Paul was called to do many things after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus in Syria… a country still very much in the news. Establishing and encouraging churches, addressing specific problems, warning of Satan’s strategies… were objectives of this man who the Lord called His “chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” (Acts 9:15) “Carrying Jesus’ name” was Paul’s main goal. How did he do this?
When he visited cities and towns, Paul did not want his talents or abilities to be the focus of attention. “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and preaching were not with persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (I Corinthians 2:1-5)
Paul constantly pointed to the Father, Son, and Spirit; he was Trinity-centered. In the first three chapters of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentioned God fifty-two times, Christ or Lord thirty times, and the Spirit twelve times. In seventy verses, the Persons of the Trinity are mentioned ninety-four times.
Paul clearly wanted all readers to know that his message is from God, the Creator of all, who planned to save His children through Jesus, His Son. And the promised Holy Spirit is the essential gift we must have to live an abundant life in Christ.
So what does this mean for us today? Though we live two thousand years later, we have as many problems as did Corinth… and our hope is the same. This hope is not found in an elite education or amassed wealth or a political movement or any type of human plans… the hope is only in Jesus. Christ is the Answer and, as in the days of Paul, the world will reject this message.
Wherever we live, whatever our occupation, no matter what our status… God wants us to be Trinity-centered. “You yourselves are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you.” (3:16) “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1:22) “Jesus Christ has become our wisdom from God – that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” (1:30) “We have the mind of Christ.” (2:16)
We might say, “A person will be laughed off the stage if he constantly points to Jesus.” But Paul concluded: “So be it. My message is Christ because that’s God’s message. There is no hope in man. I trust the Holy Spirit and I do not mind being a ‘fool’ as long as I am in Him.”
“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’; and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’ So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” I Corinthians 3:18-23