In illustration of this passage, it will be attempted, to explain the import of the phrase, the preaching of the cross—to enumerate some of the instances and causes of such preaching being accounted foolishness—and to describe the fearful state and prospects of those who hold it in such low estimation.
The preaching of the cross is a plain and full announcement of all the essential truths of that system which provides pardon and salvation for the lost and guilty. The cross is the symbol of that amazing expedient of infinite wisdom and mercy, by which a treaty of reconciliation is offered to convicted traitors against Jehovah's government. Its exhibition therefore must require a developement of the principles, and a defence of the doctrines, peculiar to this gracious dispensation.
The grand fact, which constitutes the very essence and glory of the Gospel, and which it is the leading object of the Christian ministry to announce; is, that He, who took upon himself the form of a servant, and offered up the sacrifice of Calvary, is God over all, blessed for ever. This gives to the cross all its glory and efficacy. It is on the supreme Deity of Christ—on the expiation made for sin by the Maker and Sovereign of worlds—that the whole fabric of evangelical truth rests. On any other supposition, the sacrifice of the cross was a very ordinary affair. If the Saviour of sinners be not God—if he be a created being, of whatever grade,—where is the mystery of Godliness?—Where those unfathomable depths of divine love, into which the angels desire to look? If Christ be only a servant of God, however exalted, what was there, in his appearance on our world, to constitute a new era in heaven, and to fill its inhabitants with astonishment and ecstasy? Did the heavenly host descend in rapture, and cause the mountains of Judea to reecho with their acclamations, because a dependent creature had consented to do his Maker's will? Whence the ascription of glory to God in the highest, and why do the courts above resound with a new song of praise to God for his redeeming mercy, if this redemption was effected by the labours and sufferings of one inferior to the Deity? Was such a dispensation as that of Moses, designed simply to prepare the way for a messenger of God to declare his will, and to seal the testimony with his blood, as many good men have done, both before and since? Why did patriarchs and prophets foretell his coming, and celebrate his praises?—Why did the continual offering of divinely appointed sacrifices, for many centuries, typify his sufferings?—And why did nature shudder, and shroud herself in darkness, at the consummation of those sufferings? All these things are utterly inexplicable, on the supposition that Christ is a created dependent being.
But view him as God manifest in the flesh—view him as voluntarily laying aside his glory, and descending from the throne of infinite majesty, to assume the nature, and expiate the guilt of a ruined race;—and we are struck with the appropriateness of all the attending circumstances. The splendid ceremonials of the Jewish ritual, and the raptured songs of prophets and of angels were well employed to prepare the way for the visible manifestation of Deity among men. The annunciation of the divine nature of the Redeemer must, therefore, be an essential part of the preaching of the cross.
Equally indispensable is a decided testimony to that perfect atonement for sin, which was made by this great offering. Here is the only foundation of human hope. This was the grand object accomplished by the Saviour's sufferings. Thus was completely solved the mysterious problem, which all created intelligences had deemed inexplicable—how sin could be remitted, without infringing the rights and tarnishing the honour of the divine government—and how the guilty could be rescued from wrath, without a forfeiture of the divine veracity. Never indeed was the divine law so completely vindicated, or the claims of justice so awfully asserted, as when the Lawgiver offered himself as a ransom. And no other possible manifestation of the malignity and atrocity of sin, of the divine abhorrence of all iniquity, and, at the same time, of the exhaustless treasures of redeeming mercy, could equal that which was witnessed on Calvary. As, therefore, Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so is the cross to be held up now, by its heralds, to a perishing world. Its atoning sacrifice is to be proclaimed, and its purchased blessings offered to lost sinners, as their only hope—their only remedy.
Another important part of the preaching of the cross consists in a full disclosure of the entire depravity and helplessness of our fallen nature. This doctrine lies at the foundation of Christianity. It is from the corruption of our race, the dominion of spiritual death, and the actual sentence of condemnation, that the necessity arises for so great salvation. If hope could have been afforded from any other source, if there had been any possibility of the sinner's expiating his own guilt, and restoring himself to the divine favour, the great Sacrifice would never have been offered. But until men are convinced of their apostacy and corruption, they will never be persuaded of the truth and necessity of the great atonement. And until they feel themselves justly condemned, and utterly helpless, they will never come as humble suppliants to a Saviour's feet.
The work of the Holy Spirit, in enlightening and renewing the hearts of sinners, and thus carrying on to their accomplishment the purposes of divine mercy, forms also an important portion of the message of the Gospel. It is the glorious achievement of the cross, to slay the enmity and subdue the stubbornness of the sinful heart: and the infinite blessing purchased by the Saviour's blood, is the gift of the Holy Spirit, to effectuate that transformation of character, that spiritual regeneration, without which salvation is utterly impossible. The preaching of the cross, therefore, must include an unwavering declaration, that the working of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost are indispensable to salvation.
It is moreover essential to a faithful preaching of the cross, that justification by faith in Christ, should be distinctly declared as the only ground of a sinner's hope. That view of the Gospel which represents it as bestowing upon man a power of fulfilling God's holy law—or as so lowering its demands as to render his imperfect obedience acceptable—is most dishonourable to God, and ruinous to the souls of men. No such provisions are found in the treaty of reconciliation sent from Heaven. So far from abrogating, the Gospel exalts and honours the law. So far from diminishing its strictness, it adds emphasis to its claims, and fully meets its unmitigated requisitions. Most gloriously has Christ vindicated the divine justice, by receiving its avenging sword in his own bosom, as the Substitute, or surety for sinners; and most effectually has he provided for their salvation, by rendering the exercise of pardoning mercy consistent with the principles of the divine government, and by working out for them a perfect righteousness, which may render them just before God. By faith, the penitent sinner receives all these blessings—is rescued from wrath, delivered from the guilt and bondage of sin, and made a child of God, and an heir of eternal life. Thus the triumph of the cross is complete, the pride of human merit is humbled in the dust, and all the glory of the salvation of sinners is rendered to the riches of redeeming mercy.
In fine, the preaching of the cross includes a faithful denunciation of eternal misery, as the inevitable doom of all who pass from this state of probation, unrenewed by the Spirit of grace, unwashed in the blood of the Lamb.
Such are the essential principles of that system of redemption, which engaged the counsels of heaven from eternity; and which was carried into effect, not like the work of creation, by a single word of the Son of God, but by his assuming human nature, enduring a long exile of toil and reproach, and humbling himself unto death, even the death of the cross.