Question 10: Is that enough?

 

For I decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

 

1 Corinthians 2:1-5“Brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not come with eloquent words or wisdom (hyporeken). For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When I was with you, I was weak, fearful, and trembling. My speech (ho logos mu) and my preaching (to kerygma) were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on God’s power.”

Hyporeken (ὑπεροχὴν) means excellence. Excellence in speech and wisdom is a phrase used for worldly leaders. The phrase “I among you” means “when I am with you.” Paul is speaking of what he learned and heard the voice of Jesus Christ when he met Him in Damascus.

"Pros hymas" (πρὸς ὑμᾶς) means "when looking at you." Paul says that when he preached while looking at the believers of the Corinthian church, he was weak, fearful, and trembling greatly. The reason for this is that although Paul spoke relying solely on the Logos within his heart, he had personally been immersed in Jewish legalism for a long time and had not learned about Christianity professionally.

Ho Logos Mu (ὁλόγος μου) is the word of Ho Logos that comes through my mouth. To Kerygma (τὸ κήρυγμά) is conveying the essence of the Gospel. The phrases "my words" and "my evangelism" mean that I listen to the voice of Ho Logos present in my heart and convey the essence of the Gospel. When conveying the essence of the Gospel, it is not done doctrinally or theoretically, but rather spoken under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, centering on what he has experienced.

When guided by the Holy Spirit, one contemplates and interprets the Word within the context of God's overall will, grasps its meaning, and conveys it. Otherwise, one becomes bound by doctrine and conveys it with a completely different meaning.

God's overall will signifies the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross. Any word that lacks the death and resurrection is clearly the language of the world or easily distorted into words considered personally wise.

From a worldly perspective, this means having the desire to restore the Eden that caused original sin within this world and to live in the world forever. However, from the perspective of the Kingdom of God, it means that beings of the Kingdom of God die to the body of sin, are born into a new body, and return to their original place.

However, the Bible tells us not to love the world. 1 John 2:15-17 states, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever."

God created all things in the world, and His command not to love the world means that the world is not a place where God's will is found. The Bible compares the world to Egypt during the Exodus. The journey of the Israelites leaving Egypt and going to Canaan symbolizes the people living in this world entering the Kingdom of God.

The Israelites living in Egypt originally resided in the land God had promised to Abraham, but they were forced to enter Egypt due to famine. Spiritually, famine signifies a state devoid of God's word. This implies that the people of God's kingdom spiritually departed from God and migrated into the world; through this metaphor, it explains exactly how humans came to be born into the world and live in it.

However, people living in this world want to live in this world forever. Since God created the world and blessed it, they want to restore Eden and live forever. Therefore, although the physical body dies, they want the dead body to be resurrected exactly as it was and live in eternal life.

The Bible says that God created the world, created man, established Eden, and placed the first man there. Although the flesh lives in the world, He causes one to live spiritually within Eden. Eden signifies the Kingdom of God within the human heart. Through that Kingdom of God within the heart, one comes to know the Kingdom of God, and thus, dialogue with God takes place. And because the flesh exists, dialogue with Satan also takes place.

The first man, created in the image of God, entered Eden, but he died. Adam and Eve were recreated and lived in Eden; however, because they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—a poisonous mushroom—they died spiritually and became carnal beings living in the world. Consequently, they lost the Kingdom of God. The image of God was the temple symbolizing the Kingdom of God within the heart. In that temple, the man and woman met, conversed with, and lived with God; but because they committed sin, they were cast out into the world, and God also departed from that temple.

God said that if one eats the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, one will die again and again; the first death is being expelled from Eden, and the second death is the death of the physical body and returning to the Kingdom of God. In Genesis 2:17, it says, "But you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely (mut) die (mut)." The word "mut" appears twice. It should have been translated as "you shall die again and again," but it was translated incorrectly.

Every human being born into the world is spiritually dead. Therefore, humans who came into the world to live again spiritually were able to meet God through sacrificial offerings. In the New Testament, this sacrificial offering becomes the eternal atoning death of Jesus Christ. One who dies united with Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, is the one who reaches the second death.

Romans 6:4-5: "Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be united with him in a resurrection like his."

A saint united with Jesus Christ who has reached the second death becomes one who has already been judged by God. Therefore, having been judged, they return to their original place. It signifies completing one's imprisonment in this world and returning to the Kingdom of God where one originally was. This is resurrection.

What the Apostle Paul intends to convey is precisely this kind of death on the cross and resurrection. Without the death on the cross, there is no resurrection. It means that without paying the price for sin, there is no eternal life. Since Jesus Christ has paid that price for sin, believers simply need to believe that they have died united with Jesus. However, one must understand why one must die united with Jesus. Simply telling people to believe unconditionally without knowing the cause leads to wrong results.