And I, brethren,… came … not with excellency of speech or of wisdom.
The spirit or tone in which St. Paul preached
It was in--
I. A decisive tone of personal conviction. It was “the testimony of God,” not an opinion. He does not say, “I think so,” but “God says so.” So in Gal_1:11-12. St. Paul was no hired, official expounder of a system. He felt that his words were eternal truth: hence their power. Hence, too, arises the possibility of discarding rules of oratory. For it is half-way towards making us believe when a man believes himself. Faith produces faith.
II. A spirit of self-abnegation (verse 2). There were no side glances at his own prospects, reputation, success. And this sincerity and self-forgetfulness was a source of power. It was so with the Baptist, who declared of Christ: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” In any work which is to live, or be really beautiful, there must be the spirit of the Cross. That which is to be a temple to God must never have the marble polluted with the name of the architect or builder.
III. A spirit of personal lowliness (verse 3). Partly this refers to his infirmities and disadvantages; but partly, too, it means deep humility. Now, remember who it was who said this--the daring St. Paul, whose soul was all of flame, whose every word was a half-battle, who stood alone on Mars’ Hill, and preached to the scoffing Athenians “Jesusand the Resurrection.” How little they who heard his ponderous sentences could have conceived that “weakness, and fear, and much trembling” of the invisible spirit! But again: see how this tells on the tone of his ministry. St. Paul did not begin with asserting his prelatical dignity and apostolic authority. He began with declaring truth, and that in “trembling.” Then, when men disputed his right to teach, he vindicated his authority, but not till then. And this is a lesson for modern times. Each minister must prove his apostolical succession by apostolic truthfulness, sincerity, and courage--as St. Paul proved his--and by his charity, and by his Christ-like meekness. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Paul a model preacher
Look at--
I. His matter.
1. He excludes all that is foreign to his purpose.
2. Knows nothing but Christ.
II. His manner.
1. He is modest in the consciousness of his own weakness.
2. Plain in the conviction of the presence and power of the Spirit.
III. The effect.
1. Faith not in the man.
2. But in the power of God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
A faithful picture of a true gospel preacher
The grand subject, of his ministry--
I. Is the crucified Christ, because--
1. He is the highest, revelation of God’s love for men.
2. He is the most thrilling demonstration of the wickedness of humanity.
3. He is the grandest display of loyalty to moral rectitude.
II. Soul-absorbing (verse 3). The man who has some paramount sentiment looks at the universe, through it, and values it so far as it reflects and honours that sentiment. Hence to Paul Christ was “all in all.” All other subjects-political and philosophical--dwindled into insignificance in its presence; it swallowed up his great soul
III. Makes him indifferent to all rhetorical considerations (verse 1). The theme was infinitely too great for it. Does the splendid apple-tree in full blossom require to be decorated with gaudy ribbons? Christ crucified is mighty eloquence.
IV. Subdues in him all self-consciousness (verse 3).
V. Invests him with Divine power over man (verses 4, 5). (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The Christian preacher
I. His message.
1. The testimony of God.
2. Concerning Christ.
3. Divine, therefore true.
II. His method of delivering it.
1. Not artificial in style, matter, or manner.
2. But plain, simple, pointed. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Gospel preaching
Note--
1. That theproper method to convert men in any community, Christian or Pagan, is to preach or set forth the truth concerning the person and work of Christ.
2. The proper stateof mind in which to preach the gospel is the opposite of self-confidence or carelessness. The gospel should be preached with a sense of weakness and with great anxiety and solicitude.
3. The success of the gospel does not depend on the skill of the preacher, but on the demonstration of the Spirit.
4. The foundation of saving faith is not reason, i.e., not arguments addressed to the understanding, but the power of God as exerted with and by the truth upon the heart. (C. Hodge.)
Preaching--fruit and flowers
At Hampton Court Palace every one regards with wonder the enormous vine loaded with so vast a multitude of huge clusters: just outside the vine-house is as fine a specimen of the wistaria, and when it is in full bloom, the cluster-like masses of bloom cause you to think it a flower-bearing vine, as the other is a fruit-bearing vine. Fit emblems these two famous trees of two ministries, both admired, but not equally to be prized--the ministry of oratory, luxuriant in metaphor and poetry, and the ministry of grace, abounding in sound teaching and soul-saving energy. Gay as are the flower-clusters of the wistaria, no one mistakes them for the luscious bunches of the grape; yet there are many simpletons in spiritual things who mistake sound for sense, and seem to satisfy their hunger not on solid meat, but on the jingle of a musical dinner-bell. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Conditions of successful preaching
