The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle to the Corinthians
Ver. 8. — Now ye are full. This is, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Anselm say, ironical. Ye are filled with wisdom and grace, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and so it is your boast that you are not so much Corinthians as teachers, having nothing further to learn of Christianity. You think yourselves perfect as teachers when you are scarcely disciples at all of the true and perfect wisdom. S. Chrysostom says, " To be satisfied with little is the mark of a weak mind: and to think one's self rich by a small addition of means is the mark of one that is sick and miserable ; but true godliness is never satisfied ”
S. Thomas notices that S. Paul here points out four kinds of pride in the Corinthians, or rather in their teachers. First, when one thinks that he has from himself and not from God whatever good he possesses : this is alluded to in the words, “ Why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?” In these words also is contained the second, which is, when any one attributes to his own merits whatever good he has. The third is when one boasts that he has what he has not, and this is touched in the words, “ Now ye are full ; now ye are rich.” The fourth is when one despises others, and wishes to stand in a class by himself : this is pointed at in the words, “ Ye have reigned as kings without us.”
Ye have reigned as kings without us. Without our help, you think, O Corinthians, that you triumphantly excel over all God’s saints; and especially you, O teachers, as if you had been given a kingdom, claim for yourselves, while excluding us, a supreme dignity.
And I would to God that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you . As your followers and rivals, or better as being your fathers: for this as a matter of fact we are. So Theophylact, Chrysostom, and Anselm. He does not decline to have partners in the kingdom of God, i.e., in the government of the Church ; he only requires them to rule as they ought, that is, to devote themselves to the salvation of the faithful
Ver. 9. — For I think that God hath set forth us, the Apostles, last, as it were appointed to death. (1.) He contrasts himself and the true Apostles with those vain teachers who sought their own glory and their own advantage. I would, he says, that we Apostles were reigning with you ; for so far, I think, are we from reigning triumphantly, that God has exhibited us to the world as the last and most despised of all, as though destined to a well-deserved death. (2.) The simpler meaning is, we are the last to have been sent into the world in these last times. We have been marked out by God for death, as, e.g., by means of wild beasts — not for a kingdom or triumphs, but for death, persecution, and martyrdom. So Tertullian understands it.
Observe that the Apostles are called last, as compared with those Prophets that went before them, as Isaiah and Jeremiah and others, who were sent by God as Apostles to the Jews and others (Isa. vi. 9). Especially does he call himself last of all, as having been called to his Apostleship by Christ ascended, after the other Apostles had been living on the earth.
Moreover, “set forth” denotes (1.) marked out, (2.) made or exhibited , and, as Ephrem terms it, appointed. Cf. Ps. lx. 3 and lxxi. 20. (3.) It denotes put forward publicly as an example to others. Hence it follows —
For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. They were placed, as it were, in a theatre, like those condemned to die by fighting with wild beasts before the eyes of the populace. There seems to be an allusion here to the public games of Rome and other places, where men fought with wild beasts in the arena. The world, he says, delights to regard us as fools, dealers in secret arts, or babblers of novelties, or better still, as men condemned to the beasts.
Observe that “the world” here is a generic name for “angels and men ;” for they were the only beings to gaze upon the Apostles. Hence, in the Greek, “world” has the article, and the two other terms are without it. We are made, he says, to the good angels an object of compassionate regard, as well as of worthy admiration and honour. But since evil angels and evil men rejoice in our being despised, persecuted, and put to death, we are made a spectacle to evil angels of hatred and rejoicing, as well as of confusion and terror. To good men we are a spectacle and example of fortitude, faith, innocence, patience, meekness, constancy, and holiness of life. So Titelmann.
S. Chrysostom ( Hom. 12 in Moral.) applies this to the theatre of this life, in which we do everything in the presence of God. So, Suetonius says, Augustus, when about to die, said to his friends standing round him, “ Have I played my part pretty well on this stage and in this theatre ? ” — “ Very well,” his friends replied. Then he rejoined, “Applaud me, therefore, as I take my departure ; ” and having said this he gave up the ghost. Better and still more appropriate was the use of these words made by Edmund Campian, England’s noble martyr, well named Campianus, a true wrestler and champion of Christ, who, when about to suffer martyrdom, publicly gave out these words as the text of his last sermon. Such a theatrical spectacle was what the Apostle here primarily intends. Cicero says (qu. 2, Tuscul.) that there is no fairer sight than that of a virtuous and conscientious life, and so among Christians there is nothing more beautiful than martyrdom.
The illustrious Paula appositely and piously replied, as S. Jerome says in his eulogy of her, to some caviller who suggested that she might be considered by some insane, because of the fervour of her virtues : “ We are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men ; we are fools for Christ’s sake ; but the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Hence, too, the Saviour said to His Father, ‘Thou knowest My foolishness!’ and again, ‘I was made as it were a monster unto many, but be Thou My strong helper. I became as a beast before Thee, and I am always with Thee.’”
Lastly, S. Chrysostom (in Ep. ad Rom. Hom. 17) teaches from this that we ought to fly from eye- service, that is, from serving the eyes of men, that so we turn our eyes towards the eyes of God, and live perpetually in His sight and before Him. There are, he says, two theatres : one most spacious, where sits the King of kings, surrounded by His shining hosts, to view us ; the other most insignificant , where stand a few Ethiopians, men ignorant of what is going on. It is, therefore, the height of madness to pass by this most spacious theatre of God and of the angels, and to be content with the theatre of a few Ethiopians, and laboriously to strive to please them. When you have a theatre erected for you in the heavens, why do you gather together spectators for yourself on earth? S. Bernard ( Serm . 31 inter parvos) treats these words somewhat differently, though his application of them is the same. He says: “ We are made a spectacle unto the world, to angels and to men, good and bad alike . The passion of envy inflames the one , the compassion born of pity makes the others minister to us continually ; the one desires to see our fall , the other our upward flight . We are undoubtedly halfway between heaven and hell, between the cloister and the world. Both consider diligently what we do, both say, ‘ Would that he would join us!’ Their intention is different, but their wishes , perhaps, not unlike . But if the eyes of all are thus upon us, whither have our friends gone, or why did they alone go from us? . . . Let us, then, before it is too late, brethren, rise, nor receive in vain our souls for which, whether for good or evil, others so zealously watch.”
Ver. 10. — We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ. This is a continuation of the irony of ver. 8. We are reckoned fools because of Christ crucified, whom we preach, and for whose sake we seem to expose ourselves rashly to so many dangers. For the Cross is to the Greeks foolishness. But you in your own eyes are wise in the Gospel of Christ, because of the eloquence and philosophy which you mingle with it, and because you take care to so preach Christ that you run no risk for His sake.
We are weak , as bearing without resistance many grievous adversities , such as hunger, thirst, nakedness, toils, injuries, cursings, persecutions, as is said in ver. 11.
But ye are strong. For you easily by your worldly eloquence, wisdom, and friendship turn the edge of all evils that attack you.