Preaching Christ and Him Crucified

“For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

(1 Corinthians 2:2)

The apostle Paul had a spiritual and experiential knowledge of Christ himself, which he valued above all things else. This qualified him to make Christ known to others; and which knowledge he was very willing and ready to communicate by preaching the Gospel, which is the means of making known Christ as God’s salvation to the souls of men. On this subject he chiefly insisted, and in which he took great delight and pleasure; he made known the things respecting the person of Christ, as that He was God, the Son of God, and truly man He preached Him as God and man, and he preached the things respecting His office, as that He was the Messiah, the Mediator, Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head, Husband, Savior, and Redeemer of His church and people. He declared the things respecting His work as such, and the blessings of grace procured by Him; as that justification is by His righteousness, pardon by His blood, peace, reconciliation, and redemption by His sacrifice unto death, and salvation alone and entirely by Him.

Paul’s determination was to preach none but Christ; not himself, nor man, nor the power and purity of human nature, or the free will and works of the creature, but to exclude all and everything from being partners with Christ in the business of salvation.