Commentary on 1 Corinthians 0.1–1.31

Prologue. Admonished by the Lord's command, the Apostle stayed among the Corinthians for one year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. This is why he deals with them with great confidence and with the affection of love, sometimes admonishing, sometimes rebuking, sometimes coaxing, as with sons. For there are many reasons why he writes to them. The first of them is this: that, disagreeing with one another in the manner of heretics and devoted to men, they wished to be called Paulines and Petrines and Apollonians, not Christians; and this the Apostle strongly reproaches. Yet there were among them some who disagreed with these, dedicated to Christ alone. The second is that they had begun to delight in eloquence and in earthly philosophy, so that under the name of Christ they were being steeped in things that are contrary to the faith. The third, that they were puffed up because the Apostle was not coming to them. The fourth, because of the fornicator whom they allowed to be among them. The fifth, to remind them of the earlier letter which he had written before this one, which is called the first. The sixth, because they had begun to do wrongs and frauds to one another, and preferred to seek the judgments of unbelievers. The seventh reason is the one in which he shows that it was lawful for him to accept support but that he disdained it, so as not to be a pattern for the rapacious false apostles. The eighth is to answer their letter; for they had begun to be troubled by heretics about marriages. The ninth is the one in which he declares that each one ought to remain as he was when he believed. The tenth concerns virgins, because he had received no command about them. And the remaining reasons will be seen in the body of the letter. Chapter one.

“Paul, called an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” He began otherwise to the Romans, because the occasion is different. To these he writes that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, because all that he did, he did by the will of the Son of God, who said to him: “Go, I will send you far away to the gentiles” (Acts 22:21). Then he was called an apostle, that is, sent to the gentiles by the will of God. By this he also touches those whom Christ had not sent, and what they said was not true. He names God and Christ frequently for this reason: to show that Christ, as God, is not the Father himself, but that Christ is the Son, and that God the Father also exists, not a single undivided person, when the Son is shown to be so called. For many sects had arisen which asserted the gospel of Christ at the discretion of their own understanding, of which withered branches survive even now, and whose champions were overturning the churches. Hence the Apostle sets down everything that is contrary to the heresies, and affirms that he is a true preacher because he was sent by Christ by the will of God.

“And Sosthenes our brother.” He commends this man too by associating him with himself. “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus.” He writes to the church because rulers had not yet been appointed in the individual churches. And though he rebukes them in many things, he says, “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus”; but he says so because, reborn in Christ, they were sanctified, though afterwards they had begun to live badly; so as to show that the whole church had been sanctified in Christ, but that some of them had been turned away from the tradition of the truth by the perverse teaching of the false apostles. “Called to be saints.” That is, you have been called to be holy: which means, so that you do not depart from the rule of sanctification. “With all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theirs and ours.” That is, he joins the gentiles with the true Jews, because salvation is from the Jews; so that in every place where there are gentiles who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and where there are the Jews mentioned above, all likewise are one. For the false apostles, who preached the name of Christ through the wisdom of the world, that is, with philosophy mixed in, rejected the old law and the prophets; for they denied that Christ was truly crucified, but said that he only seemed to be crucified, like Marcion and Manichaeus. Hence the Apostle says: “But we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:23). Nor did they confess the resurrection of the flesh, which the prophet Isaiah proclaims, saying: “Those who are in the tombs will rise” (Isa 26:19).

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Since he had said, “who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”, so that he might not seem to have passed over either the name or the gift of the Father, and perhaps give rise to suspicion or occasion for the idea of a 'union' of persons, he teaches that Christ is rightly to be called upon, but that all grace is the Father's; so as both to show the two, who are one through divinity, and to put forward the Father's authority.

“I give thanks to my God always for you.” Although he writes to all in the church, he so indicates his meaning, when he sometimes reproves and sometimes praises, that each one, when the letter is read, may understand what is said for him and what against him. For in one congregation he writes to two peoples, so that when he rebukes, those who behave badly may know that these things are written for them; and likewise when he praises, the one who remains in the rule may know that these things are said to him. And so he says: “I give thanks to my God always for you, for the grace of God which has been given you in Christ Jesus.” He says that grace has been given by God in Christ Jesus, which grace has been given in Christ Jesus in this way: that it was established by God that whoever believes in Christ should be saved without works: by faith alone he receives forgiveness of sins freely.

