The Divine Lamp » Notes on 1 Corinthians

Introduction to 1 Corinthians (Part 8) by Father Charles Callan

Dim Bulb — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:34:14 +0000

This post completes the Introduction to First Corinthians by Father Charles Jerome Callan. I posted it earlier on my other blog, a site which contains all the posts found here and more besides. You can view all the notes on 1 Corinthians which that other site offers by going to my NOTES ON 1 CORINTHIANS Page.

8. Division and Analysis. In this Epistle we distinguish three main parts: an Introduction (1:1-9), a Body (1:10-15:58), and a Conclusion (16).

1. The introduction contains: [a] the salutation of St Paul and his “brother” Sosthenes to the Church at Corinth and to all those who call upon the name of the Jesus Christ (1:1-3); [b] and expression of thanksgiving to God for the gifts of speech and knowledge accorded the Corinthians, and a hope of their final perseverance, founded on the faithfulness of God and their communion with Jesus Christ (1:4-9).

2. The Body of the Epistle falls naturally into two divisions, of which the first (1:10-6:20) reprehends the vices of the Corinthians, and the second, (7:1-15:58) replies to their letter and questions.

A. The First Part of the Body of the letter, also composed of two parts, condemns first the divisions in the Corinthian Church (1:10-4:21), and secondly the moral disorders among the faithful at Corinth.

There ought to be unity in the Church, but it is a fact that there are divisions among the faithful (1:10-12). These factions are most injurious to the Church of which Christ is the center and head (1:13-17a). The fact that the Gospel was preached in simplicity to the Corinthians should not be a cause of dissension or disagreement, because God’s message is not after the manner of human conceptions, but according to divine wisdom (1:17b-3:4). Preachers of the Gospel are simply ministers and instruments of God and must render an account of their stewardship (3:5-17). The faithful, therefore, ought not to glory in this or that preacher, but in God alone: He only is the judge of His ministers (3:18-4:6). Humility is necessary in preachers of the Gospel (4:7-13). St Paul has suffered much for the faithful, and they should imitate him (4:14-16). The Apostle is sending Timothy to visit the Corinthians and he himself will come shortly (4:17-21).

Following upon their lack of unity, moral disorders and relaxation of religious discipline set in among the Corinthians, The faithful should have put out of their number the incestuous man, whom St Paul now excommunicates (5:1-5). That case was a cause of grave scandal; the Corinthians should remember the warning contained in the Apostle’s first letter, to avoid sinners (5:6-13). Disputes among Christians should not be carried to heathen courts; those who are the cause of such lawsuits shall receive a severe judgment (6:1-11). All things lawful are not expedient; the faithful must fly from the sin of fornication.

B. The Second Part of the Body of the letter (7:1-15:58) replies to the questions and the doubts raised by the Corinthians.

Matrimony and its use are perfectly lawful (7:1-9). Marriage is indissoluble (7:10-24). The state of celibacy is more excellent than that of matrimony (7:25-40).

With regard to meats offered to idols it is to be noted that such meats are not bad in themselves, although it may necessary to avoid them on account of scandal (8:1-13). On account of the danger of scandal, the apostle says it is sometimes necessary to forego one’s rights, as he himself did in refusing support from the faithful (9:1-18). He suffered countless privations and made many sacrifices for the salvation of souls (9:19-23). Thus also should the Corinthians be willing to make sacrifices in order to save their souls (9:24-27). Many benefits received from God are no guarantee that we shall be saved (10:1-13). Therefore, all things being considered, the faithful should take no part in sacrifices offered to idols; we cannot be on the side of God and of His enemies at the same time (10:14-22).

At the public services of the Church women should have their heads covered, as is evident from various considerations (11:2-16). All disorders and unseemly conduct are especially out of place at the Eucharistic celebration (11:17-22). The institution of the Lord’s Supper, and the manner in which it should be observed (11:23-34).

The Corinthians have abused their spiritual gifts, allowing them to become an occasion of pride and envy. The extraordinary gifts which the faithful enjoy come from God. They should not be a source of discord, since they all come from the same Holy Spirit (12:1-11). The faithful are all members of the same spiritual body; and hence they who possess lesser gifts should not envy those who are blessed with greater ones; and, on the other hand, those who are more highly favored should not despise their more humble brethren (12:12-30). While each one ought to be content with the gifts he has, it is not forbidden to desire the better ones (12:31). The most excellent of all the gifts and virtues is charity, without which everything else is as nothing (13:1-3). The nature of charity; it endures forever (13:4-13). Of the gifts of tongues and prophecy the latter is more excellent, because more useful to the faithful and to unbelievers as well (14:1-26). Some practical directions are necessary with regard to the use of the various spiritual gifts (14:27-36). St Paul observes that he is speaking with divine authority (14:37-40).

Regarding the resurrection of the dead St Paul affirms its truth and reality, proving it first from the Resurrection of Christ (15:1-28), and then from a practice of some of the faithful and from his own life and sufferings (15:29-34). Next the manner of the resurrection and the qualities of the glorified bodies are explained (15:35-50). The just shall be transformed at the coming of Christ (15:51-53). The victory of Christ over death (15:54-58).

3. The Conclusion of the Epistle (16) treats [a] of the collection to be made for the poor in Jerusalem (16:1-4); [b] of the Apostle’s forthcoming visit (16:5-9); [c] of the welcome that should be extended to Timothy and Apollo (16:10-12); [d] of the necessity of earnestness and love (16:13-14); [e] of the charity and gratitude the Corinthians ought to show towards their delegates Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (16:15-18). The Epistle closes with a greeting, a warning and a blessing (16:19-24).

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Introduction to 1 Corinthians (Parts 4 & 5) by Father Chrales Callan

Dim Bulb — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:01:49 +0000

I posted this on my other blog, which contains everything found on this site and more.

4. Date and Place of Writing. From 1 Cor 16:8 it is clear that this letter was written at Ephesus; and from 1 Cor 16:5, where there is a question of a proximate visit to Macedonia, it is also clear that it was written toward the end of the Apostle’s sojourn in Ephesus on his third missionary journey, very probably in the spring of the year 57; for it was about this time that Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia (Acts 19:22), just shortly before the tumult stirred up by Demetrius (Acts 19:23 ff.), following which St Paul left Asia. That the Epistle was written around Paschal time also seems very probable from the allusions in it to the Pasch, to unleavened bread (5:6-7; 15:20, 23; 16:15), and to the Resurrection of Christ (15:4, 12). Cornely thinks it was written in 58. The exact time depends on the date assigned to the close of St Paul’s stay in Ephesus on his third missionary journey, and since this cannot be fixed with entire certainty and precision, the date given for the writing of the Epistle can be only approximate.

The Epistle was probably carried to Corinth by the delegates who had come from there to Ephesus, namely Stephanus, Fortanatus and Achaicus. This is according to the note attached to the end of the letter in the Received Text. That Timothy could not have delivered the letter to the Corinthians, as some have said, seems evident from the fact that he had departed for Macedonia before it was completed.

5. Authenticity and Canonicity. The authenticity of this Epistle has been so universally accepted by critics of practically every school that it seems hardly necessary to cite arguments in proof of it. Even the German Rationalists of the Tubingen School admitted as genuine the Epistles to the Corinthians, the Romans and the Galatians. A few minor objections to 1 Corinthians have in recent times been raised by such Rationalists as Bruno Baur, Nabor, Pierson and Loman; but they are too insignificant to merit any serious attention. It will be sufficient, therefore, to give some of the principle proofs for its genuineness and canonicity.

