“The motto of all true servants of God must be, ‘We preach Christ; and Him crucified.’ A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
1876
too good for words
ReplyDeleteDon't know whether Spurgeon read Greek or if you do, but English translators mistranslate the verb for crucify here (1 Cor. 1:23) and a few verses down in 2:2 that Spurgeon seems to have partially merged with 1:23. In both places he uses the perfect passive participle of estauroo (to crucify). It transforms the verb into a durative (permanent status) adjective or adverb. I translate it as "We preach Christ, The Crucified [One]". Durative means when I see Him in heaven and hail Him as The Crucified, He will respond. The grammar the Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to use promises this.
ReplyDeleteAlso, notice what's missing here in 1:23 and 2:2? RESURRECTION. In fact, the Greek verb for "resurrection" is given the perfect passive participle construction only once, and in a context that is non-soteriological. What does the grammar tell Christians? Crucifixion is of primary importance, resurrection, though vital and necessary, is secondary to crucifixion. So, Pastor Neglia, are you celebrating the crucifixion on Good Friday or are you doing as all the other "Protestants" do: ignore the commemoration of the Lord's Great Work as Great Sacerdotal Priest, the sacrifice and sacrificer? If so, I pray that changes this year.
Whatever you mean. Yet Christ's death would mean nothing to a sinner like me if He never resurrected.
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