If a preacher wishes to be successful he must--
1. Deny himself (verse 1) and exalt Christ (verse 2).
2. Feel himself weak (verse 3), yet strong (verse 4).
3. Ignore the human and magnify the Divine (verse 5). (J. Lyth.)
Brilliant, but not saving, sermons
Sir Astley Cooper, on visiting Paris, was asked by the surgeon en chef of the empire how many times he had performed a certain wonderful feat of surgery. He replied that he had performed the operation thirteen times. “Ah, but, monsieur, I have done him one hundred and sixty times. How many times did you save his life?” continued the curious Frenchmen, after he had looked into the blank amazement of Sir Astley’s face. “I,” said the Englishman, “saved eleven out of the thirteen. How many did you save out of one hundred and sixty?” Ah, monsieur, I lose dem all; but de operation was very brilliant.” Of how many popular ministries might: the same verdict be given! Souls are not saved, but the preaching is very brilliant. Thousands are attracted and operated on by the rhetorician’s art, but what if he should have to say of his admirers, “I lose them all, but the sermons were very brilliant!(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The messenger like the message
1. As the gospel is the foolish thing of God, so the apostle had no wisdom or utterance of his own (verses 1, 2).
2. As the gospel is the weak thing of God, so the apostle came to Corinth in weakness, fear, and trembling (verse 3). But as Christ is the power and wisdom of the gospel, so the Spirit is the power and wisdom of the ministry (verse 4).
3. As the gospel is the mystery of God, and therefore a Divine power, so the ministry is a Divine power, and therefore the manifestation of Divine wisdom. (Principal Edwards.)
The Divine testimony, and the apostle’s responsibility in relation to it
Consider--
I. The theme. “The testimony of God,” which has to do with “Jesus Christ and Him crucified(verse 2). The “declaration” of this theme, in all its manifold relations and aspects, is the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is characterised by--
1. Wisdom (verse 6). Perfection of moral character is seen only in the character of Jesus Christ.
2. “Hidden wisdom.”
3. Ancient wisdom. “Ordained before the world.”
4. Glorifying wisdom. “Ordained unto our glory.”
II. The declaration (verse 1) was--
1. Simple in its character. “Not with excellency of speech”--“not with enticing words of man’s wisdom.”
2. Convincing in its arguments. It was “in demonstration of the Spirit.”
3. Powerful in its effects (verse 5).
4. Of exclusive importance (verse 2). (The Study.)
Faith, not intellect
A friend said to Archbishop Whately on his death-bed: “The Lord has heard your prayers and preserved your intellect unimpaired.” He replied: “It is not intellect which can avail me now, but faith in Christ Jesus.”
Rhetorical preaching
In ascending the lofty peaks of the Jungfrau and Monte Rosa, the guides, I have read, not unfrequently resort to the innocent artifice of endeavouring to interest the traveller in the beauty of the flowers in order to distract his attention from the fearful abysses which the giddy path overhangs. What the Alpine guides thus innocently do, we preachers are often tempted to do not so innocently. We are prone so to occupy our hearers with the graces of composition and the flowers of rhetoric that they are in danger of altogether forgetting that there is a dread abyss beside them, andthat there is but a step between them and death. (J. Halsey.)
The spirit of successful preaching
The Rev. Dr. McAll, founder and superintendent of the remarkable mission in Paris and other parts of France which bears his name, was the son of the celebrated Robert S. McAll, LL.” D., of Manchester, some of whose sermons are justly ranked amongst the noblest productions of pulpit literature. His ministry was powerfully influenced by what he considered to be the failure of his father’s ministry. He tells how “he had repeatedly seen his father weepbecause, while so much run after and admired on account of his eloquence, so little spiritual good seemed to be done, and there were scarcely any conversions.” Warned by this example, “he determined,” he says, “to throw overboard ‘excellency of speech and of wisdom’ and to strike direct for the heart and conscience of the unconverted, in the hope of saving many.”
The right kind of preaching
Mr. Spurgeon uttered words-in one of his prayer-meeting addresseswhich speak volumes as to the secret of his successful ministry: “I think I can honestly say that when I have had something come to me rather fine--a nice, rareoratorical bit, and I think I could do it--I think if I tried I might say something “very fine--I have pulled it out of my mouth and flung it away that I might not take away the attention of any hearer from Christ crucified. ‘Here is a sword.’ ‘But,’ says one, ‘it has not a handsome scabbard.’ No; we pull that off. We throw that to some old rag and bone dealer. We use nothing but the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ. When that does not save men, men shall be lost. We know nothing equal to it for the keenness of its edge; for the force with which it slays. It is a strange sword. With its edge it kills, and with its back it heals.