(a) External proofs. This Epistle was certainly known to the earliest ecclesiastical writers. Clement of Rome, who was the friend and companion of St Paul (Phil 4:3), and later Bishop of Rome (Euseb., Hist. Eccl. 111. 4), in his first letter to the Corinthians (47:1-3) wrote about the year 98 as follows: “Take up the Epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul. What did he write to you at the time when the Gospel first began to be preached? Truly, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he wrote to you concerning himself and Cephas, and Apollo, because even the parties had been formed among you,” etc. Polycarp, the disciple of St John the Evangelist, in his letter to the Philippians (11:2) cites 1 Cor 6:2, attributing it directly to St Paul: “Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world, as Paul teaches.” The enumeration of the vices of the Philippians given by Polycarp in the same letter is exactly parallel with 1 Cor 6:9-10, and terminates with the very words of the Apostle: “They shall not possess the Kingdom of God.” In the Greek edition of the letters of St Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (circa 98-117), there are many quotations from this Epistle. St Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons and a disciple of Polycarp, cites (Adv. Haer. 111. 11, 9; 18, 2) the Epistle over sixty times, often observing that it is the work of St Paul and was written to the Corinthians. Clement of Alexandria (Pædag. 1. 6) and Tertullian (De rusur. mort. 18) also cites 1 Corinthians a great number of times, and frequently by name. Many other authorities might be given in proof of the authorship of this Epistle, but it will be sufficient to add that it was also admitted as authentic by Basilides, Marcion and other heretics of the first centuries.

(b) Internal proofs. Even a casual examination of the nature and contents of the present Epistle shows beyond question that it was written by St Paul. Its historical facts and dogmatic teaching, its peculiarity of language and style, the manner in which it refers to the Old Testament, the characteristic way in which arguments are developed, beginning with general principles and coming to particular conclusions, the personal touches which it bears on every page,-all prove conclusively that it could not have been written by anybody except the Apostle Paul. Moreover, all that we otherwise known of St Paul and of Corinth we find to be in perfect agreement with the information furnished by this Epistle. As Charles Baur has said (Der Apostel Paulus, Stuttgart, 1845, vil. I, p. 260), “this letter is tis own guarantee of authenticity; for more than any other writing of the New Testament, it carries us to the living midst of the a Church in formation and gives us an inner view of the development of the new life called forth by Christianity.”

Introduction to 1 Corinthians (part 1) by Father Charles Callan

Dim Bulb — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:33:26 +0000

This was posted recently on my primary blog, which contains everything found on this site and more.

Due to the length of the introduction I have decided to divide it up into a series of posts. This first post looks at the city itself; its history, geographical importance, and social situation. Circumstances relating to St Paul’s ministry in the city and the production of the Letters to Corinth will be presented in future posts.

1. Corinth. The city to which the Corinthian letters were addressed, and which St Paul first visited and evangelized on his second missionary journey, was not the ancient metropolis by the same name. The old city, which Cicero called the “light of all Greece” (PRo Lege Manil. 5), was destroyed by the Romans under the generalship of Lucius Mummius in 146 B.C., and lay in complete ruins for an entire century. In 146 B.C. Julius Caesar laid on the anceint site the foundations of the new metropolis and called it Colonia Julia Corinthus.

In a comparatively short time the new city became nearly as populous and flourishing as the old one had been. This was due to its remarkable location. Lying at the southern extremity of the isthmus, about four miles in breadth, that connects the Peloponnesus or lower portion of the Grecian peninsula with the mainland, and fed by the two famous seaport towns, Lechaeum on the west and Cenchrae on the east of the isthmus, Corinth was bound to be, as it had been in the past, a commercial center of highest importance. Its position was conspicuous on the highway of commerce between the Orient and the Occident, and it was not without reason that the great business thoroughfare of the then-known world passed this way; for all trading between the East and Rome took this route in order to avoid the perilous and more or less continual storms that swept the seas about the southern coast of Greece. Although inferior to Athens as an intellectual center Corinth was very eminent in this respect also. It was proud of its many schools of philosophy and rhetoric, as well as the excellence of its architecture.

As might be expected, Corinth was unrivaled in its wealth, in the variety of its population, and in its profligacy. Being the capital of the Roman Province of Achaia it was the residence of the proconsul, and its political and civil influence was mainly Roman. Asiatics were also there from Ephesus, and Jews in sufficient numbers to have their synagogues. And yet, having been Greek in its origin, the city never lost the spirit and customs of its ancestors; its language, its literature and its laws remained Greek.

St Chrysostom pronounced Corinth “the most licentious city of all that are or ever have been.” During the daytime its streets were packed with peddlers, sodliers and sailors; with foreign and domestic traders, boxers and wrestlers; with idlers, slaves, gamblers and the like. At night the great metropolis was a scene of drunken revelry and of every kind of vice. “To live like a Corinthian” was to lead a dissolute and lawless life. Far from correcting or restraining the shameless immorality of its inhabitants the religion of Corinth only added to it. Aphrodite Pandemos, the goddess of lust and sinful love, was the guardian deity of the city. In her temple, professional prostitutes who gave lascivious dances at public festivals, and carnal intercourse with whom was looked upon as a religious consecration. Little wonder that a city of such gross sensuality should have been filled with defrauders, fornicators, idolators, adulterers, effeminate, liars, thieves, covetous, drunkards, railers and extortioners (1 Cor 6:8-10). St Paul, from his long residence there, had personal knowledge of conditions as they existed, and hence the vividness and force of the letters he addressed to the faithful of that wicked city.

The ancient site of Corinth possesses now only a miserable town of five churches and a few thousand inhabitants. Aside from some Doric dolumns, still defying in their massive grandeur the wastes of time, no relic remains of the glories and powers that once were gathered there. The site of the old city is no so desolate because, not only has it been repeatedly plundered since ancient days, but in the year 1858, after a destructive earthquake, it was largely abandoned, and a new city by the same name was built on the west of the isthmus on the Corinthian gulf.

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 by Cornelius a Lapide

Dim Bulb — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:36:38 +0000

This was originally posted on my primary blog, the exact formatting may not have been reproduced here.

Synopsis of the Chapter:

He endeavors to put an end to the divisions among the Corinthians, by reminding them of their mutual subjection and union in Christ and God.

a. He points out that Paul and Apollos are but ministers of Christ (vers. 1-9).

b. He reminds them that Christ is the foundation of the Church: let each one, therefore, take heed what he builds on that foundation; for if it is only hay and stubble he will be saved indeed, but as by fire (vers. 10-15).

c. He tells them that they are the temple of God, and bids them beware how they break in pieces or violate that temple (vers. 16-20).

d. He forbids party strife.

Text:

3:1 And I, Brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; But God gave the increase.
3:7 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
3:9 For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry (i.e., garden, planting), ye are God’s building.

Commentary:

In the preceding chapter the Apostle, to support his own authority, and to remove from the minds of the Corinthians the false opinion that they had about his ignorance and lack of speaking powers, said that he spoke wisdom among them that were perfect: hidden wisdom which the eye had not seen, nor the ear heard, but which God had revealed. Now anticipating an objection, he gives the reason why he had not displayed this wisdom to the Corinthians, and transfers the blame from himself to them. It was because they were like children and carnal, not yet capable of receiving such wisdom, and to be fed, therefore, not with meat but with milk.

Notice that the Apostle designates as milk the easier, pleasanter, and more simple teaching about the Manhood of Christ, His grace and redemption, which befits catechumens recently converted and still carnal. he calls “meat”, or solid food, the more perfect and robust teaching about the deeper mysteries, such as about God, about the Spirit of God and spiritual things, about wisdom, power, and love of the Cross. So says Ambrose, Theophylact, St Thomas. St Anselm moralises thus: “The same Christ is milk to man through the Incarnation; solid food to an angel through His Divinity. This same Christ crucified, the same lection, the same sermon is taken by carnal men as milk, by spiritual as solid food.”