“For in everything you have been enriched in him, in all speech and in all knowledge.” This means that, in the grace they had received and in the word of the truth of the teaching, they attained spiritual knowledge and persevered in it; and therefore he gives thanks to God for them.

“Just as the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in you.” The testimony of Christ has been confirmed in them, because, strengthened in faith, they hoped for nothing from men; all their hope was in Christ, and they were caught by no enticements of pleasure.

“So that you lack no grace, as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is plain that one who is watchful and careful waits for the day of judgment. He speaks of the future judgment of God, in which our Lord will be revealed both to the faithful and to the unfaithful: so that the unbelievers may recognize and know that what they refused to believe is true, and perish; while the faithful rejoice, finding more good than they had thought.

“Who will also confirm you to the end without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Confident with an eager mind in their hope, he is secure, because they will remain unharmed until the future judgment. For those who could not be changed amid so many dangers of opinions and the disturbances of differences show beyond doubt that they will remain the same. In praising these, he invites those who had been corrupted in the error of the false apostles: for while he proclaims the faith of these, he calls those to repentance.

“God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” Who could doubt the promises and the faithfulness of God, that it will be no otherwise than he said: that we who believe in Christ are sons adopted to himself? For he gives us what we believe: so that, because we believe that Christ is the Son of God, we begin to be this ourselves, to remain in the same dignity as Christ remains, whom we believe to be the Son of God. For fellowship is brotherhood; so that, just as he shows that God's faithfulness will remain unimpaired for us in this matter, so we may not be found distrustful and faithless, but persevering in the adoption.

“Now I beseech you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing.” He now begs all to think one thing, namely that in which, reborn, they were called sons of God. He speaks now to the whole church, so that those who had begun to disagree might return to the faith they had begun, which they saw praised in those who persevered in it. “And let there be no divisions among you, but be perfect in the same mind and in the same knowledge.” He wants them to be perfect in the same mind which he had handed on to them, so that they might not differ. For he calls these to the example of those whom he praises above, that they may think and defend this.

“For it has been reported to me about you, brothers, by those of Chloe, that there are quarrels among you.” Although they had been overturned, he still calls them brothers; just as in the prophet Isaiah God speaks to those who were with him, that they should say to those who believed the false prophets: “You will be our brothers” (Isa 66:5); so that by this they might not separate themselves from them, as from brothers. As for his saying “by those of Chloe”, to some they seem to be people remaining and bearing fruit in the faith of God; to some it seems to be a place, as if one said “by those who are at Antioch”; but to others it seems that she was a woman devoted to God, with whom there were many who worshipped God, whose word was not to be doubted; so that what they reported about the Corinthians was true, that there were quarrels among them. He said there were quarrels among them to show the diversity of their mind regarding the Lord's discipline. And what it was he added, saying:

“Now I say this, that each of you says: 'I am of Paul', 'but I of Apollos', 'and I of Cephas', 'but I of Christ'.” He shows the error, but did not reveal the names of its authors; for they did not stay in one place, but went about for the overturning of the simple. For those whom he names were without doubt good teachers; but under their guise he touches the false apostles. For if he denies that one should glory in these, how much more in bad teachers, whose perverse teaching he indicates in those he substitutes for them! Yet among them he marks out as persevering those who said that they were Christ's, not a man's, whom he praises above.

“Christ is divided.” He says Christ is divided because men have shared out his glory among themselves. Just as heretics who do not shrink from being called Photinians, or Arians, or Cataphrygians, or Novatians, or Donatists, or Manichees, so the Corinthians too had begun to submit themselves to the names of various heretics, so that they seemed to venerate men in place of Christ; and in receiving different things about Christ they divide Christ. For one accepts Christ as a man only; another confesses him as pure God, without humanity or body; another says Christ was foretold through the prophets; another denies that the prophets spoke of Christ. Since, then, Christ is one, God and man, these, each claiming one part or another of him for himself, divide Christ; and because they make many churches under their own names, he added: “Was Paul crucified for you?” He began with himself so that it would not be thought that he refuted the persons of others in order to commend his own. “For if Christ”, he says, “died for us, how do we ascribe his grace and benefit to men, to his injury?” “Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” “If we are baptized believing in Christ”, he says, “so that we may be justified in his name, why do we make men the authors of this faith for ourselves, forgetful of the belief we began with?”

