ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 2 v6 - 12

OVERVIEW:

Even those who crucified the Lord (OECUMENIUS) were not beyond the range of forgiveness (CHRYSOSTOM), unless they refuse to repent and persist in their unbelief (THEODORET OF CYR). The depths of God (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA) cannot be understood without the Spirit of God (AMBROSIASTER, THEODORET OF CYR), who is one with the Father and the Son (SEVERIAN OF GABALA). Human searching alone (AMBROSIASTER, OECUMENIUS) cannot penetrate these depths (ORIGEN, CHRYSOSTOM). Faith is not grasped by the deceptive spirit of the world (AMBROSIASTER). Worldly wisdom is of this age (ORIGEN), but the gospel sets forth wisdom of the age to come, when the truth of God will be manifested to those who now deny it (AMBROSIASTER, THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). God’s wisdom is so great that it makes human wisdom appear foolish (CHRYSOSTOM). The gospel is not merely a riddle (THEODORET OF CYR). It is hidden not in words but in power (AMBROSIASTER). It has been stored up for us before we were born (CHRYSOSTOM). Both those who deny that Christ was fully human (Apollinarians) and those who claim that God suffers in his essential nature as Word (Arians) misunderstand the phrase “they crucified the Lord of glory” (PELAGIUS). Although the Fathers debated the source of Paul’s quotation in 2:9 (AMBROSIASTER, CHRYSOSTOM), they agreed on the central importance of Christ’s death (AUGUSTINE). Wherever the quotation came from, it shows how bright a spiritual body can be (ORIGEN) and how God foresees and foreknows our human choices (SEVERIAN). The rulers are every spiritual or demonic power that deliberately sets itself up against God (AMBROSIASTER).

2:6 | Imparting Wisdom to the Mature

WORLDLY WISDOM. ORIGEN: When Paul talks about the wisdom of the rulers of this world he seems to be talking not about one wisdom common to them all but about different kinds of wisdom which are peculiar to each. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.3.1.1

THE MATURE. AMBROSIASTER: The mature are those who preach the cross as wisdom because of the witness of Christ’s power at work. They know that actions speak louder than words. Their wisdom is not of this age but of the age to come, when the truth of God will be manifested to those who now deny it. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.2

TRUE WISDOM FOUND IN THE CROSS. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul is saying that when he, a man thought to be foolish and a preacher of folly, gets the better of the wise, he overcomes their wisdom, not by foolishness but by a more perfect wisdom. This wisdom is so broad and so great that the other kind appears to be foolishness. True wisdom is the gospel, the means of salvation through the cross of Christ. The perfect are those who believe. They are indeed “perfect,” because they know that all human things are utterly helpless, and therefore they ignore them, being convinced that they have nothing to gain from them. This is what true believers are like. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 7.1.

2:7 | The Hidden Wisdom of God

IMPOSSIBLE IN HUMAN TERMS. AMBROSIASTER: Paul testifies that he has been sent to reveal a secret wisdom which the princes of this world do not know and which they therefore label stupid. The wisdom of God is hidden because it is not in words but in power. It is impossible in human terms, but it can be believed by the power of the Spirit. God foresaw the future sins of the world and therefore decreed this in order to confound those who would turn his wisdom into their own stupidity, and also to glorify us, who would believe it. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.4

FROM THE BEGINNING. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul is keen to point out that God always loved us, even from the very beginning, when we did not yet exist. For if he had not loved us, he would not have foreordained our riches. Look beyond the broken relationship which has come in between, and you will see that God’s love for us is more ancient still. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 7.4.5

THE WHOLE DISPENSATION. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: By wisdom Paul means the cross and the whole dispensation of salvation. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.6

NOT A RIDDLE. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul does not mean that he is now communicating in secrets and riddles but that the message he preaches was once hidden. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 175.

2:8a | Rulers of This Age Do Not Understand

EVERY DEMONIC POWER AGAINST GOD. AMBROSIASTER: The rulers of this age are not only those who were great among the Jews and the Romans but also every spiritual power which sets itself up against God. The Jewish rulers cannot be called rulers of this age, because they were subject to the Romans. Nor did the Romans crucify Jesus, because Pilate himself said that he found no fault in him. The rulers who crucified him were the demons. They knew that Jesus was the Messiah but not that he was the Son of God, and so it can be said that they crucified him in ignorance. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.8

2:8b | Crucifying the Lord of Glory

CONDEMNED BY IGNORANCE. PELAGIUS: 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. The Arians err because they claim that the Word of God can suffer. Arius did not believe that it was the Lord of glory who took on a human nature, and therefore he thought that the Word, being only human, could suffer. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 2.9

