I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians. 2:2)
The recipients of these words were the members of the Corinthian church. They had become divided into competing factions, with some declaring, “I am of Paul,” and others, “I am of Apollos.” Such sectarianism, though addressed in the first century, remains a persistent danger within the church, even in contemporary postmodern contexts.
Tragically, similar divisions continue to surface in many churches today, often because believers lose sight of a foundational truth: ultimate allegiance belongs not to human leaders but to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He is the author and finisher of our faith, the One who purchased the church with His own blood, bore the penalty of sin, and accomplished redemption and reconciliation with God.
Accordingly, the church bears a serious and ongoing responsibility to safeguard the integrity of its life and witness. This includes maintaining a Christ‑centered fellowship, ensuring the faithful preaching and teaching of Scripture, and confronting false teaching that arises within the congregation. When necessary, biblical church discipline must be exercised. In certain cases, this may involve the removal of an individual from fellowship—whether for the propagation of false doctrine concerning the essential truths of the faith or for a persistently sinful lifestyle marked by a refusal to repent.
One of the most pressing challenges facing the modern church is its widespread reluctance to practice church discipline. This neglect leaves the door open for spiritual disorder, enabling the enemy to sow confusion and undermine the health of the body. The Corinthian church itself had developed a deeply troubling reputation, prompting the apostle Paul to address its failures with striking directness and urgency. The leaders’ unwillingness to discipline their members allowed grievous sin to continue unchecked, resulting in serious damage to the church’s testimony.
Adding to this crisis was the congregation’s infatuation with worldly wisdom. Many considered themselves wise by human standards and, as a result, rejected the simplicity of the gospel, regarding the apostle’s preaching as foolishness. This elevation of human reasoning over divine revelation inevitably leads to the displacement of the true and living God with a god fashioned in humanity’s own image. The authority of Scripture is supplanted by secular philosophies and cultural worldviews, and theology is reshaped according to human preferences rather than divine truth. In this way, the church becomes guilty of the very error against which Paul warned the Colossians: Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. (Col. 2:8).
Rather than pursuing a genuine relationship with Christ and deepening their experiential knowledge of Him—allowing His transforming work to bear fruit in their lives—many drift instead toward legalism and hollow religiosity. They become preoccupied with external observance and religious performance, seeking to appease a god of their own making while neglecting the reality of their own spiritual condition. In doing so, they forget the sobering assessment of the prophet Isaiah, who reminds us that apart from divine grace, All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf,and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. (Isa. 64:6).
What, then, is the remedy for a church that has seemingly lost its way? The answer is the same for the church today as it was for the Corinthian church: the recovery and application of divine wisdom. This wisdom is not found in human ingenuity or cultural sophistication, but in obedience to the truth of the gospel as proclaimed by the apostle Paul. It is a wisdom grounded in Christ Himself and expressed through faithful allegiance to Him.
What, ultimately, was the substance of Paul’s wisdom? He expresses it succinctly in the words of the text—a resolution worthy not only of the great apostle, but of every disciple of Jesus Christ.
I. The Content of the Resolution
A. A Determination to Know — For I resolved to know…
1. Not Merely Historical or Intellectual Knowledge
By the word know, Paul does not refer to a merely historical or intellectual awareness. A purely factual knowledge that Christ was crucified by His enemies in Jerusalem is no more spiritually beneficial than knowing, as a matter of history, that Caesar was assassinated by his associates in Rome. Such information, though accurate, is ultimately insufficient to produce saving faith or genuine transformation.
Many claim to possess faith on the basis of intellectual assent alone, affirming belief in the existence of one God while overlooking the sobering reminder offered by James: You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder. (James 2:19). Intellectual acknowledgment, apart from a living faith, falls short of the knowledge Paul describes.
2. A Determination to Know Experientially
The word know, as Paul employs it, signifies knowledge that leads to approval—an experiential, relational, and transformative knowledge. This is the kind of knowing that Scripture consistently associates with genuine faith. Our Lord Himself underscored this distinction in the Sermon on the Mount, warning against false prophets who appear righteous outwardly but reveal their true nature through their fruit (Matt. 7:15–20).
Jesus further clarified that verbal profession and outward religious activity are not sufficient evidence of a true relationship with Him. Many, He said, will appeal to their religious works, only to hear the devastating response: I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers! (Matt. 7:23). When Christ declares, I never knew you, He is not speaking of a lack of information, but of the absence of relational approval. He does not know them in the sense of personal, covenantal, and experiential relationship.
Thus, the knowledge Paul resolved to pursue was not abstract or theoretical, but deeply personal and transformative. It is a knowledge rooted in relationship—a knowing that produces obedience, bears fruit, and evidences genuine union with Christ.