“I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that I baptized in my name. I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.” He gives thanks to God that he did not baptize many of them; so that, since an error had arisen on this matter, the error might not be found in many from his own name; by this both baptizers and baptized are to be rebuked, who, to the Saviour's injury, ascribed the grace of his baptism to men, while the baptizers connived for the sake of glory. For they were then as the Novatians and Donatists are now, who claim baptism for themselves, rejecting those baptized by us; and those baptized by them glory in their persons. In short, having renounced the name of Christ, they glory in being called Novatians and Donatists. Crispus and Gaius, then, are Corinthians whom he names as witnesses, because they were baptized by the Apostle in such a way that they did not claim that any glory should be given him on that account. The household of Stephanas are the firstfruits of Achaia, as he indicates in the last part of the letter, to whom he bears witness that they had devoted themselves to the service of the saints.

“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel.” Since to preach the gospel is greater than to baptize, he says that he was not sent to baptize but to preach the gospel; for in the bishop is the dignity of all orders, since he is the head of the other members. By this he also humbles those to whom they gave much because they had been baptized by them; so that from this they might know that baptizing is no great thing, since not everyone who baptizes is also fit to preach the gospel. For the words said in baptism are fixed formulas. Indeed the apostle Peter ordered Cornelius, when he believed, to be baptized with his household (Acts 10:48), and did not deign to do this work himself, since ministers were standing by; for if they had been absent, he would have done it himself, compelled by necessity. He shows, then, how much better he is than those whom they venerated; and yet he did not allow this to be ascribed to his name, knowing it is dangerous to claim God's glory for a man's name; for it is a kind of idolatry. “Not in wisdom of word, so that the cross of Christ may not be emptied.” Because Christian preaching does not need the pomp and adornment of speech, fishermen, unlearned men, were chosen to preach the gospel, so that the truth of the teaching might commend itself, with power as its witness; lest it should seem acceptable through the cunning and craft of human wisdom rather than by truth, like the disciplines invented by men, in which not reason, not power, but an arrangement of words is sought. And so whoever wishes to adorn the faith of Christ with words seeks his own glory. For he obscures it with the splendour of words, so that not it but he himself is praised; just as the false apostles, so as not to seem foolish to the worldly-wise, preached Christ in human wisdom in two ways: by devoting themselves to eloquence, and by avoiding the things that the world judges foolish in us; so that they taught neither that the Son of God was incarnate and born of the Virgin, nor the future resurrection of the flesh, because the wisdom and reason of the world judges this foolish. And so the Apostle says that he does not preach Christ in human wisdom, “so that”, he says, “the cross of Christ may not be emptied”; because whoever announces Christ in human wisdom denies the truth of the preaching, as I mentioned above.

“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” It is plain that those to whom the cross of Christ is foolishness are in perdition, for they have not been rescued from the death of the underworld.

“But to those who are being saved it is the power of God.” It is not obscure that to those who believe it is the power of God; for they believe that the cross of Christ is not weakness but power, understanding that death was conquered on the cross; and those who have its sign are saved, because they cannot be held by death. “For it is written in Isaiah: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will reject” (Isa 29:14). He destroys the wisdom of the wise when he does the things that it says cannot be done; and he rejects the understanding of the prudent when he proves that God, whom they call unconcerned, has undertaken the things they think foolish, that the Son of God, incarnate of the Virgin, should be crucified for human salvation; and he attests that this was truly done by power, not by words.

“Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the investigator of this age?” With these words he inveighs against Jews as much as gentiles; for both the scribes of the Jews and the teachers of the law think it foolish to believe that God has a Son; in the same way the gentiles also count this a matter for laughter. But the Jews distrust it because it is not so plainly indicated in the law, while the gentiles distrust it because the reasoning of the world does not admit it; for it says that nothing can come about without intercourse, and judges it foolish. The investigator of the age, however, is the one who decides by calculation that the world is driven by the constellations, and that risings and settings happen by the twelve signs, thinking that nothing at all can happen without their motion. “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” The wisdom of this world has been made foolish; for, thinking itself wise, it has been found imprudent. For what it judged impossible has been shown to be possible, while it supposed God unconcerned. Is anything more foolish than this assertion, that he should be said to have made the world and not to care for it? Why did he make it, if what he made does not concern him? But because they see some enjoying the world happily, others being oppressed, those who act well being despised and the malicious glorying, they therefore believed that God is unconcerned. Whoever says God is unconcerned does not deny that he is malicious or unjust; for either he will judge the world, or he is unjust, overlooking the good and allowing evil to be done. If, then, they would consider the matter with their hatred of the divine law laid aside, they could see that this question is settled by us, who await the judgment of God, in which those oppressed by force will be exalted and the violent humbled; because there is no respect of persons with God (Rom 2:11).

