For I determined not to know anything among
you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:2
To the apostle Paul, the cross was the focal point of the gospel, and that offended people. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). He presented Christ as the Crucified One. That either repulsed people or drove them to repentance.
In this day and age, preachers try to make the gospel as attractive to as many people as possible; not so with Paul. He expected most of his audience to be offended. The apostle said, “But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23).
It’s O.K. to be offended. That’s a clear indication that the person heard the message and then rejected it. That’s so much better than hearing the message and remaining indifferent to it. Those people don’t realize that they have rejected the Lord of Glory and, with Him, eternal life.
Paul pushed the people to make a clear decision: Accept the Lord Jesus or reject Him. He presented Jesus as the Crucified One. Since Christ was God’s only Son, He should have been honored and well-received by his creation. Instead, the Lord of lords was rejected by His own nation, betrayed by His close friends, condemned to die by the religious elite, and executed in the most terrible way that a world government could conceive. Since Jesus was both God manifest in the flesh and the Crucified One, the human race is in trouble. Christ is coming again soon and very soon to judge the living and the dead.
The apostle made it clear that those who reject this message are lost “but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:24-25).
How about you? What is your response to the Crucified One?
June 15
