And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
And I - So I, I also, as one of the 'foolish, weak, and despised' instruments employed by God: 'glorying in the Lord,' not in man's wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:27-31). My mode of speaking and acting accords with God's plan.
When I came (Acts 18:1, etc.) Paul might, had he pleased, have used an ornate style, having studied at Tarsus of Cilicia, famed for learning: here he read the Cilician Aratus' poems (which he quotes, Acts 17:28), and Epimenides (Titus 1:12), and Menander (1 Corinthians 15:33). Grecian intellect prepared the way for the Gospel, but failed to regenerate the world; for this a superhuman power is needed. Hellenistic (Grecizing) Judaism at Tarsus and Alexandria was the connecting link between the schools of Athens and those of the Rabbis. No more fitting birthplace could there have been for the apostle of the Gentiles than Tarsus. He had the Roman citizenship, which protected him from sudden violence. He was reared in the Hebrew divine law at Jerusalem. Thus, as the three elements, Greek cultivation, Roman polity (Luke 2:1), and the Jewish divine law, combined at Christ's time to prepare the world for the Gospel, so the same three met in the apostle to the Gentiles.
Testimony of God - "the testimony of Christ' (1 Corinthians 1:6): therefore Christ is God. So B D G f g, Vulgate. But 'Aleph (') A C read 'the mystery of Christ' (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:7). The one thing that I determined to know among you was Jesus Christ (His person) and Him crucified (His office). Christ's crucifixion was not to be kept in the background, to avoid offending learned pagans and Jews. Nay, Paul judged it to be the central truth to know savingly, so as to speak effectively, everywhere (Philippians 3:10). Christ's person and Christ's office are the sum of the Gospel.