Paul then states the basic fact of his preaching, the crucified Christ on the cross, 2: 1-2. We need to remind ourselves of the stark horror is referring to, which had happened only some twenty five years before. What happened on the cross turned upside down what both Jew Greeks accepted as wisdom. To the Jew, wisdom was found in the law and to the Greek, it was philosophical debate. The apostolic preaching which identified Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew who had been crucified had so -died an accursed death according to the Law, with the exp Messiah, the Christ, the living Son of God, the Lord who will return in glory to Judge the world, was offensive to the Jews and nonsense t Greeks (I :23). Yet this Jesus was the Wisdom of God. In this preaching which shocked and angered many who heard it, there was great hid spiritual power, the power of God's own Spirit, the Holy Spirit, penetrates and searches everything (2:6-16). True wisdom is the knowledge of God's plan for man's salvation, revealed to the man of fait the Holy Spirit. Human eloquence had no power to change the h heart, only the Spirit of God working through the stark fact of J Christ, suffering and crucified on the criminal's cross of execution (2:3-5). Paul reminded the Corinthians that most of them were humble people, of no influence in society, when God had chosen to reveal Wisdom to them, with transforming consequences in their lives, so that they were now God's people, set free from what had enslaved them before (1:26-31).

In this passage, Paul is trying to make his readers remember that when they became Christians, they moved to a new dimension of life, they found the Kingdom of God, to use the language of the gospels, and was entirely God's doing, not the result of any man's eloquence or per-suasion. The church in Corinth was breaking up into rival splinter groups because they were losing sight of what God had done for them all, in bringing them into union with him through Jesus Christ. They were looking only at human leaders, personalities and slogans; they were turning away from Jesus Christ towards self-centred interests. In doing this, they were destroying their church,