Qualifications For Evangelism

Our greatest purpose in this life is to preach the life-saving and life-changing Gospel to a world that desperately needs to hear and receive it.

I read this passage this morning that went hand-in-hand with that command...

1 Corinthians 2:1-4 (KJV) And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

My initial afterthought was how this is a perfect portrait of the qualifications for evangelism...

1. A witness need not have excellency of speech or of wisdom. He/She should simply declare what he/she has seen and heard.

2. He/She must not get sidetracked with unnecessary details, but focus on the essentials of Christ's death on the cross.

3. He/She must have weakness (not trusting in his/her own ability or strength).

4. He/She must have fear (in Greek, "phobos", that which is caused by being scared).

5. He/She must have much trembling (awareness of his/her insufficiency).

Do you meet these qualifications?

Matthew Henry sums up the truth we find contained in just this single chapter...

"The plain manner in which the apostle preached Christ crucified. (1-5) The wisdom contained in this doctrine. (6-9) It cannot be duly known but by the Holy Spirit. (10-16)"

As for these 4 specific verses? Henry clarifies things for us to hammer home the point...

"Christ, in his person, and offices, and sufferings, is the sum and substance of the gospel, and ought to be the great subject of a gospel minister's preaching, but not so as to leave out other parts of God's revealed truth and will. Paul preached the whole counsel of God. Few know the fear and trembling of faithful ministers, from a deep sense of their own weakness They know how insufficient they are, and are fearful for themselves. When nothing but Christ crucified is plainly preached, the success must be entirely from Divine power accompanying the word, and thus men are brought to believe, to the salvation of their souls."

But there's so much more here that we need to look at!

The context is important here too. Paul is writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the troubled church at Corinth. He knew they were divided, and that their division was a symptom of their exaggerated and carnal esteem for men.

The term "humanism" would not be out of place to describe the culture in Corinth and the root of corruption in the church. Paul responds by exalting divine wisdom above human.

The second chapter begins with a memo (a reminder) to the saints at Corinth, that when Paul delivered the Gospel to them, the main thing was Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Paul’s work there (see Acts 18) was not about competing with the highly esteemed wisdom and oratory of men. Paul didn’t care to enter into competition with the highly acclaimed styles of public speaking in the Grecian culture.

He came to tell them about Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that their “faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

Why isn't that enough for some Preachers these days?

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