The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle to the Corinthians
Ver. 26. — For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty , not many noble are called. The for gives the reason of what had gone before. This verse contains another proof of what was said in ver. 21, “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,” for this is proved in two ways: (1.) in ver. 23, from the object of preaching, viz., the Cross, by which God was pleased to save the world, but which to the world seems foolishness; (2.) from the ministers of preaching, viz., the Apostles, whose duty it was to preach salvation through the Cross, and who were men of no account, unpolished, despised, and foolish in the eyes of the world.
Again, the particle for fitly joins this verse to the preceding ; ver. 25 gives an indefinite and general statement which is true, not only of the Cross, but also of the preachers of the Cross, as Athanasius points out (Ad Antiochum , qu. 129).
This particle, then, declares the likeness of the Apostles to the Cross that they preached. It is as if S. Paul had said : God willed to use the foolishness and weakness of the Cross, and with it to overcome and subdue to Himself the wisdom and power of all men ; and we see this, not only in the Cross itself, and its victory, but also in the Apostles who preach the Cross : for God has not chosen the wise and powerful of this world, but the Apostles, who are poor, simple, and foolish in the eyes of the world, that they might carry the banner of the Cross on high throughout the whole world, and bring all men into obedience to the faith of the Cross, and that they all might believe and hope for their righteousness and salvation through the Cross of Christ.
It is a reason drawn from likeness or analogy. For such as the Cross was — worthless, despicable, and foolish before the world — such should be all preachers of the Cross. For God in His wonderful wisdom has so well adapted everything to the Cross, which is the burden of all preaching, that not only the preachers but believers too should be like the Cross; for the first who were called to the faith were men of low birth, of no reputation, unknown, sinners, publicans, and harlots.
Ye see your calling. The reason and mode of your calling. Because the Apostles who called you are not wise, according to this world’s wisdom, which knows not that which is spiritual and Divine. So S. Thomas applies the words to the Apostles, who called others. S. Chrysostom, however, applies them and rightly (from ver. 2) to those who had been called and converted; for many unlearned had been converted to Christ, and but few who were learned and nobly born. The words, then, mean : Ye see of what kind are both callers and called.
Some wise and powerful, of course, were called, as, e.g., Dionysius the Areopagite, Paulus the Proconsul, Nicodemus, S. Paul himself, but they were few. Moreover, the Apostle is speaking mainly of the Apostles, who were the first called, though they were poor and of no reputation. And therefore S. Ambrose (on S. Luke, c. vi. 13), says : “ See the counsel of God! He chose not the wise, the rich, the noble, but fishermen and publicans to train , that He might not be thought to have drawn any to His grace by His wisdom , to have redeemed us by His riches , to have won us to Him by the influence of power or birth; and that so, not love of disputation , but truth by its reasonableness might prevail!” S. Augustine (vol. x. Serm . 59) says, “Great is the mercy of our Maker. He knew that if the Senator were chosen, he would say, ‘I was chosen because of my rank.’ If the rich man were chosen, he would say, ‘I was chosen for my wealth.’ If a king, he would put it down to his power; if an orator, to his eloquence ; if a philosopher, to his wisdom. ‘For the present,’ says the Lord, ‘those proud men must be rejected : they are too haughty. Give Me first that fisherman. Come, poor man. You have nothing, you know nothing; follow Me. The empty vessel must be brought to the plentiful stream.’ The fisherman let down his nets ; he received grace, and became a Divine orator. Now while the words of the fishermen are read, orators bow their heads in reverence.” It seems, therefore, that what some fable about the royal birth and renown of the Apostle
Bartholomew is groundless.
Ver. 27. — But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise . The words " foolish, weak, base,” form a climax, and are used by S. Paul to describe the faithful who had been called to Christ, or rather the Apostles themselves, who had called them. He contrasts them as uncultivated, poor, base, and hence foolish in the eyes of the world, and the world’s laughing-stock, with the wise, strong, and powerful of the world.
Things which are not. This is applied to the same persons as being contemptible and reckoned of no account. In other words, God chose the despised Apostles, who were thought nothing of, that He might destroy, and, as it were, bring to nought things that are, i.e., which are highly esteemed, as e.g., the wise and mighty of the world.
Observe that three things which the world is wont to admire, viz., wisdom, power, and birth, were passed over by God when He called men to faith, righteousness, and salvation ; and on the other hand that three things opposite to these were chosen by Him, viz., want of wisdom, of power, and of birth. This was done to show that the work was from God, and that this calling was to be ascribed to the grace of God, and not to human excellence. Thus, in the second century after the Apostles, He chose Agnes, a maiden of thirteen years, who amazed and confounded her judges and all the heathen who saw her by her wonderful fortitude. Well, therefore, does the Collect for her day run : “ Almighty and everlasting God , who choosest the weak things of the world to confound the strong, mercifully grant that we who keep the Feast of Thy Virgin and Martyr
S. Agnes , may receive the fruit of her prayers.” Such too were SS. Agatha, Lucy, Dorothy, Barbara, and a countless number of others whom God seems to have raised up to show the power of His grace in their weakness. Therefore in their Collect the Church prays: “ O God, who, amongst other marvels of Thy power, hast also conferred upon feeble women the victory of martyrdom, mercifully grant that we, who keep the ‘birthday’ of Thy blessed Virgin and Martyr, N., may by her example come to Thee.”
Ver. 30. — But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. By the gift of God
Himself, by His grace, were ye called to believe in Christ. So
Anselm. To be in Christ is to have been incorporated with Him in
Baptism, or to be in the Church of Christ, and in Christianity.
Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. This righteousness, say our modern innovators , is imputed, because it is ours, not substantially and inherently, but is merely the external righteousness of Christ imputed to us; before God we seem righteous. But I reply : If this be true, then in the same way the active redemption wrought by Christ, which S. Paul here joins with righteousness, will be imputed to us, and consequently we shall be redeemers of ourselves, which is absurd. In the second place, wisdom is infused into us, and so is faith, and so therefore is righteousness ; for the Apostle classes together the righteousness and wisdom of Christ as both alike ours.
I say, then, with Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm, Ambrose, and S. Thomas, that the sense of this passage is this : Christ is made unto us the author and cause of real Christian wisdom, redemption, sanctification, and righteousness.