Message Notes

Senior Sunday School 7 September 2025

Text: 1 Corinthians 2

Subject: “Declaring to you the testimony of God” 1 Cor 2:1-2

Lesson #9

1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:1-2

1. A brief review of Paul’s ministry

a) His coming to Corinth was recalled

b) He had ministered in Thessalonica, and he had been successful

c) But he was persecuted and had to flee from Thessalonica

d) He ministered briefly in Athens and spoke at the Aeropagus Acts 17

e) He reached Corinth and began a ministry that lasted for 18 months

2. A candid declaration of Paul’s approach to ministry

a) His ministry in Athens

i) It was the most recent one

ii) It was freshest on his mind

iii) There were lessons learned there

b) His determination to not come with “excellence of speech”

i) This does not mean that Paul spoke poorly

ii) He was not disdaining eloquence

iii) He was just not going to be like the philosophers he had met at the Aeropagus

iv) He was not going to focus on oratory as his means of speaking

c) He was also determined not to speak with “(human) wisdom”

i) He had already written on this subject about the limitations of human wisdom

ii) He had devoted time and energy in the first chapter of his epistle

iii) He would focus on the wisdom of God and not rely in human wisdom

3. The Testimony of God

a) The word translated “testimony” is an important one to note

b) The original text in Greek has this word “musterion”

c) Literally it means “mystery”

d) But what does this word mean?

i) It is reference to what God reveals

ii) Till God reveals a truth, it would remain as a “hidden mystery”

iii) Paul’s focused determination was to proclaim and to declare what God has revealed to the Apostles

iv) The NKJV translators chose the word “testimony”

4. Returning to what Paul had written earlier

a) Paul declared that his focus was to preach the message of the cross

b) His focus has not changed

c) He now speaks even more plainly

5. Paul’s determination

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2

a) This does not mean that he chose ignorance

b) To Paul the message of the Lord Jesus Christ and His crucifixion was a glorious “mystery’

c) There were many deep truths that may be derived from the message of the Lord Jesus and His crucifixion

d) This was what he determined

i) To fathom

ii) To declare

iii) To manifest in his life

OUR CHALLENGE

1. To know the “mysteries” of God

2. To stand fast in the revelation of the message of the cross

3. To share the Gospel with greater wisdom