St Paul is here alluding, as his custom is, to Isaiah 28:9, and to Isaiah 55:1. In this connection notice that what Isaiah calls “wine” St Paul calls “meat,” which represents the full spiritual wisdom of the perfect, as milk signifies the discipline of children and of the imperfect. hence, in former times wine and milk were given to the newly baptized, when they had been clad with white robes, and this custom, as St Jerome says in his commentary on Isaiah, is still kept up in the churches of the West. In other places honey and milk were given, as Tertullian testifies (Contra Marcion lib. i. c. 14), to denote (1) their infancy and innocence it Christ, milk being a symbol of both. Hence Homer calls men that are innocent and just “feeders on milk,” as Clemens Alexandrius says (Pædag. lib. c. 6). (2) To denote their likeness to Christ, of whom Isaiah sang (7:15), “Butter and honey shall he eat.” (3) To symbolize the infantine gentleness, humility, and meekness of the Christian life. hence it was that at first the sacrifice of the Mass, which the newly baptized heard at Easter, viz., on Low Sunday, there was read as the Epistle that portion of St Peter’s Epistle in which occur the words, “As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of th word.” Hence St Agnes, on the authority of St Ambrose (Sermon 90), used to say, “Milk and honey have I received from His mouth.” Clement discourses at length about this mild (Pædag. lib. i. c. 6).

3. Whereas there is among you envying and strife…are ye not carnal? (1) The word carnal is here applied to one who not only has in his natural use of sense and reason, but also to one who follows the motions and dictates of the flesh, that is, of his animal nature. And, therefore, as St Thomas rightly remarks, he who follows hte motions of lust, or of his fallen nature, is carnal, natural, walking according to man, and destitute of the Spirit of God. (2) Both here and in Galatians 5:19, the works of the flesh, i.e., of our corrupt nature, include envying, jealousy, strife, which are spiritual sins, as well as gluttony and lust, which are, strictly speaking, fleshly. ( Cf. notes to Romans 7:22, and Galatians 5:17). The meaning is: You, O Corinthians, are carnal, i.e., contentious, because you fight like boys foolishly about the dignity of your teachers, and extol and put up for sale, on Paul, another Apollos.

5. Even as the Lord gave to every man. God gave to each one of His ministers powers of such kind and such extent as befitted his ministry. Therefore they should glory in God alone, not in Paul or Apollos, His ministers. These latter were not the lords or the authors of their faith, but merely the instruments used by God. So Anselm, Ambrose, Tehophylact.

6. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. I was the first to sow the seeds of faith at Corinth, and then Apollos coming after me helped it forward (acts 18:26). But it was God who gave the inner life and strength of grace for growth and maturity in Christian faith and virtue: this belongs to God alone (Cf. Augustine, in Joan. Tr. 5).

God gives to plants their increase, not, s rustics suppose, by directly adding some special daily power of growth, but by bestowing upon and preserving to the nature itself of the seed or the root a vigorous power of growth. In other words, He is continually bestowing it and preserving it, and co-operating with it: for the Divine work of preservation is nothing but a continuation of the primal creative power. He does this by ordering and tempering according to His counsel the rain, heat, and winds, and other things needed by the fruits of the ground, so that these are tempered, the fruit is larger or smaller. So it is in the sowing of the Word of God, and in its growth, perfecting and harvest in the minds of men.

It appears from this (1) that outward preaching, calling, examples, and miracles are not alone sufficient for conversion and the beginning of the spiritual life, or for its further growth. (2) That, though all alike hear the same word of preaching, yet some profit little, some profit much by it, viz., those whom God works upon by a special inward calling, and whose hearts he touches to change their lives, or to continue to raise to higher things. Hence, both those who preach and those who hear profit most who earnestly beseech God for this inward influence.

7. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. The husbandman who plants and waters does hardly anything when compared with God; for he works from without only, and whatever he does he receives it from God, and works as His instrument. But God works within directly as the chief agent, and supplies the power of vigorous growth. For action is assigned to the chief agent, and especially to the first cause. St St Thomas and Theophylact; St Augustine (in i. Ep. St. John. Tr. 7) says beautifully: “Outward ministries are helps and warnings, but He that teacheth the heart has His throne in heaven. These words, which we address to another from without are to him as the husbandman to the tree. For the husbandman acts upon the tree from without, by diligently watering and tending it, but He does not fashion its fruits.” It is God that co-operates with the tree, and lends it the power to bring forth fruit. In the same way the words of the preacher do but little, for they sound from without only. But it is God who co-operates with them within, and by His grace illuminates and converts the soul

8. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. They are one, says St Thomas, Anselm, and others, in office and one in their ministry, i.e., they are both alike ministers. Therefore one is not to be despised or extolled in comparison of another, e.g., Paul in comparison to Apollos. Moreover, all ought to be knit together as one by the same bond of charity, and ought not to cause divisions on account of their ministries. For although they may have different gifts, yet they all discharge the self-same duty, and are one in Christ, who hates schisms, loves unity, and carefully watches over His ministers, however feeble they be, and wishes them to be esteemed and honored by all, not as men but as His representatives.

And every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor. This passage show clearly the merits of good works; for where there is reward there is merit, the two terms being correlatives.

He does not say, it should be noticed, that “each one shall receive a reward according to the fruit that he has brought forth,” but simply, “according to his labor,” for the fruit is not in our power, but in the hand of God that giveth the increase. You will receive, therefore, a full reward for all genuine labor, even though no fruit follow-though no heretic or sinner be converted. Nay, the reward will be greater, because it is more dificult and more disheartening to preach when little or no fruit is seen than when many applaud the sermon, or profit by it.

9. For we are laborers together with God. St Dionysius says, “A great, an angelic, nay, a Divine dignity is it to become a fellow-worker with God in the conversion of souls, and to show openly to all the Divine power working in us” (Cælest. Hierarch. c. 3).

Ye are God’s husbandry. Not Paul’s or Apollos’: so you cannot boast yourselves in them. St Paul continues the illustration drawn from agriculture. The chief tiller is God; Paul and Apollos are his servants; the Corinthians are the field; the seed is grace, the fruits good works. God by His Spirit cultivates withing; Paul assists Him by his preaching from without. So Anselm.

Ye are God’s building. He inculcates the same truth by another illustration from building and architecture. The first architect is God; the secondary minister is Paul; the building is the Church and every Christian soul. So Anselm.

We should observe that the Hebrew and Syrians rejoice in metaphors and parables, and run them together, easily passing from one to another.

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 by Bishop MacEvilly

Dim Bulb — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:33:47 +0000

I posted this a few minutes ago on my other site, which contains everything found on this blog and much more.

Text:

1:4 I give thanks to my God always for your for the grace of God that is given you in Christ Jesus.
1:5 That in all things you are made rich in him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
1:6 as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.
1:7 So that nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:8 Who also will confirm you unto the end without crime, in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9 God is faithful: by whom you are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paraphrase:

1:4 I always render thanks to God on account of the spiritual gifts abundantly conferred on you by your having become Christians:
1:5 Because you are enriched with the plentitude of all spiritual gifts through Christ, both as regards the abundance of spiritual knowledge, and the power of expressing and communicating the same.
1:6 By the means of which gifts the gospel of Christ has received further confirmation amongst you.
1:7 So that no grace is wanting to you to bring you to your end of consummate glory, which shall be conferred on you, when our Lord Jesus Christ shall appear at his second coming.
1:8 And this same Jesus Christ, the giver of all these good gifts, will, I firmly hope, bring those graces to a happy issue, and confirm you unto the end without any grievous sin, or any sin deserving of reproach on the day of his second and glorious coming.
1:9 My hopes in your perseverance are founded on the veracity of God, who has pledged his unerring word that, provided we comply with the necessary conditions, he will grant us final perseverance and eternal glory, of which he has given us a sure earnest by calling us to partnership with his Son, of whom we are the co-heirs.

Commentary:

1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you. As God is the source of all blessings; to him, therefore, all thanks and gratitude is due. For the grace of God &c., This refers to their Christian vocation, and all the blessings flowing from it, which he enumerates in the next verse.

1:5 In all things you are made rich. This is spoken in allusion to the commercial wealth of the Corinthians, as if he said, that the converts among them enjoyed riches of a higher order than those so much prized by their countrymen. In him, i.e., Christ; in all utterance, the power or faculty of imparting this knowledge of faith to others. Knowledge means the spiritual illumination of the intellect; and utterance the power of giving expression.

