And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring the testimony of God. (2) For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (3) I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. (4) And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Paul continues to defend his method of preaching; that the gospel is true wisdom and the source of that wisdom is the Spirit. Paul came to Corinth not as an orator or a philosopher but as a witness. What he preached was not of men but the wisdom of God that man could never learn alone. in Corinth He preached Christ, not as a teacher or a perfect man but he preached Christ crucified- dying for our sins – which is the sum of the gospel. Paul valued no knowledge except Christ alone and tells us that we must be learning Christ our lives long and everything in comparison is folly.

Paul explained at length that he had no excellence in the eyes of men but that the power of God showed through him – he is connecting his fear and weakness which would make him seem contemptible to the Corinthians – his fear must relate to the dangers and difficulties he had recently endured but which had taught him to lean on God. He struggled through every impediment. He meant that persuasive words – oratory – of human wisdom was artifice rather than truth. Paul refers to this as a demonstration of the power of the Spirit using him to deliver the message successfully.

Saving faith is the power of God on the heart.

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