Today I’m reading in I Corinthians. In chapter 1 verse 17, Paul talks about how Christ sent him to preach the Good News. . . “and not with clever speech.” (NLT)
My mind immediately went into a spin on the words there. I thought of the many times I’d heard teachers, ministers, preachers, and other speakers spin up some anecdote or turn of a phrase to make their point. I thought of some of the faculty members I had throughout my time in my degree programs, ones that just wanted to sound intelligent. What they said was catchy or funny or was meant to seem really exceptional or very intelligent in many cases.
Maybe the story or phrase stuck with me (I’m thinking of one right now). However, I don’t often remember the point of the clever phrase and its true application to living life or to the topic. It’s not that a story or anecdote can’t be used to make a point. Jesus certainly used stories, parables, metaphors, etc. to help people people understand. It’s when the entertainment or high-sounding speech of the story is the focus more so than the Truth you’re working to communicate that it is a problem.
The word there in the Greek is σοφία or sophia transliterated. You can see the Strong’s listing here. In general, it means “wisdom, broad and full intelligence.” You get the sense that it is high level.
Paul is saying here that he didn’t use high-level wisdom or clever anecdotes to share the Gospel message with them. Instead, he spoke to them in straightforward measures.
I remember when I was learning statistics. I had been good with math previously so I was excited about getting into math again. Only, statistics is not straight math. I struggled, especially after the first semester of it. It wasn’t until I got some time with my faculty member, privately, where he explained things in a very straightforward manner, that I understood. It was a struggle all the way through all of my graduate level statistics courses. It often took private conversations to help me understand the concepts. It was the straightforward conversations that made the difference. (The lack of clever speech worked. While I no longer teach, I taught graduate level statistics in the end for many years.)
So, Paul is saying to the Corinthians, “look, I told you plainly and in straightforward terms the Gospel. I didn’t try to make it grandiose.”
Why?
Because he didn’t want it to lose its power! When I reflect on the instances I mention above where various speakers used some anecdote or phrase to make their point, I struggled to fully get the concept many times and only remember the phrase with no connection to the true meaning. In my cases, those catchy phrases, have lost their meaning.
Paul is saying, I didn’t give you those high-level stories and phrases. I gave you the simple and direct.
The straightforward message of Christ is all we need.
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