1:6 As the testimony of Christ, &c. This verse is to be included in a parenthesis; and verse 7, immediately connected with verse 5. As, i.e., by which gifts of knowledge and eloquence, the testimony of Christ, i.e., his gospel, called testimony-because transmitted by witnesses-was confirmed in you. The abundant effusion of spiritual gifts (v.g.), of miracles, prophecy, tongues, &c., which accompanied the preadhing of the Apostles, and the sacraments of baptism, and confirmation affords an additional proof of the divinity of the Christian religion, in particular individuals, these external gifts might be found without real interior sanctity, as in the case of Balaam (Num 26); still, the same could not be said of a particular society of men. The presence of these gifts would impel others to join in religion with those possessed of them; and hence, God himself would, to a certain extent, be the cause of leading men into error.

1:7 This is connected with verse 5. In this verse he asserts that all the gifts necessary to bring them to a happy resurrection, were to e found in the Church of Corinth.

1:8 Who will also confirm you, &c. All this is conditional. God will bring them to a happy issue; he will preserve them free from all grievous crimes; or, if they fall, resuscitate them, and confer on them the crowning gift of final perseverance, provided they comply with the necessary conditions. This is evidently implied in the following verse: In the day of the coming. In the Greek, coming is wanting: which simply is εν τη ημερα του κυριου ημων ιησου, in the day of our Lord, &c. Some MSS. have the word “coming,” and omit “day.” The Vulgate combines both readings

1:9 From this verse it appears, that the Apostle’s hopes are conditional; for it is only on condition that they perform their part, that the veracity of God is pledged to them.

Audio Lecture: The Life Of St Paul

Dim Bulb — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:14:33 +0000

This post was originally published on my primary blog site. Everything found on this site (plus much more) can be found there.

From St Irenæus Ministries, which has a lot of fine podcast available on line, and even more for sale. Although I don’t have a lot of money at my disposal I think I’m going to purchase the podcast series on Isaiah. Two episodes of that series can be listened to HERE and HERE.

LIFE Of ST PAUL:

Introduction. 39 minutes Sets the time frame of St Paul’s life and ministry. I did not care for this first presentation, finding it a bit “hap-hazard”, but it still contains some interesting stuff.

Upbringing and Conversion. 39 min

Preparation for Ministry. 22 min

Context of Paul’s Ministry. 40 min

First Missionary Journey. 20 min

End of the First Missionary Journey, Beginning of the Second. 44 min

Closing of the Second Missionary Journey. 32 min

Paul in Jerusalem and Rome. 34 min

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, by Cornelius a Lapide

Dim Bulb — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:03:25 +0000

This was originally posted on my primary blog which contains everything found on this site and much more.

1:26. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after (i.e., according to) the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

The for gives the reason of what has gone before. This verse contains another proof of what was said in v 21, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For this is proved in two ways: (1) in verse 23, from the object of preaching, viz., the Cross, by which God was pleased to save the world, but which to the world seems foolishness; (2) from the ministers of preaching, viz., the Apostles, whose duty it was to preach salvation through the Cross, and who were men of no account, unpolished, despised, and foolish in the eyes of the world.

Again, the particle for fitly joins this verse to the preceding; verse 25 gives an indefinite and general statement which is true, not only of the cross, but also of the preachers of the Cross, as St Athanasius points out (Ad Antiochum, qu. 129).

This particle, then, declares the likeness of the Apostles to the Cross that they preached. It is as if St Paul had said: God willed to use the foolishness and weakness of the Cross, and with it to overcome and subdue to Himself the wisdom and the power of all men; and we see this, not only in the Cross itself, and in its victory, but also in the Apostles who preach the Cross: for God has not chosen the wise and powerful of this world, but the Apostles, who are poor, simple, and foolish in the eyes of the world, that they might carry the banner of the Cross on high throughout the whole world, and bring all men into obedience to the faith of the Cross, and that they all might believe and hope for their righteousness and salvation through the Cross of Christ.

It is a reason drawn from likeness or analogy. For such as the Cross was-worthless, despicable, and foolish before the world-such should be all preachers of the Cross. For God in His wonderful wisdom has so well adapted everything to the Cross, which is the burden of all preaching, that not only the preachers but believers too should be like the Cross; for the first who were called to faith were men of low birth, of no reputation, unknown, sinners, publicans, and harlots.

Ye see your calling. The reason and mode of your calling. Because the Apostles who called you are not wise, according to this world’s wisdom, which knows not that which is spiritual and Divine. So St Thomas applies the words to the Apostles, who called others. St Chrysostom, however, applies them and rightly (from verse 2) to those who had been called and converted; for many unlearned had been converted to Christ, but few who were learned and nobly born. The words then mean: Ye see of what kind are both callers and called.

Some wise and powerful, of course, were called, as e.g., Dionysius the Areopagite, Paulus the Proconsul, Nicodemus, St Paul himself, but they were few. Moreover, the Apostle is speaking mainly of the Apostles, who were the first called, though they were poor and on no reputation. And therefore St Ambrose (on St Luke, c. vi. 13), says: See the counsel of God. he chose not the wise, the rich, the noble, but fishermen and publicans to train, that He might not be thought to have drawn any to His grace by His wisdom, to have redeemed us by His riches, to have won us to Him by the influence of power or birth; and that so, not love of disputation, but truth by its reasonableness might prevail. St Augustine (vol. x Serm 59) says, “Great is the mercy of our Maker. He knew that if the Senator were chosen, he would say, ‘I was chosen because of my rank.’ If the rich man were chosen, he would say, ‘I was chosen for my wealth.’ If a king, he would put it down to his power; if an orator, to his eloquence; if a philosopher, to his wisdom. ‘For the present,’ says the Lord, ‘those proud men must be rejected: they are too haughty. Give Me first that fisherman. Come, poor man. You have nothing, you know nothing; follow Me. The empty vessel must be brought to the plentiful stream.’ The fisherman let down their nets; he received grace, and became a Divine orator. Now while the words of the fishermen are read, orators bow their heads in reverence.” It seems, therefore, that what some fable says about the royal birth and renown of the Apostle Bartholomew is groundless.

1:27. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. The words “foolish, weak, base,” form a climax, and are used by St Paul to describe the faithful who had been called to Christ, or rather the Apostles themselves, who had called them. He contrasts them as uncultivated, poor, base, and hence foolish in the eyes of the world, and the world’s laughing-stock, with the wise, strong, and powerful of the world.

Things which are not. This is applied to the same persons as being contemptible and reckoned of no account. In other words, God chose the despised Apostles, who were thought nothing of, that he might destroy, and, as it were, bring to nought things that are, i.e., which are highly esteemed, as e.g., the wise and mighty of the world.

Observe that there are three things which the world is wont to admire, viz., wisdom, power, and birth, were passed over by God when He called men to faith, righteousness, and salvation; and on the other hand that three things opposite to these were chosen by Him, viz., want of wisdom, of power, and of birth. This was done to show that the work was from God, and that this calling was to be ascribed to the grace of God and not to human excellence. Thus, in the second century after the Apostles, He chose Agnes, a maiden of thirteen years, who amazed and confounded her judges and all the heathen who saw her by her wonderful fortitude. Well, therefore, does the Collect for her day run: Almighty and everlasting God, who choosest the weak things of the world to confound the strong, mercifully grant that we who keep the Feast of Thy Virgin and martyr St Agnes, may receive the fruit of her prayers. Such too were Sts Agatha, Luch, Dorothy, Barbara, and a countless number of others whom God seems to have raised up to show the power of His grace in their weakness. Therefore in their Collect the Church prays: O God, who, amongst other marvels of Thy power, hast also conferred upon feeble women the victory of martyrdom, mercifully grant that we, who keep the ‘birthday’ of Thy blessed Virgin and Martyr, (Name), may be her example come to Thee.

1:30. But of Him are ye in Christ. By the gift of God Himself, by His grace, were ye called to believe in Christ. So Anselm. To be in Christ is to have been incorporated with Him in Baptism, or to be in the Church of Christ, and in Christianity.

Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. This righteousness, say our modern innovators, is imputed, because it is ours, not substantially and inherently, but is merely the external righteousness of Christ imputed to us; before God we seem righteous. But I reply: If this be true, then in the same way the active redemption wrought in Christ, which St Paul here joins with righteousness, will be imputed to us, and consequently we shall be redeemers of ourselves, which is absurd. In the second place, wisdom is infused into us, and so is faith, and so therefore is righteousness; for the Apostle classes together the righteousness and wisdom of Christ as both alike ours.

I say, then, with Chrysostom,l Theophylact, Anselm, Ambrose, and St Thomas, that the sense of this passage is this: Christ is made unto us the author and cause of real Christian wisdom, redemption, sanctification, and righteousness.

1. By way of satisfaction and meritoriously; and this is what the Apostle specially has in him mind here: because Christ paid man’s debt with the most precious price of His own Blood, and so made satisfaction for man, and merited for us righteousness, wisdom, and satisfaction. In this way he was made for us righteousness, because the righteousness, i.e., the satisfaction of Christ, is ours, just as much as if we had ourselves made satisfaction to God. And hence it is that theologians teach that the satisfaction of Christ is applied to us in justification through the Sacraments, as if naturally first, and that then as a natural consequence our sins are forgiven through that satisfaction, and grace is infused. This condemns the error of Peter Abelard, in which he is followed by the Socinians, who teach that Christ was the teacher of the world, not its redeemer-nay more, that He was sent by the Father to give to man an example of perfect virtue, but not to free him from sin or to redeem him. St Bernard refutes this in Ep. 190, to Pope Innocent, where he says: Christ is the end of the law to everyone that believeth. In short, St Paul says that He was made to us righteousness by God the Father. Is not then that righteousness mine which was made for me? If my guilt is brought against me, why am I not given the benefit of my righteousness? And indeed what is given me is safer than what is innate. For this has whereof it may glory, but not before God. But the former, since it is effectual to salvation, has no ground of glorying, except in the Lord. ‘For if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head,’ says Job, lest the answer come, ‘What hast thou that thou didst not receive? But if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou has not received it?’ This is the righteousness of man in the blood of his Redeemer, which Aelard, that man of perdition, scoffs and sneers at, and so tries to empty of its force, that he holds and argues that all that the Lord God did in emptying Himself…in suffering indignities…is to be reduced to this, that it was all done that He might by His life and teaching give to man a rule of life, and by His suffering and death set up a goal of charity. Abelard’s argument was fallacious and frivolous: the devil, he said, had no right over man; therefore man needed no liberator. The premise is doubtless true when understood of lawful right, but not of usurped right, under which man through sin by his own free will has submitted himself to the power of the devil, of sin, of hell.

2. By way of example; because the righteousness of Christ is the most perfect example, to which all our righteousness ought to be conformed. In this sense St Paul’s meaning is, Christ is an example and mirror of righteousness.

3. Efficiently; because Christ effects and produces this righteousness in us through His Sacraments, and because he teaches the Saints true wisdom and understanding; as, e.g., how to live a good and Christian life, by what road to attain to heaven, and how we must strive after bliss.

4. As our end; because Christ Himself and His glory are the end of our righteousness and sanctification. St Bernard, in his 22nd Sermon on the Canticles, deals with these four, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, sumbolically. In the first place, he adapts them to the four works of Christ. He says, Christ was made for us wisdom in His preaching, righteousness in the forgiveness of sins, sanctification in the life that He spent with sinners, redemption in the sufferings hat he bore for sinners. And again further on he says, Christ was made for us by God wisdom by teaching prudence, righteousness by forgiving our trespasses, sanctification by the example He st of temperance and of chaste life, redemption by the example He left of patience and of fortitude in dying. Where, I ask, is true wisdom, except in the teaching of Christ? Whence comes true righteousness but from the mercy of Christ? Where is there true temperance but in the life of Christ? Where true fortitude save in the Passion of Christ? In the second plce, St Bernard naturally adapts these four to the four cardinal virtues, prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, which Christ imparts to us. he goes on to say, Only those, then, who have been imbued with His doctrine are to be called prudent; only those, who by His mercy have obtained forgiveness of their sins, are to be called righteous; only those are to be called temperate who strive to imitate His life; only those are to be called brave who bravely bear adversity and show patience like His. In vain surely does any one strive to acquire virtues if he thinks that they are to be obtained from any other source but the Lord of virtues, hose teaching is the school of prudence, whose mercy the working of righteousness, whose life the mirror of temperance, whose death the pattern of fortitude.

1:31. That according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. He is quoting not the words but the sense of Jeremiah 9:23. So Ambrose, Theophylact, Anselm, St Thomas. In Jeremiah the passage runs: Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in him might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me. This it is to glory in the Lord. Jeremiah is speaking of liberation from the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, and from slaughter by the Chaldeans, which were then threatening the Jews. In other words, then, he says: The Jews glory in the counsels of their wise men, in the strength of their soldiers, in the riches of Jerusalem, as though these would make them secure against the Chaldeans; but they err, for their true glory is to know and understand God, that is, His Providence, ad that it is He alone who worketh mercy, and mercifully sets free whom He will, and not the wisdom, might, or riches of man. Moreover, He alone inflicts just punishments on whom He will, and no wise, mighty, or rich man can set free from it-even as, O Jews, he will inflict it on you, and will bring it to pass, that death (that is, the Chaldeans, shall bring death upon you) shall climb up into your houses, through your windows, and slay all your little ones.

The Apostle rightly adapts this in this passage to those who were calling others, or who had been called into Christianity, that no one may attribute the grace of Christ to himself, his virtues, or the gifts of nature, but only to Christ, and consequently his tacit exhortation is: “Do not, O Corinthians, glory in yourselves, or in Paul, or in Apollos, your teachers, but in the Lord alone.” For this is what in the beginning he proposed to prove, and therefore all that is here said must be referred to it. Anselm says: That man glories in the Lord only who knows that it is not of himself, but of Him, not only that he is, but also that it is well with him. Again, that man glories in the Lord who, if he has anything which makes him pleasing to God, holds that he has received it, not because of his own wisdom, power, good works, talent, or merits, but merely through the grace of God. Thirdly, he who in all that he does seeks not his own glory, but that of the Lord.

St Bernard wrote a noteworthy sermon on these words of the Apostle; see also Sermon 25 on Canticles. he says: Moreover, the whole glorying of the Saints is within and not without, that is, not in the flower of grass, or the mouth of the vulgar, but in the Lord; for God alone is the sole judge of their conscience, Him alone they desire to please, and to please Him is their only real and chief glory. And Sermon 13 on Canticles: Brethren, let none of you desire to be praised in this life. For whatever fervour you gain for yourselveshere which you do not refer to Him, you steal from Him. For whence, thou dust that perishest, whence comes thy glory? And in his sentences: The Apostle knew that glory properly belongs to the Creator, and not to the creature. But he also knew that the rational creature so seeks after glory that it can scarcely or perhaps never overcome this desire, just because it was made in the image of the Creator. Therefore he gave most wholesome advice when he said: ‘Since you cannot be persuaded not to glory, let him that glorieth glory in the Lord.’ Let us, too, say in company with the Psalmist, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give the praise, and with the four and twenty elders who cast their crowns efore the throne, Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever (Rev 5:13).

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 by Cornelius a Lapide

Dim Bulb — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:52:04 +0000

Published originally on my primary blog, which contains everything found on this site and much more besides.

1:18. For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness. any declaration about the salvation bestowed by the Cross, or about our redemption by the Cross and Passion of Christ, seems foolishness to men who are skeptical and perverse, and therefore ready to perish. Isaiah, too, says this in the person of Christ: Behold, I and the children of whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel (Isa. 8:18). See also Heb. 2:13.

1:19. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise: and the prudence of the prudent I will reject. This is from Isa. 29:14, where, following the Hebrew, the verbs are intransitive. St Paul quotes from the Septuagint, where the verbs are transitive, but the sense is the same. Note that Paul refers to the whole circle of worldly wisdom what the Prophet said of the wisdom of the Jews alone, which was Pharisaic. For both are alike in this connection, and the meaning is, “I will make men unwilling to use worldly wisdom for their salvation, but only the Gospel and the Cross of Christ.”

