The Preaching of the Cross is a pastoral study material based on the text of chapter six of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The writer exposes in his dialogue with the recipients of the epistle the content of the doctrinal themes that they received from the beginning of their conversion, and by the way that the writer exposes them in relation to their spiritual growth and maturity, we note that these doctrinal themes were in their time the doctrinal ensemble of what eventually became known as the doctrine of the apostles.
The preaching of the Cross is the main message of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven preached from the time when John the Baptist began to preach, until the resurrection of Jesus, when the cycle of the work of redemption for humanity was closed. Thus, then, the preaching of the Cross became the collection of the basic doctrines of Salvation and Eternal Life. The Preaching of the Cross was widely known among the residents of Jerusalem, Judea, and even Samaria, as the Gospel of the Kingdom; however, within the Gentile communities it received the proper name of the Preaching of the Cross, classified as foolishness, of course, due to the fact that it did not appeal to the philosophical reason to which all those who inhabited the Hellenized regions were accustomed. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, leaves ample evidence of this when he writes his first epistle to the community of faith in Corinth:
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. 1st. Corinthians 1:17-18
But, although with a different name between the two groups, the doctrinal content was always the same. The doctrinal themes that formed part of the doctrine of the apostles, as recounted in the Epistle to the Hebrews, are the following:
- The doctrine of Christ, or the word of the beginning,
- We go on to perfection;
- Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works,
- And faith in God,
- Of the doctrine of baptisms,
- And the laying on of hands,
- And the resurrection of the dead,
And eternal judgment.
Although the preaching of the cross gathered all the doctrinal set of the doctrine of the apostles, it was never considered as scholarly material of teaching; the apostle Paul establishes it as the living doctrinal body of life in Christ and defines it as the power of God;
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1st. Corinthians 1:18
In the account of the book of Acts of the Apostles, it is even defined as the counsel of God. The Preaching of the cross is the super eminent greatness of His power for us who believe, it is the power of His strength that dwells in us. Thus, more than a pastoral study material, The Preaching of the Cross is an introductory material to the themes of salvation as preached in the early years of the founding of the Church; a material to know the fundamentals of the Gospel of the Kingdom and the hope of our salvation b
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