What is the 'Preaching of the Cross?'

  We are living in a day in which current events are rapidly reshaping our world dramatically.  Many are startled at the amazing speed with which the moral and ethical standards of society have fallen in recent years, with even the sacred institution of marriage between one man and one woman being marginalized by the acceptance of same sex marriages as being equal.  In addition “relativism” seems to have become the standard by which everything is to be measured.  Relativism is the idea that absolute truth does not exist, but that truth varies according to the current conditions.  In other words, truth is determined by the process of rationalization based on one’s experience and situation.  It is everyone doing “that which was right in his own eyes” (Jud. 21:25).  This kind of thinking elevates man’s intellect and reasoning powers to a place of prominence over the wisdom and authority of God’s Word.  It is, in effect, man declaring himself to be his own god.  It is the trap that Israel fell into that led the nation into the moral and spiritual collapse that alienated her from her God over and over again throughout her history.  Even after the Lord purged Israel of open idolatry through the chastisement of the Babylonian captivity, she continued in her attitude of self-righteousness, which resulted in her rejection of the Messiah when He came.  They refused to believe the Scriptures in favor of their own ideas of what Messiah would be like.  The Lord Jesus challenged Israel’s leaders on this very issue, saying to them; “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think y have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (see John 5:39; also see John 5:45-47; Lk. 16:19-31; 24: 13-27).
   With Israel and the promised Kingdom on earth now set aside for a season because of her rebellion in rejecting Jesus Christ as Messiah, God is now offering salvation to all of mankind through faith in His Son and His sacrifice of Himself for our sins on the cross.  The Word of God tells us that “the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (I Cor. 1:18).  So, what is the preaching of the cross”?  In explanation, the Apostle Paul goes on revealing the fact that while “worldly wisdom” has declared the message of the cross to be nothing but foolishness, God has revealed that, in reality, it is the wisdom of man that is foolish.  It is in futility that man charts his own destiny based on what he want to be true rather than on what is true.  Neither our philosophies, our opinions, our imaginations, nor our desires can change the truth to suit us.  No matter how intelligent we might be, or how logical and conclusive we think our reasoned arguments are, we cannot change the truth; we are all sinners in need of a Savior.  Our religious observances and good works cannot change it either.  “The power of God” is found in “the preaching of the cross” because its message is true.  God has taken something that, to the natural man, is pure foolishness and turned the wisdom of man on its head by revealing how foolish it really is.  It has no power, but through “the preaching of the cross” God’s power to save souls is revealed.  “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (I Cor. 1:21; see vvs. 18-25).
   “The preaching of the cross” is the message of “Christ crucified” (I Cor. 1:23).  For those who believe, it reveals that the power to save souls and change lives comes through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, not through anything that man can accomplish in his own power.  Our “faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God” (see I Cor. 2:1-5).  “The preaching of the cross” is the message of “Christ crucified” which refers to the Gospel that Paul preached, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3-4).  So have you dismissed the message of the cross as a foolish thing that is irrelevant to your life and replaced it with your own ideas and imagined realities and concepts?  Or have you put your trust in a Living Savior who loves you and died for you and has the power to redeem you and give you eternal life?  “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (I Tim. 2:5-6).  “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

BEREAN BIBLE INSTITUTE
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