1:20. Where is the wise? The Gentile philosophers. Where is the scribe? The Jewish doctors. St Paul is quoting Isa. 33:18 (In fact, St Paul may be alluding to the first part of isa. 19:12 which reads: “Where are your wise men? Isa 33:18 reads: where is the learned? where is he that pondered the words of the law? where is the teacher of little ones? ).

Note, as the Greeks called their wise men philosophers, and the Chaldeans their magi, so the Jews called theirs sopharim, “scribes.” “Scribes” is from the same root as “Scripture,” and implies that they were occupied with the Holy Scriptures. Their duty, in fact, was to preserve the Holy Scriptures in their integrity, to carefully correct all transcripts, to interpret them by writing and by word of mouth, and to write out or state the answers they gave to the questions about the Law (See Epiphanius Heresies 16)

Where is the disputer of this world? The student of physical science who narrowly investigates the secrets of nature and the world. In other words, philosophers and scribes have been cast aside, and all the wise of this world thrown down and put to confusion by the preaching of the Apostles, by the glory of the Gospel (so St. John Chrysostom). Chrysostom writes: Having said, “It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,” He subjoins demonstration from facts, saying, “Where is the wise? where the Scribe?” at the same time glancing at both Gentiles and Jews. For what sort of philosopher, which among those who have studied logic, which of those knowing in Jewish matters, hath saved us and made known the truth? Not one. It was the fisherman’s work, the whole of it.

Paul here and in the following verses is aiming at philosophers both ancient and modern, and not at such Christians as Dionysius the Areopagite, Hierotheus, Paul himself, Clement of Rome, Nathanael, Gamaliel, Apollos, as the Anabaptists seem to think. He has in mind the Gentile teachers who at this very time were going round the world, like rivals to the Apostles, and under the garb of piety, wisdom, and eloquence were attempting to attract to themselves, and away from the Apostles, the various nations, as thought they alone taught true wisdom, and the way to virtue, righteousness, and salvation; as, e.g., Musonius, Dio, Epictetus, Damys, Diogenes Minor, Apollonius of Tyana, who was greatly looked up to by the Greeks at the time because of his mystic powers, and was given a statue at Ephesus, and placed among the gods (see Baronius, Annal, A.D. 75).

Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? I.e., has shown to be foolish: a manifestation of its true nature is described as if it were a change of its essence. It is foolish, he says, seen in the light of the Cross and of Christ and of salvation. The light of this knowledge requires faith, not subtlety. St Ambrose says, The knowledge of fishermen has made foolish the knowledge of philosophers,” since it has surpassed their limits, and the limits of nature.

So, too, did God by His creative work show the folly of the saying of the philosophers, that “Out of nothing nothing comes,” and that in consequence the universe was uncreate and eternal. So in His Incarnation did He show the folly of the saying, “God cannot be contained by a body, time, and place; and in His Passion the saying “God cannot suffer and die.” So in the Eucharist He shows the foolishness of their principles and of those of our modern innovators who say, “An accident cannot exist without a subject; a body cannot be in a point; two bodies cannot be in the same place at the same time.” For though these things are out of Nature’s reach, yet they are not impossible to God, who is Omnipotent, and transcends all nature.

St Paulinus quotes this passage of St Paul’s in a letter to Aper, who had been a lawyer and then had embraced the monastic life, and was, therefore, exposed to ridicule. From this he confirms him in his purpose, and shows him how to despise the laughter and sneers of men. “I congratulate you,” he says, “on having scorned that wisdom which is rejected of God, and on having preferred to have fellowship rather with Christ’s little ones than with the wise of the world. It is from this that you have merited the grace from God of the hatred of men; this would not be had you not begun to be a true follower of Christ.” And a little lower, in showing the fruit and dignity of his purpose, he says, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for it is not you that they hate, but Him who has begun to be in you, whose work is in you, whose humility they despise, whose holiness the loathe. Joyfully recognize yourself to be a sharer in this good with Prophets and Apostles. From the beginning of the world Christ has ever suffered and triumphed in His own: in Abel He was killed by His brother; in Noah He was mocked by His son; in Abraham He was a pilgrim; in Isaac He was offered up; in Jacob He served; in Joseph He was sold; in Moses exposed and forced to flee; in the Prophets stoned and persecuted; in the Apostles tossed about on sea and land; in His Martyrs often slain and in different ways. In you, too, He suffers reproaches, and this world hates Him in you; but thanks be to Him that He overcomes when He is judged and triumphs in us.” Again, praising and admiring his change in life, he says, “Where now is the once feared advocate and judge? Would that I had wings to fly to you, to see you no longer yourself, but changed from a lion to a calf-to see Christ in Aper, who has now laid aside his ferocity and strength, and become a lamb unto God instead of a wild boar of this world. For you are a boar, but of the corn-field, not of the forest; you are rich in the good fruit of holy discipline, and have fed yourself with the fruit of virtues.”

1:21. For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Mark the phrase, “in the wisdom of God.” God shows His wisdom in the marvelous structure and government of the world, as St Thomas says. In other words, the world in its foolishness knew not God practically in His wisdom stamped on His Creation, as the Author of its salvation, and lLeader to a life of bliss; nor yet speculatively, because philosophers regarded God as powerless to create; they thought Him to act under necessity, and to be void of providence, &c.

Hence it is that God has revealed Himself and His salvation to the world in a way which seems to the world foolishness, viz., by the Cross. He has thus stooped to men, and become as it were foolish among them; just as a teacher will sometimes act as a boy, and talk as a boy, amongst boys. So Christ, because He was not understood as God, revealed Himself to men, as a man, and one liable to suffering. This is wisdom unspeakable. St St Thomas, Anselm, and others.

1:22. For the Jes require a sign…but we preach Christ crucified. A Theban, when asked what he thought of the Romans, said that “the Romans boasted themselves in their spears, the Greeks in their eloquence, the Thebans in their virtues.” But the Apostle says that he and other Christians boast themselves in Christ crucified. This is our spear, our eloquence, and our virtue.

1:23. Unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto Greeks foolishness. Notice here, with St John Chrysostom (Homily 4), that the power of the Cross shines forth not only in itself but also in its preaching: (1) In the fact that the Apostles, few in number, simple fishermen, poor, unlearned, unknown, and Jews, in all these respects hateful to the world, yet brought the world into subjection to the Cross. (2) In the fact that they subdued most bitter enemies, demons, sin, death, hell, kings, princes, philosophers, orators, Greeks barbarians, laws judgments, long-existing religions, and time-honored traditions. (3) In that they persuaded men by simple preaching, and not by arms, wisdom, or eloquence. (4) In that in so short a time they spread the faith of Christ over the whole world. (5) In that by the grace of Christ they overcame most cheerfully and courageously what is hardest to be borne by the natural strength of man, the threats of tyrants, scourgings, deaths, and tortures. (6) In that they preached a doctrine not about a glorious God, but a crucified One, and Him their Savior to be believed in and adored; and a law of Christ displeasing to nature and flesh. Wherefore Tertullian (lib. contra Jud.) beautifully and fitly compares the Kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of all kings and people, and prefers it before them all: “Solomon,” he says, “reigned, but only in the borders of Judea from Dan to Beersheba: Darius reigned over the Babylonians and Parthians, but not further; Pharaoh reigned over the Egyptians, but over them only. The kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar stretched only from India to Ethiopia. Alexander of Macedon, after subduing all Asia and other countries, could not keep what he had conquered. So have the Germans, Britons, Moors, and Romans bounds set to their dominions. but the kingdom of Christ has reached to all parts, His name is believed on everywhere, is worshiped by all nations, everywhere reigns, is everywhere adored; He is equal to all, King over all, Judge over all, God and Lord of all.”

