The address given at the 2025 graduation ceremony of Auckland Park Theological Seminary.

My Journey from Non-religious to Pastoral Ministry

I was raised in an atheistic home without any exposure to the Bible or church life. Six months after my conversion, I applied to this seminary to pursue training as a full-time pastor. My application posed challenges for the screening committee due to my complete lack of biblical and church knowledge. Ultimately, my acceptance came with a clear caution: I was instructed to remain silent in class, listen attentively, and learn, mindful that I would represent God in pastoral ministry. This caution profoundly shaped my ministry and prompted a persistent self-reflection: Am I certain that what I proclaim truly represents Jesus Christ? Is the content of my preaching, teaching, and counselling congruent with the authentic voice of the Church? This led me on the path of enquiry in understanding what the voice of the Church is. By the voice of the Church, I do not mean the voice of any particular denomination but rather the voice of Jesus Christ—the voice of the Gospel.

Understanding the Church’s Distinctive Voice in Ministry

The New Testament presupposes that the Church possesses a distinctive voice. As Cilliers (2004:23) articulates, the voice of the Church embodies the triune God, with Jesus—the crucified and risen Christ—at its very core. Consequently, the voice of the preacher, teacher, or counsellor must reflect this testimony concerning Jesus Christ.

This voice of the Church speaks both to believers and to the world and stands in fundamental contrast to secular discourse. Schoeman (2019) asserts that preaching constitutes the voice of the Church. In preaching, teaching, leading a home group, or counselling, one participates in this voice—namely, the voice of Jesus Christ—engaged in the appropriate witness to the present age.

Human agents are not autonomous custodians of this voice to manipulate according to personal preference or agenda. As Cilliers (2004:36) underscores, the voice uttered by teachers, preachers, or counsellors belongs not to the individual; rather, it must be the voice of the Church—that is, the voice of Jesus Christ embodied in the Gospel.

This raises essential theological questions regarding the nature of the voice of the Church: What constitutes its content? Who determines its character? How may one ascertain whether one’s own voice is genuinely aligned with that of the Church? The last question is particularly critical: does one’s voice truly correspond to the voice of the Church?

Paul’s Teaching on Christ Crucified as the Church’s Voice

These inquiries are by no means new. Paul addresses the voice of the Church explicitly in his first letter to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, he writes:

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

This Pauline declaration is profound and encapsulates a definitive description of the voice of the Church. While scholarship often emphasizes the contrast between human wisdom—rejected by Paul—and Jesus Christ as the wisdom of God, the phrase “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” entails a deeper theological significance. For Paul, the Church has but one voice: Jesus the crucified Christ. Every individual voice must align with this reality to achieve unity within the Church’s voice.

Significantly, in all Pauline references to Jesus Christ as being the wisdom of God, Christ is invariably described as crucified (cf. 1 Cor 1:21, 24; 2:7; Eph 3:10). To Paul, Christ crucified is the wisdom of God; there exists no separation between Christ and the cross. This salvific message of the cross extends equally to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Likewise, the crucified Christ and the resurrection cannot be separated.

Historical and Theological Significance of the Crucifixion

It is necessary to appreciate the full gravity of the crucifixion’s symbolism in the ancient world. Crucifixion was not merely a method of execution; it constituted a public declaration of total depravity, shame, absolute rejection, and abandonment. It marked the crucified individual as accursed and beyond restoration, irrespective of innocence or guilt. The cross did not raise questions of justice but pronounced an individual as utterly disgraced.

Historical inquiry establishes that Roman crucifixion was reserved for those deemed worthless, despised, and socially excluded (Cook 2019:20). Paul’s description of the Church’s voice gains depth when situated within this historical-religious context of the cross. Jesus’s crucifixion designated Him as one of the worst criminals, a cursed and abandoned man—even forsaken by God (cf. Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34). Humanity’s sin occasioned this supreme rejection.

Paul’s intentional and repeated references to “crucified” underscore the crucifixion as a central element in God’s salvific wisdom. The Church’s voice would be incomplete and, indeed, illegitimate if divorced from the reality of the crucifixion. For Paul, any separation between Christ and the cross is unthinkable. This alignment necessitates theological reflection: Why is it imperative for Paul—and for us—to speak in harmony with the Church’s voice as Jesus the crucified Christ?

