What Does 1 Corinthians 1:17 Mean?
For the Anointed One did not send me out to immerse, but to bring good news, not with the wisdom of the word, so that the cross of the Anointed One would not be emptied.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The cross is emptied when verbal brilliance is made to carry the force that belongs to its message.
THE MEANING
The cross meets you as the substance of the message, not as an idea that verbal brilliance must activate. When polished speech becomes its proof of power, the cross’s proclamation is made hollow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that persuasive polish is what makes the cross powerful.
THE ROOT
κενωθῇ
kenōthē
GROWS FROM
κεν- (ken-), from κενόω (kenoō)
The κεν- stem carries the sense of empty; κενόω (kenoō) means to empty or render empty.
“emptied” in this verse is kenōthē. “None effect” conceals an image of emptying: verbal display can hollow out the cross’s proclamation. The same verb names Christ’s self-emptying in Philippians 2:7, placing the cross’s message beside a self-giving emptiness.
ALSO GROWS
kenos: Empty; without content
κενός
This related adjective shows that the verse’s image is one of substance being emptied away.
ekenōsen: Emptied himself
ἐκένωσεν
The same verb describes Christ’s self-emptying in Philippians 2:7, where it takes the form of servanthood.
ἀπέστειλεν
apesteilen
GROWS FROM
ἀποστέλλω
apostellō
To send out or commission.
“sent out” in this verse is apesteilen. The sentence begins with a sending verb: it names the particular commission Paul receives. Its grammar centers that commission on announcing the gospel, while the final clause guards the cross from being hollowed by display.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: One sent; a messenger
ἀπόστολος
This noun names a person through the sending that defines their work.
apostolē: Sending; commission
ἀποστολή
This branch keeps the focus on the assignment behind Paul’s words.
εὐαγγελίζεσθαι
euangelizesthai
GROWS FROM
εὐαγγελ-
euangel-
The stem names good news or its announcement, formed from εὖ (eu, good) and ἄγγελος (angelos, messenger).
“bring good news” in this verse is euangelizesthai. The verb centers the work on announcing a message: the good news has substance before any polish of the speaker. The message is carried by a messenger; the messenger’s verbal skill is not what makes it good news.
ALSO GROWS
euangelion: Good news; gospel
εὐαγγέλιον
The related noun names the message Paul is sent to announce.
angelos: Messenger
ἄγγελος
This branch reveals the messenger within the word family and clarifies the work of announcing.
THE PATTERN
The force of God’s work is not produced by human display; it rests in what God does.
Then he answered and said to me, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by army, nor by strength, but by my breath, says the LORD of hosts.No king is delivered by the multitude of an army; a mighty one is not snatched free by much strength.And my word and my heralding were not in persuasive words of man's wisdom, but in a showing of breath and of power.THE THREAD
But he emptied himself, taking the shape of a servant, and became in the likeness of humankind.The verb behind “made of none effect” is the same one rendered “made himself of no reputation” here. In Corinthians it names the danger of emptying the cross through speech; here it names Christ’s own self-emptying, which takes the shape of a servant.
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