The document discusses the preaching of Paul, emphasizing his unwavering focus on 'Jesus Christ and him crucified' as the central theme of his messages. It reflects on Paul's experiences in Athens, which led to his determination to preach a more direct and powerful gospel in Corinth, ultimately highlighting the significance of Christ's person and atonement in addressing humanity's sin. The text argues that genuine theology must stem from personal experience and that the message of the cross remains essential in confronting modern challenges to faith.

1. THE PREACHING OF PAUL
F. S. GUY WARMAN
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Principal of St. Aidan's Theological Col-
lege, Birkenhead, England; bom, London,
1872; educated at Merchant-Taylor's
School, London; Pembroke College, Ox-
ford ; senior curate successively of Leyton
and St. Mary in the Castle, Hastings;
vicar of Birkenhead, 1901-07; chairman
of Birkenhead Board of Guardians, 1907-
09 ; author of " Since the Days of the
Reformation," "Missions and the Minor
Prophets."
THE PREACHING OF PAUL
Principal F. S. Guy Warman, B.D.
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2. Edited by Glenn Pease
'* 7 determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. ' ' — 1 Cor. 2 : 2.
WE cannot help noticing the reiterated
emphasis with which Paul expresses
his determination. Elsewhere his
theme is the same but nowhere does he narrow
himself down to it so much as here. In the
previous chapter twice over he puts his posi-
tion; ^' Christ sent me not to baptize but to
preach the gospel . . . lest the cross of
Christ should be made of none effect ; for the
preaching of the cross ... is the power
of God " (1 Cor. 17 : 15). And again " We
preach Christ crucified . . . the power
of God and the wisdom of God '' (1 Cor.
25 : 24). Why this exceptional determination
on his first visit to Corinth? Can we ascer-
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3. tain the cause? I believe we can, at least in
part. Let us turn back to the history. In
Acts 18 we read that Paul came to Corinth
and '' testified that Jesus was the Christ."
The text explains the nature and limits of
the testimony. It was the preaching of the
cross; and it was effective; " many hearing
believed and were baptized." Paul's deter-
mination was justified by its results. Perhaps
in an experience before he came to Corinth we
can discover the secret of that determination.
He had come from Athens. There, while wait-
ing for friends, he had noticed the idolatry of
the city and had tried to preach the gospel.
He preached '' Jesus and the resurrection."
He is noticed, wins the ear of the cultured class
and preaches to them. A summary of that
sermon is handed down to us. It was evi-
dently learned and philosophical; to modem
ears it sounds liberal and broad-minded.
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4. There is very little about the Lord Jesus
Christ in it, very little about sin and atone-
ment, nothing of the cross, nothing of the dy-
ing for sinners. It was apparently an effort
— sometimes such an effort is needed and
there is no disparagement in the criticism —
to win the way for more by yielding to the
spirit of the age and the place. There is temp-
tation to-day to let this unique utterance of
Paul become the model of our preaching. We
want liberality, we want broadmindedness.
The old plan of salvation humbles man^s
proper pride and puzzles his intellect. Can-
not we be rid of it ? And the result sometimes
is a nebulous gospel; if that can be called a
gospel which hurts no one's feelings and
rouses no one's resentment. Perhaps we can
borrow a useful lesson from Paul's experi-
ence. They listened ; some mocked ; most just
I)assed on and Paul left Athens. There were
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5. results, small indeed — Dionysius, a woman
named Damaris, and some others, but there
was no future visit, no letters to the Atheni-
ans, no Athenian church, and for Paul himself
there seems to have been a determination
never to preach so again. He passes on to
Corinth, determined to know nothing save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Maybe I
have overdrawn the picture; doubtless in its
fuller form the sermon contained more of the
gospel, but the Athenian sermon with its so-
called liberal theology and the Athenian fail-
ure — for comparative failure it was — ^may
have had, probably did have, much to do with
the Corinthian determination.
We turn to the topic of the Corinthian
preaching — Jesus Christ and Him crucified —
a person and a fact, and to the person first.
