Paul's Simple Gospel

October 26th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 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. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

By Paul’s own testimony, he did not come with “superiority of speech”—eloquent language used by the Sophists in Corinth to persuade their listeners. Paul refused pompous, scholarly language when sharing the simple gospel of Christ (2:1; cf. 1:17). Superiority of speech was used to exalt the speaker; Paul thus used simple language with divine power and authority to exalt Christ, expressing the truth of the gospel. The form of his message was thus simple, yet what he uttered was the wisdom of God, namely Christ crucified (1:23). This verbal “testimony” (marturion) of God—divine language used for communicating truth, is true wisdom. So, Paul’s form of speech was meek, yet the content of his words was as lofty as any speech ever uttered.

Unlike the Sophists in and around Corinth who sought to impress with superiority of speech, Paul’s one goal was proclaiming the gospel: Christ crucified. Of course he did not simply utter those two words and nothing else, for he told the Ephesians, “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27). Preaching “Christ crucified” thus encompasses the “whole purpose of God.” The effects of such preaching obviously included the call to trust and receive Christ, who is God in flesh, and to love and obey Him as the highest form of worship.

Whereas v. 2 speaks of the form and content of Paul’s message, v. 3 speaks of his demeanor when he arrived in Corinth: in “weakness and in fear and much trembling.” Having recently been beaten in Phillipi for preaching Christ (Acts 16:16ff.), then expelled from Thessalonica for doing the same (Acts 17:1ff.), then scorned in Athens (Acts 17:16-34), perhaps what Paul means is that he came to Corinth in humility, expecting the same scornful treatment. After all, according to Acts 9:15-16, Luke records that Paul was God’s chosen instrument who would bear the name of Christ to Gentiles and kings; God would “show him how much he must suffer for My name.” Having suffered greatly upon entering Corinth, his fear and trembling is thus understandable.

Verses 4-5 reiterate that though Paul was not speaking with the eloquence of a Greek orator, his speeches were filled with the “demonstration” (apodeixis) of the Spirit’s power. For example, if Paul were able to persuade people with self-exalting oration, then such people might also be convinced by another orator’s greater skills to reject Paul’s message. Ultimately, Paul’s goal was for the faith of his audiences to rest, not on powerfully educated men and their oratorical abilities, but solely in the demonstration of the Spirit’s power through the preached gospel.

Food For Thought
In the age of AI, preachers can submit written sermons and have it rewritten in a scholarly way. They can even take an old sermon from 500 years ago, and tell AI to make it sound like them. Even before AI, pastors have been taught to use various media helps—pictures on a screen, videos, drama, etc. to beef up their sermons and make them interesting. Some even contract with media companies, submitting their sermons for better illustrations and more wit. All of this is done in an effort to bring in more people and keep them entertained. After all, more people means more money and more fame for the preacher and his church. If Paul were pastoring today, he would reject all of this in favor of verse-by-verse, expository preaching. Why? Because worldly methods of preaching are exactly what he rejected in the first century.