city. We know from the book of Acts that he did preach and teach but we get an insight into how the people he taught were initially won to Jesus. He did not start with the language of religious wisdom. He started with a different language. One that included more than words. I believe that is what we need as we begin again today.
There are a number of things in this scripture that can help us. We have already talked about the fact that Paul determined to know nothing when he first came to Corinth except Jesus Christ and him Crucified. I imagine that Paul would have been like me in that He loved the Word. He loved the deep things of God that he had been taught in the wilderness by Jesus himself. He had been educated by one of the great Old Testament scholars of his day, a man named Gamaliel. However, he understood by the spirit that no matter how educated he was, he would not be able to reach past their closed hearts. Even if he shared with them the deep things he had learned from Jesus himself as he spent time with him in the wilderness, they would not have understood. He made a choice. He would not speak of these deep and wonderful truths and experiences. He would simply speak of Jesus himself and what he did in his death, burial and resurrection to save man from sin.
This in itself would not break through the Corinthian mindset. It would have either been misunderstood or rejected as Jewish myth. However, there was something else that went with his preaching of the cross. He speaks of a demonstration of the spirit and power. There was tangible evidence that there was something behind what he said. What kind of evidence? What kind of demonstration?
In the ministry of Jesus, people said, “He teaches as one who has authority not like the other teachers we hear.” Part of the demonstration in what Paul spoke to the Corinthians would have been the anointing of God in his words. The anointing is the enabling ability of God that touches what we do with the supernatural. I have experienced that anointing in my life. People who I thought would not listen have heard and received things that were far beyond my ability to preach. However, I think there was more at work in Corinth.
Paul spoke in 1 Corinthians 12-14 about 9 manifestations of the spirit that were available to any believer. They were meant to build the body of Christ and confirm that the spirit of God was present (1 Corinthians 12:1-11). I believe those manifestation gifts were part of the demonstration he speaks of in 1 Corinthians 2, especially since he taught on them in the very same letter. The Bible says that out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses a thing is established. There is another witness that gives us insight into the nature of this demonstration.
Mark 16:17-20 (NKJV) 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Here we have the command of Jesus and a description of how that worked in the early church. He told them to Heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out devils. All of these things were to reach beyond the objections of mind, culture or any other thing that would keep people from responding so that there would be no question as to the truth of “Christ and him crucified.” Then we see that they went out and preached everywhere and the Lord, through the Holy spirit (Acts 1:1-8) worked with them by confirming the Word with signs following. Does not this sound very much like how Paul tells the Corinthian church he initially came to them?
Given these witnesses, I think it is evident that the demonstration of the spirit and power of God Paul refers to must include everything we have seem. He preached a simple message with an extraordinary anointing. The Lord worked with him with the 9 manifestations of the spirit listed in the 12th chapter of this letter. In Mark 16 we see that Jesus commanded the disciples to heal the sick, cast out demonic powers and even raise the dead. Any and all of these things would have been involved in the demonstration of the spirit and power Paul speaks of.
What do we need today? Will people come to Jesus because of the persuasive wisdom of our arguments. Will they come because of our skilled presentation or even our social programs? None of those things are wrong and none of them should be left out but our emphasis to the world must once again come back to the simple message of the cross, Jesus and him crucified. It may take some effort for some of us to be able to determine we will do that. Even that will not break through in our world any more than in Corinth. We need God to demonstrate as only he can, his love to our world. We need signs confirming our preaching just as the disciples did in the first days of Christianity and as Paul did in Corinth. The result will be that the faith that comes to those who do not know him will be based in the power and reality of God and not the wisdom of men. Then teachers, like me, can build upon that knowledge with deeper things just as Paul did with the Corinthians. Without the former, the latter will never be what it should be.
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