October, 1937
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
373
“The W ord of the Cross“
By J. B. ROWELL Victoria, B. C M Canada
"But vie preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). W HEN Paul penned the marvelous words contained in the opening chapter of 1 Corinthians, to whom was he writing? He was writing to the church in Corinth—Corinth with its licen tiousness and yet with its culture; Corinth where the Jews sought signs and wonders, and where the Greeks demanded intellec tual attainment; Corinth where the hate of the Jew and the scorn of the Greek were directed against the Christian faith, and where divisions and misunderstandings pre vailed even among the converts of Chris tianity. Picture this busy city, with every one seemingly given up to his own affairs. The Jew wanted to see something; the Greek wanted to reason about something. But among them was one who said: I am not come to philosophize, but I am come to “ preach Christ crucified.” In the text, that little word “ but” shows there was a con trast between what others preached and what Paul preached. Paul did not come to preach about Christ, but to preach Christ Himself “the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” Paul came not to preach Christ the Miracle Worker; Christ the Teacher; Christ the Good, or Christ the Example, but Christ Crucified. What did Corinth need? It needed what we all need. It needed the message of life, and the only message of life comes through the death of the Saviour. What the world needs, and what you need, is to know that “ Christ died,” and that He “died for the un godly.” His life was wonderful, but His death was more wonderful, for on Calvary’s cross He became the sinner’s Substitute, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Prevalent Mistakes Men have made many errors in relation to the question of salvation. In verse 22 of our passage, two of these mistakes are cited. The first is, substituting symbols and signs for realities: “The Jews require a sign.” Many there are who substitute an outward observance, or profession, for an inner reality. Church membership too fre
quently is regarded as suffi cient proof that one is a true Christian. Baptism too often is relied upon as an evidence of one’s being a follower of Christ. But there is no sub stitute for the new birth. Christ is the sinner’s only hope. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). The second mistake is,
substituting intellectual conceptions for heart experience: “The Greeks seek after wis dom.” ■ They were trying to attain to a mental grasp of the Infinite, without yield ing to Him the affections of the heart and without giving obedience to His revealed will. The head can never know God while the heart rejects Him. God says that such rejectors as these “became vain in their im aginations [R. V., “ reasonings” ], and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:21, 22). The strange thing is that many deem this condition an indication of their intelligence and importance. They will accept the flickerings and vanishings of worldly wisdom which is of but momentary value, and yet proudly refuse “ Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and re demption”—the Gift of God, which is of eternal value, and has within it the “prom ise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” Two Relationships Note a literal rendering of verse 18: “ For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness; but to those who are being saved, to us, it is the power of God.” Here are seen two relationships to the cross of Christ: first, the relationship of those who “ are perishing,” and, secondly, the re lationship of those who “ are being saved.” Let us look first at those who adopt the first relationship and, who, as a consequence, are “perishing.” These, by their rejection of the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus, proclaim their conception of the cross, namely, that they regard it as “fool ishness.” While perishing, they are pass ing judgment on that which they have never experienced. They are blind to its worth
and yet pronounce it to be of no value. Even while rejecting God’s method of re demption, the Greeks appeared to be “very religious.” When Paul spoke on Mars Hill, after seeing the objects of their worship, he said: “ Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are very religious” (Acts 17:22, R. V.). (This is a more exact render ing than the word “superstitious” in the Authorized Version.) Similarly, to this day, many are willing to be religious, but they do not want the cross of Calvary with all its implications. But the message of the cross fills all Scripture. That it was necessary for Christ to die a substitutionary death if sinners were to be saved, is as clear as revelation can make it. It is easy to be religious without being a saved person. Religion can, be a cloak hiding many a spiritual deform ity from the gaze of men, though not from the gaze of God. Salvation can be found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. God says concerning His Son: “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among, men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts. 4:12). Not nature, but redemption, is the highest expression of the wisdom of God. This truth is stated in 1 Corinthians 1:23 and 24: “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,. [ Continued on page 385]
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