1 Corinthians 2:1-5
1 “And when I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come as someone superior in speaking ability or wisdom, as I proclaimed to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I also was with you in weakness and fear, and in great trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of mankind, but on the power of God.”
I did not come as someone superior: The Greek culture revered intellect and philosophical wisdom. This is precisely why the concept of Christ crucified was foolishness to the Greeks. After all, how could a God be crucified? And yet, for Paul, this was only foolishness according to humanity, not God. Christ is the very wisdom of God, and it was Christ that Paul preached. Paul’s message was simple: Christ crucified for the sins of the world. Certainly, Paul was an intellectual, a true scholar. He could have dialogued about Greek philosophy and likely even teach on it. And yet, Christ was enough for the intellectual apostle.
Weakness and fear, and trembling: Paul is not speaking ill of himself but describing his attitude of love towards the Corinthians when he brought the Gospel to them. Paul is using this verbiage, not to communicate that he is fearful of the Corinthians, but that he was there in dependency on Christ. Thus, he was there revering Christ in the midst of the Corinthians through the communication of the message.
