👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾But We #Preach #Christ #Crucified (1 Cor. 1:22)
Part 2
Dearly beloved in Christ, grace and peace from our Lord be multiplied unto you. Today we meditate upon the central proclamation of our faith: Christ crucified. Let our hearts open as we journey into the mysteries entrusted to us.
1. The True Identity of Christ
Our Lord confronted doubt in Caesarea Philippi: “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matt. 16:13). This question compels us to confess His true nature as revealed in Scripture.
Why is this essential?
To avoid stumbling in our walk with Him.
To know whether our salvation rests upon a mere creature or the Creator Himself.
As He declared, “Blessed is he who does not stumble in Me.” (Luke 7:23) He who walked among us, drank, ate, and grew as a man, yet remained without sin, unshaken in His divine sonship and divine nature.
2. Affirmation in the Orthodox Creed
Our Holy Tewahedo Church, upholding 81 canonical books, proclaims:
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, by whom all things visible and invisible were made… Light of Light, true God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father.
This doctrine stands upon the Gospel of St. John:
“In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God… All things were made through Him… The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”(John 1:1–14)
Thus, the incarnate Word divine yet truly united to our flesh bore two natures without confusion, without division, without alteration, and without separation. He is one Christ, one hypostasis, one person.
We reject Nestorian division, Eutychian fusion, and any error that divides or dissolves His true union. We acknowledge that after His resurrection and ascension, Christ remains true God and true Man priest, king, and intercessor.
3. Why He Became Man
Our Savior was not a distant redeemer sending angels, but the Lord Himself compassionate, merciful, and personally redeeming.
Isaiah declared:
“Not by a messenger or angel, but by Himself… He redeemed them.
John 3:16 echoes: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son...”
Christ assumed our weakness born in humility, crucified, died to save us from the eternal death that sin brought through Adam and Eve.
4. The Mystery of Redemption
Thus stands the mystery we preach: Christ crucified.
He did not come in glory to avoid death, but in humility to embrace it willingly.
He was crucified on a scandalous tree, shameful to human glory, yet powerful for our salvation (“excruciating” indeed means “out of the cross”) .
In that tree, He destroyed the bonds of sin, defeated the devil’s hold, and became a trophy of victory over death and corruption .
Chrysostom knew well that the Cross is not weak but the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). It is our shield, our weapon, our baptism's seal, and our ultimate example .
5. Living by the Cross
We are called to take up our cross daily. Living comfortably, in luxury or ease, is contrary to the Cross. Chrysostom lamented those who claim Christ yet avoid hardship (Phil. 3:18–19) .
To follow Christ requires:
Embracing humility and willingness to suffer,
Recognizing the Cross as the source of our Transformation,
Seeing that in our suffering, we are united to Him.
6. Glory Revealed in Suffering
Remember that when Christ hung upon the Cross, darkness fell from the sixth to the ninth hour signifying not defeat, but divine judgment, revelation, and the inauguration of a new covenant.
From the Cross flowed transformation for all creation:
It lifted fallen human nature from corruption into deification .
It broke every tyranny sin, death, demonic powers declaring Christ’s triumph .
Continues 👇🏾