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The Greek poet Archilochus said, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Building on this insight, Isaiah Berlin divided “writers and thinkers” between those “who relate everything to a single central vision” and “those who pursue many ends.” Using Berlin’s taxonomy, we might say that Paul was a hedgehog whose “one big thing” was Jesus Christ. 

Consider what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5: 

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. 

We’ve already looked at this passage once and seen that while the Corinthians liked nice speeches, Paul preferred changed lives. I want to look at this passage again, this time focusing on Paul’s “single central vision,” which is “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 

Life has many problems. Our bodies age, grow sick, and die. We face financial shortfalls. Family and friends hurt and disappoint us. All of these are important problems, and the Bible outlines solutions to each. But each of these problems pales in comparison to our spiritual problem, which is alienation from God resulting in the judgment of God.  

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul asks, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?” He goes on to list several sins as examples of wickedness. (The list is illustrative, not exhaustive.) Then he reminds the Corinthians of the good news: “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 

Our basic problem is spiritual, not physical, material, or social. Even if we solved the latter three problems, we would still have to face the first. Paul’s priority was God’s solution to our spiritual problem, which is reconciliation to God through the death of Jesus Christ. Christ’s death and resurrection are “God’s power” for salvation. Any time sinners turn to Jesus Christ as a result of the preaching of the cross, their changed lives are “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” 

Paul doesn’t neglect the other problems. In 1 Corinthians and his other letters, he offers solutions to the problems we face in our health, our wealth, and our relationships. But first and foremost, he calls on us to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). 

In our daily lives, most of us are foxes. We have to know many things, if only because we need to make a living. But as we do so, let us not forget Paul’s hedgehog wisdom: Know Christ!

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Anglican. Evangelical. Missional leader. Those are three excellent descriptors of Stott, and they come across clearly in Roger Steer’s very readable biography. The title of the biography, Basic Christian, riffs off the title of one of Stott’s best-known books, Basic Christianity. It is subtitled, The Inside Story of John Stott, and it focuses on Stott’s personal life and associates….

To read my entire review of Roger Steer’s Basic Christian, click here.