Homiletics and Preaching Part 1

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
- 1 Corinthians 1:17

As someone who aspires to the preaching ministry, this is a passage which has scared me for a long time! The implication that Paul is stating in this passage is enormous if we would but take a moment to really think about what He is saying. Essentially, it boils down to the fact that if he (or, I assume, any other preacher) preaches the gospel "with words of eloquent wisdom" then the ability of the cross to save is totally removed! So the responsibility of the preacher and the implications for HOW HE PREACHES are absolutely staggering. So then it would befit preachers to understand exactly what Paul means here or else run the risk of totally destroying all that they set out to do in preaching ministry.

This passage is set against the background of the intellectual Greek world. The city of Corinth was very near in proximity to Athens, the historic center of Greek intellectual and artistic culture. Oration or public speaking was one of the common facets of Greek life. One could always hear philosophers debating or giving speeches on a given topic in the market place, the center of Greek life. Many Greek orators were impressive in their ability to use rhetoric to influence an audience towards their perspective. This is something with which the Corinthian church would have been very familiar having spent their entire lives immersed in this culture which practically worshipped this kind of intellectual prowess.

Therefore, as the gospel was entering the Greek culture or any culture for that matter, it would have been very tempting for evangelists and pastors to preach using this very well crafted, rhetorical style of speaking in order to most effectively stir their audiences to action. This is what I believe Paul means when he speaks of "eloquent words of wisdom". So, it is this eloquent, rhetorical preaching which Paul says will "empty the cross of Christ". But how exactly is it that preaching in this way removes the cross' ability to save?

Let me offer two similar but different scenarios. First, a man comes to town preaching the gospel. His style is very polished, his homiletics are impeccable and he does all "the right things" that a preacher should do. He pauses at all the right critical junctures and lilts his voice at all the exclamation points. His preaching stirs many people in the crowd to action to do what he is urging them to do, namely repent. Now, if an observer were looking on to this scene what would he attribute the amazing response to? Well, of course it would have to be attributed to the remarkable rhetorical and homiletical ability of this man. He is his great speaking ability was able to move the crowd to accept and believe the position he was advocating. In our second scenario, a man comes into a town preaching the gospel. His appearance is not the neatest or cleanest and his speech is not very impressive. However, as he preaches the gospel, the audience is rowsed, convicted and many people are converted. In this second scenario, who would get the glory? From a human standpoint, it would be hard to attribute such a remarkable response to the work of this unimpressive person. The only real explanation for this would be to attribute it to the working of God and His Spirit. In this case, he gets the glory!

I believe that this understanding calls for us to radically think through the process of preaching and the homiletics which accompany that act!