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1 Corinthians Chapter One

1 Cor. 1:23

The story is told of a small English village that had a tiny chapel whose stone walls were covered by traditional ivy. Over an arch was originally inscribed the words: We preach Christ crucified. There had been a generation of godly men who did precisely that: they preached Christ crucified.

But times changed. The ivy grew and pretty soon covered the last word. The inscription now read: We Preach Christ. Other men came and they did preach Christ: Christ the example, Christ the humanitarian, Christ the ideal teacher.

As the years passed, the ivy continued to grow until finally the inscription read: We preach. The generation that came along then did just that: they preached economics, social gospel, book reviews, just about anything.

The story probably isn’t literally true, but it does illustrate how man’s philosophical detours affect how the gospel is transmitted.