The Gospel in Plain Speech

October 19th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

1 Corinthians 1:17-19 Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in clever-ness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. 18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 It is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise… the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

While Paul does not minimize the importance of water baptism following conversion, he prioritizes the preaching of the gospel in v. 17. Truly, baptism means absolutely nothing apart from the gospel. Whereas the modern pastor is taught to preach with colorful metaphors, skits, overhead pictures, and drama, Paul stresses the position of gospel preaching in v. 17 not in “cleverness of speech,” or “wisdom of words.” To do so would be to void the cross of Christ.

In AD 51 Paul brought the gospel to Corinth, entering in the midst of a time when the Sophists ruled the day—eloquent Greek philosophical skeptics who denied absolute truth. One of their own, Gorgias (d. 375 BC), attacked the existence of the finite while concurrently upholding the notion that the infinite is unattainable by the human understanding. But this is absurd, for in rejecting absolute truth (nihilism), he made truth claims. Such where the Sophists who allegedly loved wisdom but who had none and never attained it. Into this context, the Apostle Paul entered.

When Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, he rejected the worldly “wisdom of words.” This means that Paul was not concerned with preaching as the Corinthian Sophists taught. It was content with which Paul was concerned, namely the message of the cross of Christ, not philosophical double-talk. Paul believed Jesus is God in flesh, that He lived and died to the pay the penalty for the sins of all who believe in Him, and that if one will simply confess with the mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead, they will be saved (Rom. 10:9). Whether he preached with a stutter or eloquence, it was thus powerful!

Paul adds in v. 17 that he spoke with simplicity about the gospel “so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.” The “cross” of Christ was of course was the instrument of torture and death for Jesus. It was a painful, humiliating way to die. Yet Jesus willingly did so as a display of His love. Paul thus believed strongly that Christ’s gospel needed no help from him—not in lofty words or in complicated speeches. To do so would be to make “void” (kenoō), or empty, the fullness of what Jesus accomplished. The point being is that what Jesus did in His life and death needs no embellishment. It only needs to be announced as the truth. This is what Paul did.

In v. 18, Paul stresses how “foolish” (mōria) the “word of the cross” (i.e., the gospel) is to the world that rejects Jesus as the Christ. Such are those who “are perishing”—who are being destroyed in their unbelief. These stand in stark contrast to Christians—those who are “being saved,” who believe the “word of the cross” is the “power” (dunamis) of God for salvation—transferring believers from the darkness into the light. Elsewhere, Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).

In v. 19, Paul quotes Isaiah 29:14 to illustrate his point. The context of this OT passage concerns the northern kingdom of Israel who are surrounded by the Assyrian army in 722 BC. Believing they were doomed, instead of repenting of their sinful, rebellious ways and seeking God, they followed human wisdom and sought the help of a pagan nation, Egypt. So, rejecting godly wisdom, they opted for worldly wisdom. The result? Israel was overtaken by the Assyrians, killed, and dispersed among the nations (cf. 2 Kings 17).

Food For Thought
There are two kinds of people: those who are perishing and those who are being saved; the children of the devil and the children of God (1 John 3:10; cf. John 8:44). The former reject Jesus as the Christ, His words found in the Bible, and any thought of submitting their lives to Christ. The latter love, trust, and believe in Jesus as the Christ and spend their lives honoring God, repenting of sin, praying, and studying Scripture. It’s pretty simple to spot a real Christian and a phony one. And it’s equally as simple to spot a charlatan preacher who believes he (or she) must ignore the gospel in favor of worldly wisdom, make Jesus look cool, twist Scripture to the modern world, gut the Scriptures of anything offensive, and create a god from their own imaginations to get people to attend and keep attending their churches. Sadly, many who claim to be Christians cannot distinguish these false teachers from the true ones. This clearly distinguishes between the two kinds of people in this world.