“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this World? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching (that is, by the simplicity of a proclamation) to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, but Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” —1 Corinthians 1:17-24

In this passage the Apostle Paul is not seeking in the slightest degree to under-value Christian baptism when he says, “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” He is seeking to get us to realize that the important thing is making known the good news; then of course when people believe the good news it is right and proper they should be baptized. Paul so decreed even in Corinth, the city to which this letter was directed, for we are told in the book of Acts, “Many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.” But the great thing to emphasize is not any Christian ordinance, no matter how precious, but the Gospel which is set forth in that ordinance. The apostle said, “My message is the good news and I seek to preach it not with wisdom of words.” That is, he did not try to adorn his addresses with oratorical splendor and rhetorical platitudes lest the people would be so taken up with the manner of presentation they would fail to get the message itself.

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