EVEN THE CRUCIFIERS ARE NOT BEYOND FORGIVENESS. CHRYSOSTOM: Could Herod and the priests who wanted to crucify Jesus have been forgiven? Yes. If they repented, they were forgiven. Even Paul, who persecuted the church, was forgiven when he repented, and so they could have been as well. The ignorance of the rulers was not concerning Christ’s person but rather concerning the significance of the event which was taking place on the cross. Jesus prayed that they might be forgiven, not because they did not know him but because they did not understand what they were doing. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 7.5.10

WHAT IF CHRIST HAD NOT DIED? AUGUSTINE: But if Christ had not been put to death, death would not have died. The devil was overcome by his own trophy, for the devil rejoiced when, by seducing the first man, he cast him into death. By seducing the first man, he killed him. By killing the last man, he lost the first from his snare. THE ASCENSION 263.12

THOSE WHO PERSIST IN UNBELIEF. THEODORET OF CYR: God forgave Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas and the rest for their ignorance at the time of the crucifixion, but after Christ had risen and ascended into heaven, and the Holy Spirit had come, and the apostles had performed many miracles, he handed them over for punishment, because they persisted in their unbelief. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 176.13

WHO KILLED THE LORD OF GLORY? OECUMENIUS: This applies to Herod and Pilate. It does not apply in the same way to the high priests and scribes, because they knew that Jesus was the Christ. They were more like the workers in the vineyard who said: “This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the vineyard will be ours.”14 PaULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

2:9 | What God Has Prepared

GOOD THINGS TO COME. ISAAC OF NINEVEH: When it says “which eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard” and the rest, Scripture has declared to us that the good things to come are incomprehensible, and have no similarity to any thing here. ASCETICAL HOMILIES 2.16

A SPIRITUAL BODY. ORIGEN: From this we may gain an idea of how great the splendor, the beauty and the brightness of a spiritual body is. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.6.4.17

PAUL’S SOURCE? AMBROSIASTER: These words were expressed somewhat differently by Isaiah,18 and they are also found in the apocryphal Apocalypse of Elijah. Paul uses them to refer to the incarnation of Christ, which not only goes against human perception but is beyond the understanding of heavenly powers as well. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.20

A PARAPHRASE? CHRYSOSTOM: Where are these words written? Either they are a paraphrase of some passage [such as Isaiah 52:15], or they were written in some book which has now disappeared. In fact, many books were destroyed, and very few survived the first21 captivity intact, as we know from the documents which have survived. Not all the words of the prophets are extant, but Paul, who was learned in the law and was also speaking by the Spirit, would have known them all accurately. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 7.6.22

GOD FORESEES HUMAN CHOICES. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: One should not think that God has indiscriminately revealed the mystery to some and allowed the rest to perish in ignorance. Rather one should know and be persuaded that by the foreknowledge of his power God prepared the right thing for each person according to his deserts, for he foresees what each one will choose even before it happens. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

2:10 | The Spirit Searches Everything

THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Those who possess the Spirit seek out the deep things of God, that is, the hidden secrets that surround prophecy. STROMATEIS 2.7.3.24

THE LIMITS OF HUMAN SEARCHING. ORIGEN: Only the Spirit can search everything. The human soul cannot do this, which is why it needs to be strengthened by the Spirit if it is ever going to penetrate the depths of God. COMMENTARY ON 1 CORINTHIANS 1.10.6-10.25

ONLY GOD CAN REVEAL GOD. AMBROSIASTER: God revealed these things through his Spirit to believers, because the things of God cannot be understood without the Spirit of God, who is of God and therefore knows everything about him. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.26

ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS BEYOND OUR SEARCHING. CHRYSOSTOM: If the Spirit, who knows the secret things of God, had not revealed them to us, there is no way that we could ever have known them. The word search does not imply that the Spirit was ignorant but refers rather to accurate, detailed knowledge. It is the same usage as when Paul speaks of God, saying that he searches the human heart. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 7.7.28

THE SPIRIT’S UNDERSTANDING. THEODORET OF CYR: Whoever has received the revelation of the Spirit has also received the Spirit’s understanding. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 177.29

2:11 | Only the Spirit Comprehends God’s Thoughts

SPIRIT OF MAN—SPIRIT OF GOD. AMBROSIASTER: The Spirit of God has taught us what he knows by nature, not what he has been taught himself. Furthermore, he has taught us about the mystery of Christ, because he is not just the Spirit of God but the Spirit of Christ as well. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.30

UNITY OF FATHER AND SPIRIT. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: 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. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

2:12 | Receiving the Spirit from God

NOT POSSESSED BY THE DECEPTIVE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD. AMBROSIASTER: The “spirit of the world” is the one by which different people are possessed. It does not know the truth but can only guess at it, and therefore it both deceives others and is itself deceived by appearances. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.32

HUMAN WISDOM. OECUMENIUS: I think that by “spirit of the world” Paul means human wisdom and learning. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.33

NOT THE SPIRIT FROM GOD. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul shows by saying this that the Holy Spirit is not a creature but has his own divine nature. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 178.34