Preaching requires a believing response and leads to salvation Paul attaches great significance to the preaching of this received word and to the hearers’ response to it. The Corinthians ‘are being saved’ by the preached word, but only ‘if you hold fast to the word I preached to you’ (15:2). To question or deny the faithfully preached word is incomprehensible to Paul: ‘Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?’ (15:12). The faithful proclamation of this received word should be sufficient to put doubt to rest and
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How could God make our eternal destiny depend on hearing and believing the gospel?!
Naturalistically (atheistically) speaking, that once’s eternal destiny depends upon their response to preaching it is too much to handle. Think of all the faltering preachers, the distractions, the baggage of the hearers, etc. etc. How could salvation be based in such a faltering, partial, humanoid activity as preaching?
But remember that in Paul’s theology preaching is ultimately God speaking to minds and hearts, ultimately bringing about the miracle of faith against all odds in this fallen world. Ultimate one’s destiny does not rest in the feeble hands of the preacher not lie at the mercy of one’s personal hangups or misfortunes.
Both gospel preaching and the saving faith it produces are human-mediated Divine activities or they are nothing at all.