1:25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser that men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. That is, say Ambrose and Anselm, the foolishness and weakness in God and in Christ incarnate and suffering, as e.g., His humanity, mortality, Passion and Cross, was just that by which Christ, when seemingly conquered, yet most wisely and most powerfully conquered men, Satan, and the whole world. In other words, God’s wisdom and power were most plainly seen in His overcoming all wisdom and strength by what was foolish and weak, viz., the Cross. And therefore St Jerome and St Augustine explain the passage of Habakkuk (3:4) “He had horns coming out of his hands,” thus: The strength and weapons by which, as by horns, Christ slew His foes were the arms of the Cross to which the hands of Christ were nailed. Hence it is that the Cross in the sky appeared to Constantine the Great as he was going into battle against Maxentius, with the inscription, “In this sign thou shalt conquer” (Eusebius, Life of Constantine).

Literally and morally the power and wisdom of the Cross are seen (1) in that on the Cross God showed His supreme love to us, that so He might draw us to Him; for God, under no necessity, with no prospect of advantage to Himself, of His own will stooped to the Cross from love of man solely. This He yet did with such wisdom that no damage was done by it to the loftiness and glory of His Godhead; for the Godhead in Him suffered nothing, but He bore all His suffering in the Manhood which He had assumed. (2) In that on the Cross He redeemed man, not by the power of His Godhead, but through the righteousness and humility of His Passion, as St Augustine says. (3) In that on the Cross He set before us a most perfect example of obedience, constancy, endurance of punishment, patience, fortitude, and all virtues, as well as mortification of vices. (4) In that on the Cross He condemned the wisdom and pride of the world, and gave to man, who had fallen through pride and self-indulgence, a mirror of life, viz., a mode of recovery through humility and the Cross (see St Thomas ST. III, q. 46, art. 3, and St Augustine De Trin. lib. XIII, c. 12).

St Bernard, in his exhortation to the Soldiers of the Temple (c. 11), says: “The weakness of Christ was no less beneficial to us than His majesty; for although the power of His Godhead ordered the removal of the yoke of sin, yet the weakness of His flesh destroyed by death the rights of death over man. And therefore the Apostle beautifully says: ‘The weakness of God is stronger than men.’ But His foolishness by which He was pleased to save the world, so as to confute the wisdom of the world, and to confound the wise; which made Him, though He was in the form of God and equal to God, empty Himself, and take upon Him the form of a servant; by which, though He was rich, He yet for our sake became poor, though He was great He became little, though He was high yet He became humbled, though he was powerful He became weak; Through which He hungered, thirsted, and was weary on the journey, and suffered all that His own will and on necessity laid upon Him; this foolishness of His, was it not to us the way of prudence, the form of righteousness, the example of holiness? Therefore the Apostle also adds, ‘The foolishness of God is wiser than men.’ Death then set us free from death, life from error, grace from sin. And truly His death won the victory through His righteousness; because the Just One, by paying what he never took, rightly recovered all that He had lost.”

Hence it is that Francis and the greatest Saints have sought to be considered foolish by the world, in order that they might the rather please God. Some religious Orders, indeed, so regard this as the height of perfection and Christian wisdom that they enjoin their members to love, desire, and embrace contempt, ridicule, insults, and injuries, and to long to be considered fools, just as eagerly as worldly men seek for a reputation for wisdom, for honor, and renown. They do this to teach them in this way (1) to utterly despise the world; (2) to humiliate themselves and uproot their innate desire of honor, praise, glory, and high position; (3) to be more like Christ, and to clothe themselves with His garments and His marks, who for our sakes, and to give us an example of virtue and perfection, chose these things Himself, willed to be considered foolish, and became a scorn of men, and the outcast of the people. They say, therefore, with St Paul, “God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world.”

All this does the Cross of Christ teach if you often meditate on it; nay, the Cross is the fount of wisdom. St Bonaventura, when asked where he had drunk in so much wisdom, showed a crucifix almost worn away by kisses. St Jacoponus, a man of good birth and of great learning, after having learned from the Cross of Christ to become foolish to the world, was asked by Christ, who appeared to him in a friendly and familiar way he was so enamored of this foolishness, and he answered with his customary pious pleasantry, “Because Thou, Lord, hast been more foolish than I.” In short, St Chrysostom (Homily 4 on the Cross and the Robber) sums up the power and praise of the Cross as follows: “If you wish to know the power of the Cross, and what I have to say in tis praise, listen: The Cross is the hope of Christians, the resurrection of the dead, the way of them that despair, the staff of the lame, the consolation of the poor, the curb of the rich, the destruction of the proud, the punishment of them that live badly, victory over the demons, subjugation of the devil, the instructor of the young, nourishment of the needy, hope of the hopeless, the rudder of the seafarers, haven to the storm-tossed, wall to the besieged, father of the fatherless, defender of widows, counselor of the just, rest to the weary, guardian of little one, head of men, end of the aged, light to them that sit in darkness, the magnificence of kings, an everlasting shield, wisdom of the foolish, liberty to the slaves, a philosophy for kings, law to the lawless, the boast of martyrs, the self-denial of monks, the chastity of virgins, the joy of priests, the foundation of the Church, the destruction of temples, the rejection of idols, a stumbling-block to the Jews, perdition to the ungodly, strength to the weak, physician to the sick, bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked.”

Bernardin de Picquigny: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Dim Bulb — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:01:36 +0000

2:6 But we speak a wisdom among the perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who are being destroyed.
2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God, in mystery, which is hidden, which God predestined before the ages to your glory.
2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.

There is an inner or esoteric wisdom in the Christian faith, sublime and lofty mysteries of which St Paul here declares he was not ignorant, nd of which he had freely spoken among the perfect, those whose fervor in faith enabled them to embrace and understand them. It is possible that in these words he reflects somewhat upon the method of Apollo, who with the best intentions, may have somewhat rashly enlarged upon the sublimer truths of theology in the hearing of persons scarcely as yet able to understand them. Modern commentators, and among them Cornelius a’ Lapide, join in mystery in verse 7 with the verb we speak; we speak of these things only in secret. Theodoret, however, says: The meaning is not, we speak in mystery; but we tell to men the wisdom which is hid in mystery. This seems more likely, for if the Apostle talked of these subjects only among the perfect, it would be unnecessary for him to add that he did so in mystery.

What is this hidden wisdom? First, it is not of this world, secular and mundane; nor like the systems of philosophy accepted by the world. Nor is it of the princes of this world, from the inspiration of demons and fallen spirits, who are so called in Jn 12:31. Not a dark system of magian philosophy, the practice of divination and the magic art: all whcih were often imposed, in those days, upon the simplicity of the ignorant and credulous, and were even cultivated by the learned and powerful. This power over the minds of men, founded in trickery and falsehood, it was one of the objects of the Gospel of Christ to overthrow, and its overthro was one of the results of the spread of the true faith. Thr princes of this world are being destroyed. If by the princes of this world is understood earthly rulers and great men, then these are continually passing away, as each dies in turn.

This is what the hidden wisdom is not. It is, the wisdom of God, and therefore true; and it is hidden in the mystery: that is, the mystery of the incarnation; the splendor of God hidden in the flesh. Christ, therefore, is the wisdom of Go hidden in mystery. Not that St Paul concealed from any one the great mystery of the incarnation, which was, on the contrary, the center of all his preaching, ad the most important part of the message he had to deliver: but he treated it in a different manner, according to the capacity of his hearers, as he explains below. The incarnation, death, and passion, and resurrection of Christ, were proclaimed to all men, as the ground of their redemption. But the full intent, meaning, and end of Christ’s incarnation, the full significance of the adoption of the sons of God; possibly a prophetic view of the victory of the faith in the coming time; these perhaps were among the sublime mysteries of which the apostle spoke among the perfect, but which all could not at first comprehend. And this further, that God has foreordained this mystery, from the beginning of time, for our glory-our glorification by the gift of the Spirit of God now, and in eternal life hereafter. That God was hidden, and as it were annihilated, in the flesh, for the glory of that flesh which he assumed, that is for us human beings, was one of those mysteries which none of the princes of this world knew. The powers of darkness did not comprehend, and would not believe, the depth of humility and charity in the character of God, which rendered this possible. Had they known it, they would not have crucified him; because it was his cross which was the instrument of his victory, and gave him his irresistible power over the hearts of men. Rather than this, they would have allowed him to reign in earthly power and glory, in which case he could not have so completely overthrown their empire among men. It must be admitted, however, that this interpretation of verse 8 is open to some difficulty, since it implies that the Devil was either ignorant of, or would not believe, the Deity of Christ. It may be more simple to understand by the princes of this world, in this verse, earthly rulers, as in the expression of St Peter, in Acts 3:17: I know that in ignorance you did it, as also your princes. If Herod and Pontius Pilate had known that Jesus was the creator of the world, it is hardly to be believed that they would have put him to death, Not that their ignorance of this truth was sufficient to excuse them, after the miracles Christ had wrought, and the evidence they had of his innocence and sanctity.

