The Power of Preaching Christ Crucified, Part 2

By Robb Brunansky

Published October 10, 2025

Because of the importance of public speaking in nearly every industry and aspect of life, it’s not surprising to find so many different methods, guides, and tips offered to people to improve their speaking skills.

These various perspectives and philosophies about public speaking are nothing new. The Apostle Paul faced similar concerns as he preached the gospel in the first century Greco-Roman world. The general populace valued certain elements of public speaking and came to expect that orators would meet their expectations. It was a shock, then, when the Apostle Paul came into Corinth publicly proclaiming a crucified Messiah, using methods contrary to everything popular in his day.

In 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul describes his ministry, starting with the method of his preaching. He rejected contemporary wisdom about public speaking, resolving instead to know nothing in his ministry except Christ, and Him crucified. Paul was convinced the pure gospel would result in salvation as the Spirit of God awakened sinners to their need of forgiveness at the cross.

Having considered the method of Paul’s preaching, we finish these five verses with the final two elements, and why his preaching was so effective, much to the surprise of both ancient and modern sensibilities.

First, we see the manner of Paul’s preaching, as described in verses 3-4.

The manner of Paul’s preaching tells how he preached this message, and perhaps gives a glimpse into seeing and hearing this apostle.

In verse three, we see Paul’s personal manner in his preaching. This verse is powerful because it pulls back the curtain of Paul’s interior life. We often have a conception of Paul like he was some spiritual superman and preaching machine who was fearless and bold.

However, people who knew Paul in the churches did not think of him this way. We observe from the criticism of Paul by his contemporaries that he was not considered to be something beyond the normal. The Corinthians were not awestruck with Paul’s gifts, ministry, perseverance, or fearlessness; rather, they found Paul to be rather unimpressive.

Paul, too, did not see himself as a spiritual titan. He was shocked that a former blasphemer and violent aggressor should be called by God to do such incredible gospel work, and he recognized the results never were the product of his own abilities but always the result of the Spirit’s power.

Notice Paul says he was with the Corinthians in weakness. When he spent eighteen months in Corinth, as we learn in Acts 18, Paul felt the reality and significance of his own weakness. In 2 Corinthians 10:10, Paul’s opponents sought to undermine his ministry by accusing him of having a lack of courage and integrity. Paul’s manner and message was so weak, inferior, and worthless compared to other secular speakers, that it didn’t deserve anyone’s time.

Furthermore, Paul would not accept money from the Corinthians for his preaching. This failure to receive monetary support made him more inferior in their sight in comparison with other speakers. However, Paul intentionally refused to take money from the Corinthians because he knew how important this worldly benchmark was to them – and he did not want them to value his preaching or his ministry because of how financially impressive it might be or not be.

Additionally, the Corinthians considered Paul weak because he rejected fleshly methods of doing ministry. In 2 Corinthians 4:2, we see that Paul rejected craftiness in his preaching, which was one of the primary means that false teachers used to gain an audience, adulterating the Word of God to suit what their hearers wanted to experience. Yet although Paul looked weak in the flesh, his weapons were divinely powerful.

Finally, Paul was considered weak because he had no self-confidence. He carried forth his mission in weakness because he knew that in himself, he was insufficient to accomplish God’s calling. Paul was content to be weak, inadequate, insufficient, and insulted as being inadequate, worthless, unimpressive, and contemptible. The only conceivable way for Paul to do ministry powerfully was to preach the cross in weakness, with a sense of his own inadequacy and insufficiency.

In 1 Corinthians 2:3, we notice something else about Paul’s personal manner, that he was with them in fear and much trembling. Many people have said Paul was just talking about his fear of God. Paul did fear God, but he’s not talking about trembling before God, but being afraid internally as he thought about preaching Christ.

We see in 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 that Paul was afraid because he was persecuted and constantly in danger of being killed for Christ’s sake. In 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 and 2 Corinthians 2:11:23-29, Paul has more to say about his ministry. Paul sums it all up in 1 Corinthians 15:30-31, sharing that he was in danger every hour.

This man, the Apostle Paul, was not traveling the Roman world preaching the gospel fearlessly. Internally he battled fear, and sometimes it manifested itself in much trembling when he preached. In fact, he was so afraid in Corinth, that God had to comfort him with a vision (Acts 18:9). This might be why Paul highlights his fear in 1 Corinthians 2:3, because he had been so afraid until God comforted him and gave him special protection he usually did not experience.

Nothing about Paul’s manner appealed to the flesh because he was weak, fearful and trembling. However, Paul, rather than seeking status, embraced weakness in his preaching, and his example encouraged the Corinthians – and us today – to conduct themselves in such a way in the church to boast only in the cross.

Paul reiterates something so critical in verse 4, that he did not try to persuade the Corinthians using human wisdom or rhetorical techniques. Christians do not use the tactics of the world because we are not trying to persuade anyone with our own reasoning, methods, arguments, or techniques. Instead, we rely on the power of the Spirit of God to persuade our hearers.

When Paul preached Christ crucified, the resulting salvific work demonstrated the power of the Spirit of God at work in the preaching.  Paul wasn’t trying to be clever in finding a technique that would persuade his hearers to come to Christ. He was simply, weakly, fearfully, inadequately, insufficiently in himself, preaching a crucified Messiah, leaving the rest to the Spirit of God.

Second, we see the motivation of Paul’s preaching in verse 5.

Paul’s motive was that the faith of his hearers would be fully and only in the power of God. Paul essentially wanted to become invisible so that Christ alone would be put on display.

This approach was an utter contradiction to everything the Corinthians were doing as they sought status, prestige, and importance. Everything about Christianity, from the message of the gospel itself, to the people who embrace the gospel by faith, to the men who preach the gospel – all of it – is contemptible to the world. Christians must be content to be contemptible to the world. We should be happy to disappear in our ministries just so long as Christ is magnified because then the power of the Spirit will be displayed.

Whenever ministry becomes about us, problems inevitably follow, that will tear the church to shreds if left unchecked. Paul reminds us of the power of preaching Christ crucified so we will realize that what God is doing in the church is not putting our gifts, abilities, and status on display, but demonstrating His power through the gospel.