For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. – 1 Corinthians 1:17

Two quick thoughts on this. First, Paul’s attention isn’t beginning to drift at this point in his argument. This pivot is crucial to his argument. Where factions and divisions exist in the Body, Christ is the answer.

Second, eloquent words of wisdom would empty the power of an objective, historical event. Keep reading 1 Corinthians 1 and you’ll see that God’s wisdom trumps human wisdom and the wisdom of God is the cross of Christ. Human wisdom consists in arguments and theories, God’s wisdom is an event, it is actions. Men write thesis and dissertations, God writes his wisdom in the history of the world. Amazing.