B. A Determination to Experientially Know Jesus Christ Crucified — …nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
By Jesus Christ, Paul refers to the eternal Son of God. He bears the name Jesus because He saves His people from both the guilt and the power of sin. He is called Christ, which signifies anointed, because He was anointed by the Holy Spirit to fulfill His mediatorial offices: as Prophet, to instruct in divine truth; as Priest, to make atonement for sin; and as King, to rule and govern His people.
Christ was crucified upon the cross in order that He might become a curse on our behalf, as Scripture declares: Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree (Gal. 3:13). In His death, He bore the judgment due to sinners, accomplishing redemption through His substitutionary sacrifice.
This truth so fully gripped the apostle Paul that he resolved to know nothing beyond it. The knowledge of Jesus Christ crucified became the governing principle of his life and ministry, shaping both his message and his priorities. For Paul, this was not merely a doctrinal assertion, but a lived and experiential reality that defined the essence of true wisdom and authentic Christian faith.
II. The Reasons for the Resolution
A. Without Christ Crucified, Our Persons Will Not Be Acceptable to God
The Lord Jesus Himself declared, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). He is the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). No one has ever been, nor will ever be, received into glory apart from the experiential application of His redemptive merits to the heart. To imagine that one could enter heaven by any other means is as futile as attempting to rebuild the tower of Babel or ascend to heaven by human effort.
While other forms of knowledge may inflate human pride and foster self‑confidence, they are ultimately incapable of securing salvation. Only the knowledge of Jesus Christ crucified edifies the soul and imparts true wisdom—wisdom that leads unto salvation.
B. Without Christ Crucified, Our Works Will Not Be Acceptable to God
By faith, that is, through a living faith in the promised Mediator, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did (Heb. 11:4). In the same way, it is only through an experiential knowledge of this divine Mediator that our offerings of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving ascend as a pleasing incense before the throne of grace.
Apart from this knowledge of Jesus Christ, neither our acts of devotion toward God nor our acts of charity toward others are acceptable in His sight. Even if one were to give away all possessions to feed the poor, such sacrifices would ultimately profit nothing if divorced from a genuine relationship with Christ. Without Him, even the most commendable works lack divine approval.
C. Without Christ Crucified, Our Morality Will Not Be Acceptable to God
While morality is undeniably an essential component of Christian living—and while Christ did not come to abolish the moral law, but to fulfill and rightly interpret it—we must nevertheless affirm that moral conduct alone is insufficient to render a person acceptable before God. Moral actions are pleasing to the Father only when they proceed from the principle of a renewed nature and a living faith in the Son of God.
Whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, all must be done out of love for and in conscious union with Him who died and rose again. This Christ‑centered motivation is necessary to render even our most ordinary actions acceptable in the sight of God. Apart from Christ crucified, morality may shape external behavior, but it cannot secure divine favor.
III. The Practice of the Resolution
A. The Essential Nature of Practicing the Resolution
Permit me to exhort you to put the apostle’s resolution into practice by joining him in the determination to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. The emphasis must rest on the word decided, for unless one first sits down to count the cost and, from a well‑grounded conviction of the supreme excellence of this knowledge above all others, resolves to make it the chief pursuit of life, every trivial temptation will inevitably divert the heart from the pursuit of Christ.
Only a deliberate and settled resolve will guard the soul against distraction. Indeed, the more earnestly the world, the flesh, and the adversary urge you to pursue alternative forms of knowledge, the more firmly you must resolve to know nothing apart from Jesus Christ crucified. Such determination is not narrow‑mindedness, but spiritual wisdom rooted in an accurate estimation of what is of eternal worth.
B. The Importance of Practicing the Resolution
Riches will fail, earthly splendor will pass away, and human vanities will fade into nothingness; but the knowledge of Jesus Christ and Him crucified endures forever. Whatever else you may lack in knowledge, do not be ignorant of this. If you know Christ and Him crucified, even if you know little else, you possess sufficient wisdom to secure true and lasting happiness. Conversely, without this knowledge, all other learning—however impressive—cannot prevent everlasting ruin.
Therefore, do not be deterred by the scorn or rejection of others that may accompany a public and unwavering commitment to this resolve. Such opposition is neither unexpected nor unique. Your Master, to whom you belong, was despised long before you. To share in His reproach is not a mark of shame, but a confirmation of faithful allegiance to Him whose knowledge alone leads to life eternal.
Let us not be content with following Christ at a distance, for such half‑hearted discipleship inevitably leads to denial, as it did in the case of Peter. Rather, let both our speech and our conduct bear unmistakable witness to the world that we are His disciples—those who have firmly resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If this determination governs our lives, it will indeed be well with us. We shall experience an unspeakable joy even now; and what is infinitely greater, when those who once despised us stand in terror, calling upon the mountains to fall upon them, we shall be exalted to sit at the right hand of God and to shine like the sun in the firmament, in the kingdom of our Redeemer.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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