The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle to the Corinthians
Chapter 2
But we have the mind of Christ.
He proceeds to exalt the spiritual wisdom of Christ above all natural and animal wisdom. Therefore he says : — i. That he knew and preached nothing but Christ crucified ; and that not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
ii. Nevertheless in ver. 5 he says that he speaks wisdom among them that are perfect, wisdom hidden from the world, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, but which the Spirit of God alone has revealed.
iii. He shows in ver. 14 that the natural man does not perceive the things which are of God, but the spiritual man perceives and judges all things.
Ver. 1 . — And I, brethren , when I came to you , came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. The Apostle here descends from the general to the particular. In other words : I said in the preceding chapter that God in preaching the Gospel willed not to use the wisdom of the wise in this world, but rejected it and scorned it, but willed by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe ; and therefore He chose not many noble or wise to spread the Gospel, but the low-born and untaught Apostles. From this I infer and say “ And i.e., and so I as one of the number of the Apostles, who, according to the election and will of God, did not use eloquence and worldly wisdom, was unwilling to use those means, and I came to you not in excellency but in simplicity of speech and wisdom.
Ver. 2 . — For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Mark the word determined : it is as if he said, I did not think of, I did not value any knowledge save that which is of Jesus crucified, our Saviour, and, therefore, I so bore myself among you, as if I knew nothing of human wisdom, although I have much acquaintance with it, for on other occasions I can quote the Greek poets ; but with you I kept it back, that like the others I might merely preach with all simplicity Christ crucified. Not that I did not preach the other mysteries of the faith, but I especially taught you and impressed on you that we must glory in the Cross of Christ only, and hope from it for our righteousness and salvation, and, as Anselm says, must imitate the cross and crucify our vices. For in Christ crucified it is easy to see, besides other things, that Christ chose and embraced these three, viz., utmost pain, the greatest poverty or nakedness, and the lowest depths of shame. Christ by His pains crucified and taught us to crucify the lust of the flesh; by His poverty He crucified the lust of the eyes or avarice ; and by His shame He crucified the pride of life. These are the three heads of the world's sin, and the sources of all sins. (See i S. John ii. 16, and what was said about the Cross in
Ver. 3. — And I was with you in weakness: that is, in anxieties, tribulation, and persecution ; and in fear and much trembling, because of the hostility of the persecuting Jews and Gentiles. S. Chrysostom and Anselm remark that the Apostle in his Second Epistle (xi. 30 and xii. 5, 9, 10), and elsewhere, gives the name of weakness to the anxiety he suffered from dangers, plots, exile, daily terrors, calumnies, and hatreds. And also, that Paul suffered great anxieties and persecutions at Corinth, is evident in that he needed to be strengthened against them by Christ in a vision (Acts xviii. 9). Moreover, shortly afterwards the Jews there stirred up a tumult against Paul, and dragged him to the judgment-seat of Gallio, the deputy of Achaia, and publicly beat Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, before him.
Ver. 4 . — And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Speech (λόγος) denotes his private and familiar conversation as contrasted with his public preaching. S. Thomas and the Glossa distinguished the two words in this way ; so does Seneca, who, in Ep . 38, says : “ Conversation , because it makes an impression on the mind and little , is of immense force. Speeches prepared and delivered to a large assembly have more vehemence but less familiarity .” S. Paul’s conversation, then, as well as his preaching, was not with enticing words (i.e., apt to persuade) of man's wisdom. In such the orators and philosophers at Corinth surpassed S. Paul. Paul, however, had to make the Corinthians believe a new philosophy by a new mode of speech and action, and in this he excelled all orators and philosophers, viz., in demonstration of the Spirit and of power . So
Sulpicius testifies that S. Martin once said that “the kingdom is not founded on eloquence but on faith.” S. Augustine, too, in his
Sermon 1, about those coming to grace, says : “ We do not try to persuade you with thundering words and flowery phrases , nor by any rhetorical skill, nor by eloquence darkened by set speeches such as the world uses, but we preach Christ crucified.” And in lib. ii. c. ii., against Felicianus, he says : “I will never rely on wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ be shorn of its power ; but I am content to rely on the authority of the Scriptures, and I am more anxious to obey simplicity than presumption
This, then, was the demonstration of the Apostles, viz., to show (1.) burning zeal and a spirit giving forth wisdom and revealing secrets, not human but Divine, so that the hearers might perceive plainly that the Holy Spirit was speaking by their mouth ; (2.) great powers, that is prodigies and miracles. Therefore Origen (lib. i. contra Celsum) says : “ Our mode of teaching has its own proper demonstration , which is more Divine than that of the Greeks, and which is called by the Apostle , ‘the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’ The Spirit lends faith to those things which are said about Christ in the Prophets ; and the power is seen in the miracles which we believe to have been wrought.” Origen here understands the work of the Spirit somewhat differently, but his explanation is not so much to the point as the one given above. For, as Œcumenius says, “ The demonstration which comes by works and signs is surer than that which depends on words.” This was the Apostolical mode of preaching, and a far more effectual way than that which modern preachers put before themselves for imitation . Their style was not adorned, clouded over, and tainted with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. So will Apostolic men go forth, and their words, like fiery arrows, will pierce men’s hearts, and like hammers break in pieces the rocks. Listen to S. Jerome (Ep. ii. to Nepotianus ) : “ Let not the applause of the congregation be aroused by your teaching in church , but their groanings. Let the tears of the hearers be the proofs of your success.” This spirit, as well as the fruit of preaching, must be obtained by prayer to God. Hence Origen (contra Celsum , lib. vi.), in quoting these same words of the Apostle, says : “ What else is the meaning of these words but that it is not enough that what we say is true and fit to stir the hearts of men ? the teacher must have a certain power given him from above , and his words require the energy of Divine grace , as David says, ‘The Lord shall give the word to those that preach with much power’” (Ps. lxvii. Vulg.).
Ver. 5. — That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God . Our preaching is to be of the kind just mentioned , so that your faith, i.e., your conversion to the faith of Christ, may not be attributed to human wisdom and eloquence but to the power and working of God. Your faith must be based on God’s wisdom not on man’s. (Anselm and others.)