Last week I started a regular blog series that I’m calling “Well That’s Interesting” (you can find the first post with a more detailed explanation here, or bookmark this page to keep track of the whole series). Today’s text is just one verse, and it says this:

For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.

1 Corinthians 1:17 NLT

There are a couple different points in this verse that stand out to me, so let’s split it in half.

Baptism vs Good News

Some obvious questions come to mind in the first half of the verse: What does Paul mean that Christ didn’t send him to baptize? Didn’t Jesus say make disciples and baptize them? Yes, indeed, a sentence like this can be confusing given what we know of other Scripture, namely what we refer to as The Great Commission:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Matthew 28:19–20 NIV

In the verses preceding, we can find the first part of an explanation. In 1 Corinthians 1:14–16, Paul lists off the few people he baptized in Corinth, stating that he is thankful that he did not baptize more. Interesting. But before that, in verses 10–13, we learn that some within the church were dividing into “factions” based on who they followed: Paul, Peter, Apollos, or only Christ; (as a sidebar: Can you imagine being gathered as a church, and saying whose leadership you prefer, and people are listing off Peter and Paul, then someone says “Well I follow only Jesus…so….” I’m not sure how that doesn’t just immediately end the conversation!)

It would seem from verse 13 that some within the church were connecting their Christian identity to the person that had baptized them, rather than finding their identity in the one who died for their salvation: “Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!”

So back to verse 17, when Paul says: “For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News”, he isn’t saying that baptism is unimportant or that he is somehow exempt from The Great Commission. Rather he is using literary contrast to let those arguing and dividing in Corinth know that they are missing the point. Baptism is important, but salvation comes first. And no matter how great your baptizer, no matter how great your pastor or mentor, they pale in comparison to Christ, the one who saved you.

Wow! That’s a lot. But we’re only halfway there! Let’s continue.

Clever Speech vs The Power of the Cross

The second half of the verse is what really stuck out as interesting to me. After calling out pointless division and emphasizing salvation (the gospel/good news), it almost seems as though Paul is preparing for another misunderstanding. “Well if salvation is what’s important, then I’ll follow the one who led me to the Lord. The one who shared the gospel with me should be my leader,” the Corinthians may be thinking. Not wanting to risk that ball rolling, Paul does something very Pauline and emphasizes his own weakness and Christ’s strength (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9–10; Phil. 1:21).

When Paul preaches the good news, it isn’t about eloquence or cleverness. He isn’t seeking to logically convince or propose a “better” argument (both of which would’ve been the respected norm in the Greco-Roman culture of the day). He isn’t trying to be the best public speaker, the most dynamic leader, or the most reasonable philosopher. He simply seeks to preach “Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). In other words, he doesn’t want them to focus on how convincing he is, but how necessary the cross was.

Again we see the contrast. It isn’t that being clever or convincing or a good speaker is wrong; in fact those very gifts can be blessings from the Lord! But when our human skills/gifts/passions/abilities overshadow the truth, become a source of pride, or turn into the linchpin holding someone’s faith together, we are missing the point. It isn’t that the cross (Christ’s death and resurrection) can actually “lose” power, but that we can actively draw the focus away by emphasizing ourselves, or even the good gifts Christ has given us, rather than Christ Himself.

Paul wants it made very clear: the gospel is about Christ.

Why Does it Matter?

Those in Corinth had differences in their Christian experience. They were baptized by different people, led to faith by different people, and they had different church preferences. But what Paul emphasizes here is that what unites them is that they are all sinners saved by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. What leadership style they resonate with, whose preaching they prefer, who they are closer friends with—none of that is as important as the cross of Christ and the message of the gospel.

For us today, I see two clear warnings. One: as members of the local church, we need to be cautious of letting the potential division of preference or experience get in the way of the unity found in Christ. We are part of the same body, in the same family, and saved by the same grace. And two: we need to be cautious of putting the blessings Christ has given us in the place of Christ Himself. God has given us good gifts, and we praise Him for the ways that He empowers us to be a part of His work. But it is for Him and His glory that we use those gifts to point to the Giver.

Let it not be said that my Christian experience, my church preferences, or even my skills and giftings, were ever used as distractions from who Christ is and what He’s done.