The Cross and Resurrection: Foundation of the Church’s Message

Paul’s reference to Jesus Christ as crucified demands a twofold interpretive framework. The Church’s voice encapsulates the foundational pillars of Christian faith: the cross and the empty tomb (1 Cor 2:1-5). The cross and resurrection are inseparable; without the cross, the resurrection would lack significance, and without the resurrection, the cross’s message would be undermined (1 Cor 15:14). The Church proclaims not merely Jesus’s death on the cross but the victorious resurrection of Christ, wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus’s submission to death secured humanity’s liberation from sin and reconciliation with the Father, so His rising to life in the Spirit’s power secured eternal life for all who submit to His lordship.

The resurrection of Jesus was effected through the Holy Spirit’s power. Importantly, however, this power is not confined to Jesus alone; it extends to those who confess and submit to Jesus the crucified Christ. Believers likewise will be raised from bodily death by this Spirit-empowered resurrection (Romans 8:11; 1 Cor 6:14). Through the Spirit’s revelation of the risen Christ, Paul confidently proclaims that death has been decisively defeated (1 Cor 15:55).

The proclamation of Jesus as the Son of God was not solely accomplished by His crucifixion, as Jews struggled to accept a Messiah executed by Gentiles. His death did not inherently disclose His divine sonship. Nevertheless, the cross remains pivotal as the locus of humanity’s reconciliation with God. Jesus’ divine sonship was confirmed through His resurrection by the Holy Spirit’s power (Rom 1:4).

Sin situates humanity within the crucifixion narrative. Just as Jesus was separated from God on the cross, bearing human sin, so sin alienates humanity from God. This was poignantly manifested in Jesus’s agonized prayer at Gethsemane, where He—sweating blood—pleaded to avoid the coming cup, not out of fear of death per se, but due to the anticipation of complete separation and curse as humanity’s substitute. His agony expressed a profound estrangement from God, embracing the full burden of human sinfulness. From this, Paul grounds his conviction that the voice of the Church must be none other than Jesus the crucified Christ. The cross reveals humanity’s desperate need for salvation and the immeasurable scope of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Yet the message of the crucified Christ culminates not in death’s despair but in triumphant resurrection and eternal life.

Proclaiming Jesus the Crucified Christ in Modern Ministry

It is imperative to recognise that in many contemporary contexts the Church’s voice has been compromised by postmodern ideologies and moral failings, which marginalise the message of Jesus the crucified Christ. Today, the Church often proclaims a gospel devoid of the crucified Jesus. Hence, ministers are called to recommit to the centrality of Christ’s cross and resurrection by the Holy Spirit’s power. In your ministry, you bear the sacred responsibility to uphold the authentic voice of the Church—eschewing transient cultural trends and faithfully communicating the full gospel of Jesus the crucified Christ.

Individual voices misaligned with the Church’s voice effectively nullify its witness (cf. 1 Cor 1:17). Such voices become spiritually and socially ineffective. The Church’s voice is compromised when individual utterances deviate, frequently producing what Paul terms a “different gospel”: an illegitimate voice failing to represent the fullness of Jesus the crucified Christ (cf. 2 Cor 11:4; Gal 1:6). Although crucifixion conveys shame and disgrace, Paul boldly and unashamedly proclaims Jesus as the crucified Christ (cf. Rom 1:16), for the power of the Holy Spirit removes this shame of the cross. This mandate extends to all ministerial functions of preaching, teaching, counselling, and leadership in the Church. Join Paul in aligning your voice with that of the Church—the voice of Jesus the crucified Christ. May you come to identify with Paul’s affirmation: “I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Rom 15:19). May your voice resonate perpetually in harmony with the Church’s voice—Jesus the crucified Christ—who submitted Himself to death and in equal submission to the Holy Spirit’s power rose victorious as Jesus Christus crucifixus.

SOURCES

  • Cilliers, J.  2004.  The living voice of the Gospel. Revisiting the basic principles of preaching. Stellenbosch: Sun Press.
  • Cook, J.G.  2019.  Crucifixion in the Mediterranean world.  Zurich: Jorg Frey.
  • Rutledge, F.  2015.  The crucifixion: Understanding the death of Jesus.  Grand Rapids: Wm Eerdmans Publishing Company.
  • Schoeman, K.  2019.  The voice of the congregation – a significant voice to listen to.  Stellenbosch Theological Journal (vol 5 no 2). Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University.