The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle to the Corinthians
Ver. 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 sceptical and perverse, and therefore ready to perish. Isaiah, too, says this in the person of Christ: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel ” (Isa. viii. 18).
Ver. 19. — For it is written. This is from Isa. xxix. 14, where, following the Hebrew, the verbs are intransitive. S. 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.”
Ver. 20. — Where is the wise ? The Gentile philosopher.
Where is the scribe? The Jewish doctor. S. Paul is quoting Isa.
Note, as the Greeks called their wise men philosophers, and the Chaldeans theirs 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 questions about the Law. (Epiphan. hær. 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 S. Chrysostom.)
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 his 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 though they alone taught true wisdom, and the way to virtue, righteousness, and salvation; as, e.g., Musonius, Dio, Epictetus, Damis, Diogenes Minor, Apollonius of Tyana, who was greatly looked up to by the Greeks at that time because of his mystic powers, and was given a statue at Ephesus, and placed among the gods. (Baronius, Annals, 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. S. 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.
Paulinus quotes this passage of S. Paul’s in a letter (27) 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 exceeding 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 they loathe . Joyfully recognise 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 of 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”
Ver. 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 marvellous structure and government of the world, as S. 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 Leader 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. See S. Thomas, Anselm, and others.
Ver. 22. — For the Jews 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.