IS CHRIST DIVIDED?
1 Corinthians 1:23
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
In today’s Church, many preach Christ but not the crucified Christ. Paul’s message to the Corinthians was not merely about Jesus as a figure of wisdom or power, but about Jesus crucified, the Lamb of God who bore our sins, the Savior who reconciled us to the Father through the cross.
To the Jews, this message was a stumbling block. To the Greeks, it was foolishness. But to those who are called, it is the power and wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:13
“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
This question echoes across the centuries and demands an answer from the 21st-century Church. Have we allowed personalities, platforms, and preferences to fracture the body of Christ?
Today, we see pastors and preachers striving to outshine one another, building followings rather than fellowship. But Paul reminds us: no man was crucified for us except Christ. No name saves but the name of Jesus.
Peter in the book of Acts 4:12,
Tells the Sanhedrin when questioned about how they could do what they did. Their response was simple.
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
The emphasis lies on the truth that there is no other name……. It was not about what they could do, but what Christ could do through them. No banner should be lifted but the cross.
I am convinced and still convinced that the reason why we are seeing less and less of God’s power in our services today, is that we have unwittingly preached less and less of the crucified Christ, we have preached and taught principles, methods, and motivational messages, but not the sacrificial Lamb.
Paul in the book of 2 Corinthians 11 calls it another Jesus.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
There should never be any complication in the teaching of Christ and Him crucified, anything outside of this truth, is diluting the truth of the gospel.
Preaching Christ crucified is central to the Christian theology and proclamation of the gospel because it encapsulates the core of the Gospel message.
Romans 1:16, tells us that it is the power of God unto Salvation.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Paul was not ashamed to preach the crucified Christ, he did not even try to embellish his message to win an audience, he preached and taught the truth about Christ.
Here in the book of Corinthians Paul explains why we should preach the crucified Christ. Preaching the crucified Christ is releases the anointing and the wisdom of God in a dying world that is seeking hope and a purpose.
1 Corinthians 1:24-25
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Many people reject the crucified Christ because it does not make sense to the natural mind. How can the almighty God become a helpless child? Why would the son of God choose a shameful death and die like a criminal on Roman Cross.
To the proud hearted why should salvation come through weakness, suffering and surrender.
However, this is the wisdom of God that can never make sense to anyone. We preach Christ crucified because the cross was not a defeat or failure but the power and expression of God’s love to humanity. The Cross is where God showed mercy instead of His wrath. The cross is where sin was judged, and Jesus was that sacrificial lamb that took away the sins of the world.
Paul continues in letter to the Galatian Church when he said in Galatians 6:14-15
14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
Paul continuous message to the Church in Corinth was his determination to preach Christ the crucified King and to only know the crucified Christ, in his letter to the Corinthian Church in 1 Corinthians 2:2
2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
We should endeavour to be like Paul in our preaching and teaching not to make our boasts in in our own ability but in the power of the risen Lord by preaching the crucified Christ, not the diluted gospel.
There is only one Christ – The crucified Christ
Let us preach Him boldly. Let us lift no banner but the cross.
Let us be found faithful in proclaiming the Gospel that saves, the Gospel that transforms, the Gospel of the crucified and risen Lord.
