Paul’s Message by the Spirit’s Power 1 And I myself, having come to you, brothers, came not according to excellency of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God.
Ambrosiaster · AD 384 What Paul calls the testimony here is God the Word incarnate, hidden from all ages with God. Heretics played fast and loose with these things. They preached their wicked doctrine with great eloquence, following the wisdom of the world. They emptied Christ's cross of its power. They were embarrassed to be ridiculed by the world.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Not only, he says, were the disciples of the Gospel chosen from among men who were not wise and not of noble birth, but the preacher of the Gospel himself came proclaiming to you "the testimony of God," that is, the death of Christ, without eloquence and human wisdom.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 After indicating the suitable way to present Christian doctrine, the Apostle now shows that he observed it. In regard to this he does three things: first, he shows that he did not make use of worldly greatness with them; secondly, he shows in which cases he employs spiritual excellence (v. 6); thirdly, he indicate the reason (v. 7).
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Tertullian · AD 220 "For neither did I judge to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." And, "(I think) God hath selected us the apostles (as) hindmost, like men appointed to fight with wild beasts; since we have been made a spectacle to this world, both to angels and to men: "And, "We have been made the offscourings of this world, the refuse of all: "And, "Am I not free?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 For the apostle also says, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified;" because he was speaking to those who were not able to receive higher things concerning the Godhead of Christ.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then he discloses the reason for this, saying: For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ. For this work there was no need to make a display of wisdom but to show His power: "We preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:5).
3 And I myself was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling;
Ambrosiaster · AD 384 By preaching Christ in what appeared to be folly to human wisdom, Paul provoked hatred and persecution against himself.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Not only, he says, did I come to you poor in speech, but I also lived among you in weakness, and fear and trembling, that is, amid persecutions, trials and countless dangers. For he himself as a human being feared dangers, even trembled at them; therefore he is also worthy of great praise, that being of the same nature as us, he surpassed us by his will.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, and I was, he shows that he did not pretend to have any power when he was among them, but on the contrary, weakness within and without.
4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 If our Scriptures had persuaded people to believe because they had been written with rhetorical art or philosophical skill, there is no doubt that our faith would be said to depend on the art of words and on human wisdom rather than on the power of God.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 My preaching, he says, was not adorned with outward persuasiveness and eloquence, but consisted "in demonstration of the Spirit," that is, it had as its proof the Holy Spirit Himself.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, and my speech, he shows that he made no pretence at loftiness of speech among them. In regard to this he does three things.
5 so that your faith may not be in wisdom of men but in power of God.
Clement of Alexandria · AD 215 Wherefore also the apostle exhorts, "that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men," who profess to persuade, "but in the power of God," which alone without proofs, by mere faith, is able to save.
Pelagius · AD 418 Human wisdom is temporal. The power of God is eternal.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Thirdly, he assigns the reason for this when he says: that your faith might not rest on the wisdom of men, i.e., not rest on human wisdom which frequently deceives men: "Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray" (Is 47:10), but on the power of God, i.e., that faith might rest on divine power and so not fall: "I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salva…
Spiritual Wisdom 6 But we speak wisdom among the mature — but not wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to naught;
Irenaeus · AD 202 They also assert that by Anna, who is spoken of in the gospel [Luke 2:36] as a prophetess, and who, after living seven years with her husband, passed all the rest of her life in widowhood until she saw the Saviour, and recognised Him, and spoke of Him to all, was most plainly indicated Achamoth, who, having for a little while looked upon the Saviour with His associates, and dwe…
John Chrysostom · AD 407 "Howbeit we speak wisdom among the perfect:" for when I, accounted foolish and a preacher of follies, get the better of the wise, I overcome wisdom, not by foolishness but by a more perfect wisdom; a wisdom, too, so ample and so much greater, that the other appears foolishness.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, We impart wisdom, he shows with whom he uses the loftiness of spiritual wisdom: first, he states what he intends; secondly, he clarifies it (v. 6b). He says, therefore: Among you I have only preached Christ crucified, but we impart wisdom, i.e., profound doctrine, among the mature (perfect).
7 but we speak wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God foreordained before the ages for our glory,
Tertullian · AD 220 These, we know, were publicly instituted in Israel; but they lay overshadowed with latent meanings, in which the wisdom of God was concealed to be brought to light by and by amongst "the perfect," when the time should come, but "pre-ordained in the counsels of God before the ages." But whose ages, if not the Creator's?
Theodore of Mopsuestia · AD 428 By wisdom Paul means the cross and the whole dispensation of salvation.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, But we impart, he explains this wisdom as related to believers. First, he describes it as to its subject manner and authority when he says: But we impart a hidden and secret wisdom of God, i.e., which is God and from God.
8 which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory —
Ignatius of Antioch · AD 108 These men are not the planting of the Father, but are an accursed brood. And says the Lord, "Let every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted be rooted up." For if they had been branches of the Father, they would not have been "enemies of the cross of Christ," but rather of those who "killed the Lord of glory." But now, by denying the cross, and being ashamed of the pas…
Pelagius · AD 418 Pilate, Caiaphas and the rest were condemned by their ignorance, because they should have known the truth. There are two kinds of heretics who misinterpret this passage. The first are the Apollinarians, and the second are the Arians. The Apollinarians are wrong because they do not accept that Christ's human nature was perfect.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Having explained the wisdom he speaks among the perfect, the Apostle now gives the reason behind the explanation: first, insofar as he described it in relation to unbelievers; secondly, in relation to believers (v.10). As to the first he does two things: first, he states his proposition; secondly, he proves it (v.8).
