Did Jesus send Paul to baptize or to preach the gospel?
Scripture states that Christ sent Paul not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Paul refutes baptism as his commission, contrasting himself with John the Baptist, who was commissioned to Israel to baptize with the baptism of repentance. The central theme is the gospel, not baptism.
Les explains that in 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul admonishes the Corinthians to forget their divisions and remembers that the central theme for all believers—rich or poor, Jew or Gentile—is God's grace, which brings us to the gospel, not to a baptism. Paul says, "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." John the Baptist was commissioned to Israel to baptize with the baptism of repentance, but Paul refutes that for himself. Paul did not come with the wisdom of words or human mentality; talking yourself blue in the face won't save anyone. It is when the Holy Spirit opens the heart, as with Lydia in Philippi, that people attend to the things spoken by Paul. So Paul's commission was to preach the gospel, not to baptize.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.