Reading through the Bible-The power of the cross

1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing: To those who reject the salvation of the cross, the idea of being saved through the work of a crucified man is foolish.

The words message of the cross sound kind of noble and religious to our twentieth-century ears. But in the first century, saying message of the cross was about the same as saying message of the electric chair - except worse! What message does a cruel, humiliating, unrelenting instrument of death have? No wonder it is foolishness to those who are perishing!

To us who are being saved it is the power of God: Though it is a strange message, and regarded as foolish by the perishing, to those who trust in it and are being saved, this message of the cross becomes to them the actual power of God.

There is inherent power in the preaching of the true gospel, when it is received with faith. The hearing and trusting of the true gospel will bring the power of God into your life!

Though the word gospel isn't in this verse, it is in the previous verse. For Paul, the message of the cross was the gospel. It was impossible for the Apostle to preach the gospel without presenting the message of the cross. So, preaching a high moral standard is not preaching the gospel, preaching the universal fatherhood of God is not preaching the gospel, and preaching the universal brotherhood of man is not preaching the gospel. The gospel is the message of the cross.

Dear God, thank you for the cross!