Confessing the Cross Along with Christ’s Divinity

But let us see what else follows. Writing to the church of Corinth, the man we spoke of above, Paul, the instructor of all the churches, speaks this way: “The Jews,” he says, “seek signs, and the Greeks ask for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to those who are saved, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” O most powerful teacher of the faith! Even in this passage, as he taught the church, he did not think it enough to speak of Christ as God without adding that he was crucified. He did it deliberately, so that, for the sake of open and solid teaching of the faith, he might proclaim the one he called crucified to be the wisdom of God. So he used no subtlety or roundabout speech, and when he preached the gospel of the Lord he did not blush to mention the cross of Christ. [a]

To hear of God being born, God in bodily form, God suffering, God crucified, was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet he did not weaken the force of his devout words because of the wicked offense the Jews took, nor did he lessen the vigor of his faith because of the unbelief and foolishness of others. Openly, steadily and boldly he proclaimed that the one whom a mother had borne, whom men had killed, whom the spear had pierced and the cross had stretched out, was “the power and wisdom of God, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness.” Still, what was a stumbling block and foolishness to some was the power and wisdom of God to others. As the people differed, so did their thoughts. What a man empty of sound understanding and incapable of true good foolishly denied in unbelief, a wise faith could feel in its inmost soul to be holy and life-giving.