What is the power of God in I Corinthians 2:4-5?
Question:
In I Corinthians 1:17 "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" and I Corinthians 2:4-5 "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power. So that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power."
Paul says he's sent to preach the gospel, not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power such that their faith will not be based on the preacher but on God. But wisdom and eloquence come from God as a gift, are they not?
- What is Spirit's power?
- What is the demonstration of the Spirit's power?
- How do we preach the gospel with the Spirit's power?
Thank you.
Answer:
"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God" (I Corinthians 2:1-5).
When Paul was in Corinth, he did not attract followers by his eloquence or wisdom (II Corinthians 10:10). He came to declare the gospel and he kept the message simple. Here Paul is returning to the topic he initially brought up in I Corinthians 1:17. He kept his message focused on Jesus and his death.
Paul knew he was not a great orator and though we are awed by the boldness of Paul’s letters, Paul reminds us that he had fears to overcome (Acts 18:9-10; II Corinthians 7:5). What caught the Corinthians’ attention was not the man, Paul, but the power of God working through him (Romans 15:19; II Corinthians 12:12; I Thessalonians 1:5). As a result, their faith was not in Paul or the wisdom of some man but in the power of God (II Corinthians 4:7).
From I Corinthians 1:18 to 2:16, Paul has been discussing the wisdom of God demonstrated in the message He gave to the world. Elsewhere Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). Paul did not need miracles or deep philosophy (I Corinthians 1:22-23). He merely delivered a message that did not originate with him. Though he did not deliver that message with powerful oratory skills, it still touched the hearts of the Corinthians; thus, demonstrating the power of God in the message.
"'Is not My word like fire?' declares the LORD, 'and like a hammer which shatters a rock?'" (Jeremiah 23:29).
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10-11).
When we preach the pure, unadulterated words of God those words contain the same power they have always had.