9 but even as it has been written: “What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those loving him.”
Pseudo-Clement · AD 140 Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be righteous; but if we do not serve Him, because we believe not the promise of God, we shall be miserable.
Apostolic Constitutions · AD 380 For in the last days false prophets shall be multiplied, and such as corrupt the word; and the sheep shall be changed into wolves, and love into hatred: for through the abounding of iniquity the love of many shall wax cold. For men shall hate, and persecute, and betray one another.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, But as it is written, he proves by Scripture that the rulers of this world did not know God's wisdom as to what it prepared for the glory of believers, saying: what no eye has seen or ear heard or the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for them that love him, where our version has: "The eye has not seen, O God, besides you, what things you have pre…
10 And to us God revealed it through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
Irenaeus · AD 202 But as for us, we still dwell upon the earth, and have not yet sat down upon His throne. For although the Spirit of the Saviour that is in Him "searcheth all things, even the deep things of God," [1 Corinthians 2:10] yet as to us "there are diversities of gifts, differences of administrations, and diversities of operations;" and we, while upon the earth, as Paul also declares,…
John Chrysostom · AD 407 What kind of things then are these? That by what is esteemed to be the foolishness of preaching He shall overcome the world, and the nations shall be brought in, and there shall be reconciliation of God with men, and so great blessings shall come upon us! How then have we known?
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, But to us, he proves the above explanation of divine wisdom in relation to the faithful: first, he states his proposition; secondly, he proves it (v. 10b).
11 For who among men knows the things of the man except the spirit of the man that is within him? So also no one has known the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Shepherd of Hermas · AD 160 For no spirit given by God requires to be asked; but such a spirit having the power of Divinity speaks all things of itself, for it proceeds from above from the power of the Divine Spirit. But the spirit which is asked and speaks according to the desires of men is earthly, light, and powerless, and it is altogether silent if it is not questioned.
Severian of Gabala · AD 425 God and the Holy Spirit are two persons, whereas a man and the spirit in him are not two persons but one man. What Paul means is that just as in the man there is a cohesion in knowing, so the knowledge of the Father and the Spirit is one. What the Spirit searches is therefore already known to him.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, for what person knows, he proves what he had said of the Spirit of God by a comparison with man's spirit, saying: For what person knows a man's thoughts, i.e., which are hidden in his heart, but the spirit of the man, which is in him, i.e., the intellect? Hence the things which lie within cannot be seen.
12 Now we ourselves have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may know the things having been granted to us by God,
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Let us consider the things that have been graciously given to us by God; for unless the Spirit that is from God comes to be in us, teaching us, we cannot say that we know the things that have been graciously given to us by God, for indeed no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 He called the spirit of this world human wisdom. It is not this wisdom that we received, lest it render our preaching vain and useless; no, our teacher was the Spirit "from God," that is, a being consubstantial with God, proceeding from His essence.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, But we have received, he shows how knowledge of the Holy Spirit is obtained, saying: But we, filled with the Holy Spirit, have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is from God. By the word "spirit" is understood a definite vital power, both cognitive and dynamic.
13 which also we speak — not in words taught of human wisdom but in those taught of the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.
Clement of Alexandria · AD 215 There is then in philosophy, though stolen as the fire by Prometheus, a slender spark, capable of being fanned into flame, a trace of wisdom and an impulse from God. ...Aristotle, too, assented to Scripture, and declared sophistry to have stolen wisdom, as we intimated before.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 This does not mean that Paul did not have any human wisdom but that he preached in the wisdom of the Spirit.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Above the Apostle had said: "We speak wisdom among the perfect." Therefore, after indicating that it is a mark of this wisdom not to be known by worldly men, but to be known by the saints, he now discloses the way in which the saints speak this wisdom among the perfect.
14 But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are discerned spiritually.
Tatian the Assyrian · AD 180 The perfect God is without flesh; but man is flesh. The bond of the flesh is the soul; that which encloses the soul is the flesh.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 And since he said these things, he necessarily adds that there are some men who do not admit the things of the Spirit of God, not on account of their nature, as the heterodox suppose, but on account of not having prepared themselves.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, But the sensual man, he assigns the reason for the above: first, he shows why spiritual things must not be entrusted to sensual men; secondly, why they should be entrusted to spiritual men (v. 15). As to the first he does two things: first, he gives the reason; secondly, he explains it (v. 14).
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, and he himself is judged by no one.
Irenaeus · AD 202 ...he who is truly spiritual will interpret by pointing out, in regard to every one of the things which have been spoken, to what special point in the dispensation of the Lord is referred, and [by thus exhibiting] the entire system of the work of the Son of God, knowing always the same God, and always acknowledging the same Word of God, although He has [but] now been manifested…
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Next, pursuing his contrast, he states the cause of this, saying, "he knoweth not because they are spiritually discerned:" i.e. the things asserted require faith, and to apprehend them by reasonings is not possible, for their magnitude exceeds by a great deal the meanness of our understanding.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, But the spiritual man, he gives the reason why spiritual things are imparted to spiritual men. First, he gives the reason; secondly, he clarifies it (v. 16). The reason given is this: Spiritual things should be entrusted to one who can discern: "The ear discerns with words" (Jb 12:11); but the spiritual man is such.
16 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who will instruct him? But we ourselves have the mind of Christ.
Ambrosiaster · AD 384 Paul says this because believers are partakers of the divine wisdom..
Oecumenius · AD 550 The "mind of Christ" refers to the Father. Paul is saying that we have the Father of Christ in us.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then when he says, For who has known, he supports the reason he gave: first, he adduces an authority; secondly, he applies it to his proposition (v.16).