Christ And Him Crucified

“I (am) determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” —1 Corinthians 2:2

Such was Paul’s holy purpose. He was determined that Jesus Christ in the great purpose of His incarnation, which was to give His life a ransom for many, should be the subject of his preaching and his living.

The ideal character for Earth and heaven, for time and eternity, is “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Jesus Christ is the Truth, and truth is apt to defend itself. It has many enemies and must stand against all attacks, but “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means truth giving itself in loving sacrifice for the salvation of its enemies. It is truth bearing the sins of error and falsehood. Truth forgets to argue while it dies for its murderers.

Jesus Christ Is Life

Christ is life, and life is apt to take care of itself. Even vegetable life is provided with weapons of defense, as the thorns on the cactus of the desert testify. Animal life has weapons of defense against its enemies and the instinct of self-preservation is sensitive and strong.

It is natural for human life to preserve itself against all dangers. “Self-preservation is the first law of nature” is a maxim easy to receive as universally true, but “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means life giving itself for the life of others. Life in Him refuses to protect itself, though twelve legions of angels are ready to respond to its call of need. Life in Him seeks not a shelter, but an altar. Life, which might conquer all foes, surrenders, that it may save the lives of its foes. Life, strong enough to rule by its power, surrenders to the extent of its own sacrifice.

Christ Is Love

Jesus Christ is love, and love is tempted to enjoy itself. Its constant tendency in selfish beings is to revel in its own delights, while it expects appreciation and love in return from others. Jealousy is the demand of pure love for loyalty, and is unwilling to share with others. But “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means love giving itself in willing sacrifice to those who hate.

It is love saving those who would destroy; love plunging into the fire to rescue those who would cast it into the fire; love suffering for those who delight in inflicting the suffering; love dying for those who are glad to kill. Such love is not only beyond human attainment, but well-nigh beyond human comprehension. The natural heart responds to the law of Sinai, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Only the heart that has drunk in the spirit of Calvary can give blessing for cursing and choose to suffer for those who delight in inflicting the suffering.

Christ Is Light

Jesus Christ is light; and light is apt to display itself. It is its nature to shine and reveal itself in its own rays. But “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means light giving itself in sacrifice, light willing to be obscured by the powers of darkness that the children of darkness may become the children of light; light, obscured by the cloud and painting the rainbow upon the cloud that obscures it; light becoming darkness that darkness may become light.

Christ Is Wisdom

Jesus Christ is wisdom, and wisdom is tempted to admire itself as superior and sufficient. By nature the wise man glories in his wisdom, pitying and patronizing the foolish and ignorant. But “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means wisdom giving itself for the foolish and ignorant; wisdom willing to be called foolishness that the foolish may become truly wise; wisdom vacating its throne that it may lift others into the throne of royal character and influence; wisdom emptying itself that it may fill other lives with its radiant glory.

Christ Is Holiness

Jesus Christ is holiness; and holiness is apt to separate and cultivate itself. It is disgusted with everything that pollutes; it revolts against the unclean and instinctively turns from it. It shrinks from the touch of all vileness. It is nauseated by the breath of sin and pained by the sight of iniquity. Its tendency is to blaze out in flaming indignation against all impurity. But “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means holiness giving itself to contact with the unholy that they may be made holy.

God’s holiness and justice demand propitiation, while His love furnishes it. It is not a God thirsting for vengeance, appeased by the blood of His Son, but it is a God whose holiness and justice cannot endure sin, while His love leads Him to meet the demands of holiness and justice, so that He may now endure the sinner, justified and adopted into His family.

The view which gives the atonement no Godward side except as an expression of love, disregards God’s holiness and justice, which is really to undeify God Himself, while it takes no adequate account of the guilt, defilement, and discord of sin. “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means that both holiness and love have expressed themselves for the reconciliation of an alienated world.

Christ Is Power

Jesus Christ is power; and power is apt to assert itself. It is natural for power to be proud and arrogant. It delights in maintaining its independence. But “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means power giving itself for the rescue and protection of the weak and helpless. Power becomes weakness that the weak may become powerful.

To sum it all up, “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means truth giving itself rather than defending itself, life giving rather than taking care of itself, love giving rather than enjoying itself, light giving rather than displaying itself, wisdom giving rather than admiring itself, holiness giving rather than cultivating itself, and power giving rather than asserting itself. Truth, life, love, light, wisdom, holiness, power, all glorified in the act of giving themselves for the salvation of a lost world, is the meaning of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Ideal Life Is Presented

To know “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” is to have an ideal experience. To know the teachings of Christ is to be truly educated. It is to think the thoughts of God after Him. It means a soul culture, which can be had in no other way. To know the miracles of Christ is to be convinced that He wrought with power more than human. It is to see the Creator and Sovereign of the natural world ruling supreme in His realm.

To know the church of Christ which He established while in the body on Earth and the thousands of institutions which have sprung up within and outside the church through the ages, is to realize that He has blessed the world in numberless ways. To know the deity of Christ, as proved by His claims, He character, and His works, is to fall at His feet in worship and be lifted up in character as we look up in adoration and praise.

To know Christ as the Son of Man, with a heart full of love and compassion for all men, with no racial, national, or sectarian prejudices, is to experience a deepening and widening of the humanity in us which comes from no other source.

Making manifest among men the knowledge of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” is the ideal mission of the Christian. The two little words, “among you” give us the clue. “I (am) determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” This knowledge of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” is not for private use. It is not to be shut up and preserved. It should be circulated among the people.

Christians are the rays from this sun in the heavens. If John smith really knows “Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” the world about him will soon know John Smith and him crucified. John smith will become in a measure truth, life, love, light, wisdom, holiness, and power, giving themselves for the salvation of others. “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain” is true not only in a literal sense, but in a very deep spiritual sense.

We must live the life of Christ and die the death of Christ if we would have real gain. The grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying brings the gain of the harvest. It is the life of Christ in us that enables us to die the death of Christ with Him, as it is the life in the wheat which makes it die for the harvest.

It is the Christ in us which becomes “Christ and Him crucified” all the time. He is every day Truth, Life, Love, Light, Wisdom, Holiness, and Power, giving themselves in sacrifice for others.