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.

The most autobiographical of all his writings, Paul’s first and second letters to the Corinthians provide a rich source of the apostle’s example of ministry and character. And he boldly writes about himself to provoke his readers to live in the same way. Lest we be tempted to dismiss following a mere human example for the sake of only following Christ, Paul explicitly invites his readers to look to him for patterns of life and ministry (see Phil. 3:17, 4:9, 1 Thess. 4:1, Acts 20:34-35). More to the point for the Corinthians, he says, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1, see also 4:16). Following Christ and following Paul’s example are not at odds, for Paul modeled for us what a life committed to following Christ looks like. This is not arrogance on Paul’s part, but he is the model of someone who takes his discipling role seriously, understanding that discipling involves setting a living example of things that one teaches. And with the Corinthians, he puts himself out there a lot, for he had spent considerable time with them.

In our passage today, Paul points to and reinforces his central thesis of ministry: to know and to make known “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” For the Corinthians, the central thesis of their ministry and fellowship was based on their group identity: the group following Paul, Cephas, Apollos, or the over-spiritually arrogant ones who excluded the aforementioned and separated themselves as those who only followed Christ. They have all missed the point of Paul’s teaching, so he needs to remind them. The apostle did not win them to Christ with eloquent oratory; his goal was not to become a powerful pulpiteer as some in our churches aspire to today.

On the contrary, Paul’s testimony was quite simple and unambiguous. Compared to his central thesis of Christ, all other teachings fade into the distant background. Not that the practical things of the Christian life are irrelevant to teach about, nor are various doctrines and theological systems unworthy of study. But unless all those things relate back to and are built upon Christ and His crucifixion, trying to address them is like building an edifice on the sand. Did not our Lord use that illustration about His teachings (Matt. 7:24-27)?

We must keep the message of Christ simple and to the point, and we must constantly remember that our fellowship with each other is found only in Christ.

Father, help me not lose sight of Christ who unites, and overly focus on things that divide us.