For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

Making disciples was what Jesus sent His apostles to do, and that included baptism (Matt. 28:19). Paul talked about many things to the Corinthians besides the cross. So how do we make sense of this passage where he minimizes his role in baptism and says his focus is on the gospel? Yet he writes a few verses later: “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). But this letter to the worldly, sin-practicing Christians at Corinth is recognized as one of the most practical portions of Scripture dealing with problems like divisiveness, pride, conflict, greed, selfishness, abuse of spiritual gifts, etc.

In order to understand the writings of Paul, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, we must understand the place of the cross, not only in becoming a child of God, but also in living as a child of God. Christians can tend to see the cross as an historical event in their lives that was relevant in their becoming saved, only the beginning of eternal life. We must remember that eternal life is to know Christ (John 17:3). It is not only a duration of life, but a quality of life that is centered on Christ. Paul explains this for us in many different ways. For example,

But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal. 6:14)

The Christian life, even in the so-called practical areas, must be centered on and infused with the cross of Christ. It is not a matter of Paul preaching how to be saved versus how to live Christianly. The two are one continuous piece of cloth. That is why he writes elsewhere, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…” (Col. 2:6). We are called to live the crucified life of Christ by which we entered into eternal life and by which we live eternally.

So, it is all about the cross of Christ. And everything Paul has to preach or write is rooted in God’s grace as revealed in the cross, as we grow in cross-infused grace, and as we extend cross-infused grace to others. There is no other basis for addressing the practical problems the Corinthians, or any of us today, face. We must continually preach the cross and live the cross. We must continually carry the cross daily, as though today were the day of our salvation.

Lord, I don’t want to treat Your Word like a spiritual self-help manual, but I want to feed on the word of the cross, through which I am strengthened to live.