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6. Obviously Paul's preaching is the consum-
mation of an experience, not merely of an in-
cident at Athens, but of a personal life of his
own. His theology was based on his personal
experience. No theology is worth much in its
preaching that is not so based. Theology has
been called a science and religion a philoso-
phy, but it has been sometimes forgotten in
its speculations that it is and must be
preached and experienced, or it fails of its
object. It was intensely so with Paul — go
back to the Saul who stoned Stephen and com-
mitted the faithful to prison. He was a man
of conviction and enthusiasm, of moral integ-
rity and real earnestness; but the person of
Christ became a reality to him. He was the
same man afterwards but much more. There
had come a new relationship to God, a new
spiritual life. Jesus Christ crossed his vision ;
Jesus whom he had persecuted, and the person
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7. of Jesus became everything to him, example,
conscience, ideal, object of allegiance and
faith, Lord, ay and Savior. '' The person-
ality of Jesus was the ladder on which he
reached to God. ' ' So someone has wisely said
and there is the essence of Christianity in that
sentence. A Christless Christianity is un-
thinkable; but a Christianity which does not
revolve round the central figure of its being is
a danger of our modern thought. The person
of Jesus was a gigantic force to Paul and it
is so still and in stronger development ; it must
be so or the world will fail the Christ. The
past triumphs of the person of Christ are easy
to recall. His personality is the basis of the
world's philanthropy. His dealings with the
sick founded the hospitals. The healing min-
istry of Christ finds its legitimate consequence
in the labors of the medical profession
rather than in the vagaries of Christian sci-
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8. ence, falsely so-called. His blessing of the
children inspired the orphanage. Miiller and
Bamardo could find the impulse that set
them to work nowhere else than in the person
of Christ. He and His ideas have been the
controlling influences of the world 's best men.
Many who would be the least ready to own
Him, are certainly not the least influenced by
Him. Again He is the basis of the world's
morals. Even John Stuart Mill concedes this
place to Him and few care to dispute it.
But He is infinitely more: His person is the
center of devotion, the object of love and rev-
erence on the part of millions, He is all in
all, the chiefest among ten thousand to them
who have learnt to know Him. So men
preach Christ and truly; so we must preach
Him and the world is ready to listen, just as,
to a certain extent, at least, Athens was ready
to listen ; but this preaching is not the whole
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9. gospel and we must not stay our preaching or
our faith here. Paul not only preached a per-
son but he added a fact about that person,
and it is in that fact that the salvation of the
world is bound up — " Jesus Christ and Him
crucified." Paul knew all the difficulty of
adding this : to the religious an offense and a
hindrance ; to the cultured a piece of folly and
a ground for resentment. It is so still. The
doctrine of the atonement is so difficult, it is
so variously treated, we have to choose among
Augustine and Anselm and Abelard and
many more. Why preach it ? Why did Paul
preach it ? Because it is not merely a doc-
trine to be argued about, but a fact; because
it was part of Paul's experience and a vital
part, and must be so with us. Let us trace
it in Paul's case. The vision of Jesus on the
Damascus road discovered to him his own
weakness and unworthiness. He found in
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10. himself the individual application of the uni-
versal law of sin. He, proud Pharisee that he
was, realized then the need of the publican's
prayer, and all through his life and his writ-
ings we can hear the anguished cry, ' * God be
merciful to me a sinner. ' ' It is not mere fear
of the penalty, but the misery of sin itself;
not the fact of failure, but the impossibility of
holiness, the stain sin leaves and its ever pres-
ent power. But we not only hear the cry we
hear its answer from God Himself. The cross
of Calvary is God's answer to the world's
need. The vision of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified discovered to Paul not only the fact
of sin but its remedy. Explain it or explain
it away as you will, there is Paul's teaching
that the cross of Christ is the cure for human
sin. In Gethsemane and Calvary you have
Christ in touch with sin, and, however you may
explain it or however far you fall short of
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11. an explanation, there was atonement made.
It is not only a fact of Pentecost, but it is a
fact in the experience of millions from Paul
downward. Hence we preach: hence we ap-
propriate Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It
it the gospel for to-day with all its so-called
gospels, with all its indifference and levity,
with its depreciation of sin and its exaltation
of mere morality; it is the only gospel for
sin-stained humanity.
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