1 Corinthians 2:1-5
2:1-5. St. Paul applies to his own ministry at Corinth the principle which he has just laid down, and shows that he has been faithful to it. This is the conclusion of the whole passage.... [ Continue Reading ]
2:1-5. St. Paul applies to his own ministry at Corinth the principle which he has just laid down, and shows that he has been faithful to it. This is the conclusion of the whole passage.... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I also, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God; 2. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” In the first word, κἀγώ, _and I also_, there is contained the connection be... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse confirms the preceding (γάρ), supporting it by the idea that this mode of acting was the result of a plan fixed beforehand. The term ἔκρινα, _I judged good_, is well explained by Heinrici by means of Cicero's phrase: _Mihi judicatum est._ Comp. 1 Corinthians 7:37; 2 Corinthians 2:1. The a... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.” The words καὶ ἐγώ, _and I_, are not the repetition of the κἀγώ of 1 Corinthians 2:1; they announce a new feature subordinate to the preceding and in agreement with it. As he did not seek to render his preaching brilliant in matter or... [ Continue Reading ]
“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; 5. that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” The apostle returns from his person to his preaching. Λόγος, _speech_, and κήρυγμα, _preachin... [ Continue Reading ]
῞Ινα, _in order that_, indicates the apostle's object in the course he has followed. He was not ignorant that a faith, founded on logical arguments, could be shaken by other arguments of the same nature. To be solid, it must be the work of the power of God, and in order to be that, proceed from a co... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GOSPEL CONTAINS A WISDOM 2:6-3:4. The apostle had already declared in passing, 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, that for Jews and Gentiles Christ crucified, received by faith, becomes not only the _power of God_, but also the _wisdom of God._ This is the thought which he develops in the passage, which for... [ Continue Reading ]
“Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought.” The δέ is rather restrictive than adversative. It is intended to limit the idea previously developed, that the cross is not a wisdom. In the case of him wh... [ Continue Reading ]
The apostle describes wisdom, of which he speaks from the viewpoint of its superhuman origin (1 Corinthians 2:6-7), then from that of its impenetrable obscurity to the natural understanding (1 Corinthians 2:8-9). And first, its origin, what it is not (1 Corinthians 2:6 b), and what it is (1 Corinth... [ Continue Reading ]
“But we speak the wisdom of God, which is a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God preordained before the ages, unto our glory;” This verse is the antithesis of the foregoing one (ἀλλά, _but_). The term λαλοῦμεν, _we speak_, is repeated because of the remoteness of this verb in 1 Corinthians 2:6. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
“which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;” The idea of wisdom being that which dominates the entire passage, the pronoun ἥν, _which_, should not be made relative to the word δόξαν, _glory_, which expresses only a secondary... [ Continue Reading ]
“but as it is written: things which the eye hath not seen, and which the ear hath not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” The grammatical connection of this verse has been variously understood. Erasmus, Estius, Meyer (last ed.), H... [ Continue Reading ]
“But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” The δέ is strongly adversative: “This wisdom was hidden, _but_ it has been revealed to us.” The _for_, which the _Vatic._ reads here, could only refer to the, _we speak_, of 1 Corin... [ Continue Reading ]
With 1 Corinthians 2:10 the apostle passes to the development of the second term of his theme: λαλοῦμεν, _we speak._ This wisdom, being God's conception, and inaccessible to the mind of man, how can Paul expound it to his brethren? 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 indicate the means by which he received the kn... [ Continue Reading ]
“For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God hath no man known, but the Spirit of God.” To make intelligible to his readers this inward activity of the Divine Spirit, the apostle invites them to contemplate the working of man's spirit in... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God:” This verse is the development of the word _by the Spirit_ (1 Corinthians 2:10). The Divine Spirit is contrasted with another, which also has the pow... [ Continue Reading ]
“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth, appropriating spiritual things to spiritual men.” Here is the resuming of the λαλοῦμεν, _we speak_, of 1 Corinthians 2:6; it has been prepared for by 1 Corinthians 2:10-12: “This hidden wisdom G... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 14. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” It seems at first sight that γάρ, _for_, would have been more suitable than δέ : “We appropriate spiritual things to spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 . We come to the development of the third term: _among the perfect._... [ Continue Reading ]
“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man; 16. for who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of the Lord.” 1Co 2:6 supposed in a preacher the faculty of discerning in each case whether he had to do with a psychical or a... [ Continue Reading ]
“With the humble, more humble; with the proud, more proud,” says some one. Never did any one practise this maxim better than the Apostle Paul. Face to face with those who disparage him, he rises to an incomparable height. Jehovah, in Isaiah, addressing ignorant man, threw out this challenge: “Who ha... [ Continue Reading ]