ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 11 v19

THAT THE GENUINE MAY BE RECOGNIZED. CYPRIAN: In this way the faithful are approved and the faithless are detected. UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 10.

FACTIONS. AMBROSIASTER: Paul did not want heresies or choose them, but he foresaw the future and knew that they would come. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

DIVISIONS FORETOLD. CHRYSOSTOM: In speaking here of factions, Paul did not have doctrinal heresies in mind, though it would apply to them as well. Christ himself said that occasions of stumbling would have to come (Mt 18:7). He did not thereby destroy man’s free will or decree any necessity or compulsion over human life, but he foretold what would be the inevitable result of the evil in the human mind. Divisions did not come about because Christ foretold them; rather he foretold them because they were inevitable. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 27.3.

THE GOOD DONE INADVERTENTLY BY HERETICS. AUGUSTINE: People become heretics, even though they would still have held wrong opinions if they had remained within the church. Now that they are outside, they do us more good, not by teaching the truth, for they do not know it, but by provoking carnal Christians to seek the truth and spiritual Christians to expound it. In the church there are innumerable people who are approved by God, but they do not become manifest among us as long as we are content with the darkness of our ignorance and prefer to sleep rather than to behold the light of truth. ON TRUE RELIGION 7.15.

MORAL FAILURE. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: Paul is not talking here about doctrinal error but about moral failures. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

WHY SCHISMATICS ARE NOT INSTANTLY ROOTED OUT. VINCENT OF LÉRINS: It is as if the apostle meant that the authors of heresies are not instantly rooted out by God, in order to make manifest those who are approved, that is, in order to make evident to what degree each one is a steadfast, faithful and firm lover of the orthodox faith. COMMONITORIES 20.

1 Cor