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January 12, 2025 - 1 Corinthians 1:18 - The Preaching of the Cross

Writer's picture: Pastor Ken WimerPastor Ken Wimer

1 Corinthians 1:18

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."


The Greek word translated as "preaching" here is ho logos, which means "the word of the cross." That is, the doctrine of the cross, that proclaims salvation only through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ, accomplished on the cross. Preaching the cross is to declare the Christ of the cross—the One who died, why He died, and what He accomplished by His death. It is to exalt the Lamb of the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the satisfaction that His righteous obedience and effectual bloodshed unto death accomplished in saving those sinners the Father gave Him to save before the foundation of the world (John 10:14–18). By His one sacrifice, He fully, freely, and forever redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God each one for whom He died: "For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). The preaching of the cross is to declare that the sinners that God ordained to salvation have been reconciled to God, pardoned, and saved uniquely by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His effectual sacrifice alone.


While one might think that declaring salvation accomplished by the death of Christ would be a subject of rejoicing for all sinners, Scripture declares that it is foolishness to those who are perishing—yet unenlightened or made alive by the Spirit of God. Preaching the cross will always bring division. To those who perish (in a lost state and fit for destruction), it is foolishness, and will always be foolishness (contemptible, stupid, and unworthy of belief). However, to those who are saved, it is the power of God, in contrast to the foolishness of those who are perishing. They are saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of Grace revealing Christ in them, drawing them effectually to the crucified One alone, in heart and soul. Sinners are judged as either saved or condemned exclusively by the work of Christ on the cross, manifest through the Spirit’s revelation of Him in the heart.


"But unto us which are saved"—This stands in contrast to "them that perish." It refers, doubtless, to the elect of God, as being saved from the power and condemnation of sin; and as having in Christ's death for them an Eternal Salvation, both in this life and the world to come. The Gospel is called "the power of God" because it is the medium through which God exerts His power in the salvation of sinners, revealing Christ to those for whom the Lord Jesus paid the debt. The apostle Paul declared, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). It is how God has purposed to reveal Christ in every redeemed and justified sinner’s heart: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). It answers the sinner’s greatest need before a Holy God, and is efficacious in renewing and sanctifying (setting apart) each elect sinner unto Christ. All in whom the Spirit works rest in the Truth of the Gospel and all that it reveals of Christ and His death, accomplished for sinners.


The Gospel of the cross effectively produces the effectual fruits of Christ's work on the cross in each one for whom Christ died. All the fruits of Christ's work on the cross are in time revealed to the soul by the Spirit—in their justification, sanctification, regeneration, repentance, faith, and final glorification. These are only what the Gospel of the cross is suited to produce in the saved sinner. It is the Truth concerning the Lord Jesus and God’s promise to save sinners for whom Christ came into the world. Only the Holy Spirit can take the effects of Christ's work on the cross and reveal them in the hearts, not just the minds, of those whom God the Father chose to save and saved through Christ's sacrifice. Each one that Christ redeemed and the Father justified at the cross, the Holy Spirit does effectually draw to Christ. Of all that the Father gave to His Son and for whom He paid the debt, He can lose nothing (John 6:37).




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