Monthly Archives: April 2021

Message of the Cross

Posted on by
Reply

Part 1

I thought it would be helpful to my own spiritual growth to think through the truth of the cross and resurrection as expressed in the epistles of the New Testament during  this Easter season. Our passage for today is 1 Corinthians 1:17-25.

“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.”  “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” “but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,”  (1 Corinthians 1:18,21,23, NKJV)

If you read through this passage in its entirety, here’s what you find the Apostle Paul saying.

  1. If the gospel is preached using the wisdom of words, the cross of Christ is made of no effect. In other words, we should rely on the truth of the cross and not the cleverness or creativity of our words to get the message across (vs. 17).
  2. Those who are perishing will find the message of the cross to be foolish and nonsensical. Only when God is saving someone will it make sense at all, and that will be because God’s Spirit is at work opening up the truth to them (vs 18).
  3. The world cannot come to know God through its wisdom and way of thinking. God “stooped” (my word) to using a “foolish” (God’s word) to save people (vs. 21).
  4. To those who don’t believe, the message of the cross is either a stumbling block or foolishness (vs.23).

We are called upon to believe the truth and preach it fearlessly in spite of the inevitable and unavoidable reaction of those who are perishing.  We can’t spice it up or decorate it in any way that will make it palatable to those who are perishing. Only God’s Spirit can break through and give understanding.

Ephesians 4:31-32

Posted on by
Reply

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

In verses 31 and 32 we come to the next set of put off and put on. Verse 30 lists the things to put off, and verse 32 lists what is to replace them.

First, bitterness. This has to do with a resentful, embittered spirit. This is a spirit that doesn’t want reconciliation or resolution of a problem between believers.

Next, wrath. This is outbursts of rage, vindictive anger that prompts rage that flares out at someone.

Anger – a less dramatic form of wrath that may be more contained, but nevertheless does damage not only to the person the anger targets, but to the person who has the anger.

Clamor is a more vocal outcry of one person against another. It is usually fairly public and accusatory.

Slander is abusive, scurrilous speech aimed at demeaning and undermining another, sometimes with false accusations. The Greek word is blaspheme.

Malice is vicious, wicked, and spiteful attitudes and speech. The word behind it is evil or wicked.

All of these are to be removed. The ESV says let all of these be put away. The verb is passive and so the idea is to let this stuff go. There is no need to hold on to it. I think we know this is not easy. Our sin nature runs deep. But we are to allow the Scripture and the Spirit of God, and the counsel of godly friends to work in such a way that these things can be put away.

Verse 31 gives us the content for the replacement of these wicked attitudes.

First kindness. I think we all know what that means. Kindness should be a trait that is in the forefront as we interact with others.

Tenderhearted, which means we should have compassion and sensitivity toward others.

And finally, forgiving one another. We do not have to wait for an apology or repentance on the part of the other person. Our whole demeanor should be one of forgiveness. Why? Because God has forgiven us infinitely more than any perceived slight we might have felt from another person.

The principal in this chapter has been: Put off. But then put on.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:14 AM April 1, 2021.