2:9 But as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has ascended into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him:

2:10 But to us God has revealed by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

2:11 For who among men knows what belongs to a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? So also what belongs to God, no one knoweth, but the Spirit of God.

2:12 But we have received not the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is of God; that we may know what is given to us of God:

2:13 Which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

See Isaiah 64:3 (64:4 in some translations): “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor received with their ears, eye hath not seen, O God, without thee, what thou hast prepared for those who wait for thee.” That is, the great mystery of the Incarnation, beyond human intelligence and expectation; not to be understood or believed without thee, otherwise than by God’s revelation. And in the Incarnation is included its result, the salvation and ultimate glory of man. This the Spirit of God has revealed to us, and no other could reveal. As none knows the secret of a human heart, other than his own, so only the Spirit of God knows, and he knows fully, all the secrets of God. And this Spirit we have received, no earthly spirit, but the spirit coessential and consubstantial with God (St Athanasius, Theophylact), under whose teaching we know the full extent of the great gifts which have been given to us of God, his Son to redeem us, his Spirit to sanctify us. And of these mysteries and gifts of God we speak, not in philosophical language, but in words taught us by the Spirit of God.

13. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Conveying things spiritual in spiritual language. So Saint Chrysostom, and many other writers, ancient and modern. Theophylact, who is followed by St Thomas, takes the word spiritualibus in the masculine, and comparantes in the sense of the Greek συγκρινοντες (sygkrinontes=distinguishing, also, interpreting, understanding), and understands, reserving high and spiritual doctrine for the hearing of spiritual persons. This is more literal, and agrees with what the Apostle has said in verse 6, we speak wisdom among the perfect. The whole of this passage may then be considered an illustration and expansion of what he there asserted.

2:14 But the animal man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for it is folly to him, and he cannot understand; because it is examined spiritually.

2:15 But the spiritual judges all things; and himself is judged of none.

2:16 For who knows the sense of the Lord, to instruct him? And we have the sense of Christ.

14. The animal man. The word animal is used in three senses in Scriptures. First, in the sense of the English word, that which grows and lives on food, as all animals do, and in this sense it is used 1 Cor 15:45. Secondly, one who habitually follows animal impulses (Jude 19). Thirdly, as in this place, those who are guide only by right of natural reason. Such a person may be instructed in the faith, and give assent to its mysteries, but yet be unable to comprehendnd the higher and sublimer truths which are taught by the Spirit of God. These truths will appear to him folly, or meaningless, because they are beyond the reach of his capacity, and supernaturally understood. They should not, therefore, be rashly obtruded upon him, because, as St Thomas says, arguments are not to be given to those who are incapable of receiving them.

15. The spiritual judges all things. The spiritual man is also understood in three senses in the holy Scriptures. 1. Who does not require food, as Christ now. 2. Who follows the guidance of the Spirit; in this sense the animal man may be spiritual, though he cannot comprehend the higher mysteries of the faith. 3. The sense in which the word is here used, who is capable of understanding these higher mysteries, by a supernatural illumination. In this sense the spiritual man is the same with the perfect in verse 6. He is capable of judging or discussing all things, even the highest; and is not to be judged by his inferior, the animal man. For if he was, the animal man ought to know the mind, or secret, of God, better than he. But this mind of God can only be known by natural reason, which is impossible; or by supernatural illumination, which is contrary to the hypothesis. For who by reason and nature can know, and teach him, the mind of God? The sense of Christ. The Syriac reads: the mind; the Arabic: the intellect; the Ethiopic: the thoughts of Christ. We, the Apostles, know the mind of Christ by supernatural revelation. In the whole of this passage the Apostle evidently intends to assert the infinite superiority of the Christian philosophy to the other philosophical systems which it was brought into comparison at Corinth.

Corollary of Piety:

The highest wisdom the human intellect can attain is the knowledge of Jesus Christ. he is the eternal wisdom of God, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Whatever God knows, he knows, for he is God. The nature and character of God are fully known to him, for he is himself God. He knows all the causes and motives of the creation of the universe, for he is himself its Creator. He understands every detail of its complicated framework, down to the minutest, for his hands framed it. He understands the mode of dependence of the finite upon the Infinite creating will, for that will is his. He knows the law of connection between spirit and matter, inscrutable to human research, possibly beyond the reach of any finite intelligence, for he is the Creator equally of the spiritual and the material. Not only has he all wisdom and knowledge in himself, but it is he who imparts it to man, so far as man is capable of apprehending it, for he is the sun and the illumination of the human intellect. To penetrate the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in God the Word, have recourse to him, and take him as thy teacher; for there is no truth known to any finite intelligence, but from his teaching. Wonder: for this wisdom was for thee hidden, and as it were annihilated, in the mystery of the Incarnation. Love: for to this humiliation he was predestined from eternity in gloriam nostram, for our advancement to the glory of earth, which is sanctification, here, and the glory of eternity, which is his love, hereafter.

Bernardin de Picquigny: A Commentary on 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Dim Bulb — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:48:59 +0000

2:1 And I, when I came to you, brethren, came not in sublimity of language, or of wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of Christ.
2:2 For I did not judge that I knew anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

In this chapter the Apostle declares that the language he had used when at Corinth was simple and unpretending; but that the truths he taught were high and heavenly, taught neither by men nor angels, but by the Spirit of God.

2:1 Not in sublimity of language. The simplicity which the apostle has just declared a characteristic of the preachers of the Gospel, and which the Greeks, proud of their elaborate skill in rhetoric and philosophy, despised as folly, St Paul here declares he had practiced and adopted himself when he first went to Corinth. He used no lofty language, made no parade of wisdom. The Syriac version says: ‘not with grandiloquent language or show of wisdom, I proclaimed to you the secret of God.’ The Greek text has: the testimony of God.

2:2 I did not judge. I judged it best, coming to a city of learned men, to seem to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. The death and passion, resurrection and ascension of Christ, were the message he had to deliver, and this he delivered in the plainest language. And to do this with more effect, whatever else he knew, he kept to himself.

2:3 And I was among you in infirmity, and fear, and much trembling.
2:4 And my discourse, and my preaching, were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in display of the Spirit and of power.
2:5 That your faith may not be in man’s wisdom, but in the power of God.

2:3 In infirmity and fear. We may perhaps gather from these words, that St Paul was in feeble health while he was at Corinth. It is certain also, from the narrative in Act of the Apostles, chapter 18, that he was subject to great persecutions and annoyance from the jealousy of the Jews, who ultimately raised a formidable outbreak of violence against him, which possibly caused his retirement from the city or hastened it. His discourse, he declares, was in harmony with his circumstances and surroundings. He delivered no great orations, but spoke on all occasions simply and plainly, proving the truth of his words by the display of the Holy Spirit and of power, that is by frequent miracles.

2:5 That your faith may not be in man’s wisdom. May not originate or spring from human eloquence and wisdom. Or that your conversion to the faith of Christ may not be ascribed to man’s wisdom, but to the power of God, may be a divine, not a human work. That which you believe and are convinced of, should be, not the wisdom and knowledge of your teacher, but the power of God who commissioned the teacher, and wrought the miracles.