“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.” The world, that is, mankind, did not know God in his wisdom, because they gave his unique majesty to figments or to the elements, ignoring him, and thinking through the wisdom of the flesh that the things that are seen ought to be worshipped. Therefore it pleased God to ordain a preaching that would seem foolishness to them, so that those who believe what they distrust might be saved, while they are condemned. This, then, is the reversal by which, through God's counsel, the false is condemned by the true.

“Since Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek wisdom.” The Jews ask for signs, because they do not doubt that it could have been done, but ask whether it has been done; for they know that Aaron's dry rod budded and bore fruit (Num 17:8), and that Jonah, swallowed by the whale, was in its belly three days and three nights and was cast out alive (Jonah 2). Yet above all they seek to see something such as Moses saw, God in fire; whence they say: “We know that God spoke to Moses” (John 9:29); though it is a greater thing that Lazarus, dead and stinking, came out of the tomb alive on the fourth day (John 11:44). The Greeks, however, seek wisdom, because they will not listen to anything except what is possible by the reasoning of the world.

“But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the gentiles.” It is a stumbling block to the Jews when they hear that Christ professed himself the Son of God and set the sabbath aside; but foolishness to the gentiles, because they hear things preached which, since they do not agree with worldly reason, seem senseless, such as the Virgin's giving birth and the resurrection of the dead.

“But to those who are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Persuaded by power, which is stronger than words, those who believe in Christ understand, the Jews first, who sought a sign, that Christ is the power of God; and the Greeks likewise see that Christ is the wisdom of God, and that the worldly wisdom which they formerly thought prudence is the greatest foolishness. He is, then, the power of God, because through him God the Father made all things; and wisdom because through him God is known. For God could not be known except through one who is from him; for “no one has known or seen the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Matt 11:27). “For what is foolish of God is wiser than men.” He says “the foolishness of God” not because it is truly foolish, but because it is thought foolish by men, since it does not fit worldly reasoning, though it is a spiritual reasoning; and therefore it is recognized as wiser than men, because spiritual things are wiser than carnal things. For spiritual things do not exist through carnal things, but carnal things subsist through spiritual ones; and therefore carnal things are subject to spiritual. “And what is weak of God is stronger than men.” Without doubt heavenly things conquer earthly. Therefore the weakness of God is not weakness, because the weakness of Christ is a great victory. For he conquered when he seemed conquered, as it says in the fiftieth Psalm: “And that you may conquer when you are judged” (Ps 50:6). For one who is unjustly killed comes out the victor, making his killer guilty. “For consider your calling, brothers: that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble.” It is plain that those are few who are puffed up rather than learned by the reasonings of the world, that is, who inspect and distinguish the motions of the stars. He calls the same people strong according to the flesh whom he also calls wise. And they are strong because they assert that Christ's passion is weak; for iniquity is strong and seems to itself to conquer for a time. They are also noble, those through whom they assign the origin of their superstition to antiquity, calling us new-fangled. God did not, then, choose this assertion, which is held by few.

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” The foolish things of the world are that a Virgin gave birth and that the Son of God was crucified; for the world thinks it foolish to believe this. Therefore God, to confound the world, chose those who believe what it judges foolish. For the wise are confounded when they see many confess what a few deny; for there is no doubt that the opinions of many are preferred to the opinions of a few. “And God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong.” The sense is the same: what a few think weak, those who consider themselves prudent in the world, distrusting the hope, is asserted by many to be power; because more believe than do not believe, to their shame. For they see the weak things of Christ, when named, command demons and work wonders; but to the world, which does not know that these things serve power, the insults and the passion of the Saviour are weak things; for he allowed himself to suffer these things so that he might conquer death. For to suffer unjustly, and to be able to resist and not to wish to, is the glory of the sufferer and the condemnation of the killer.

“And God chose the ignoble and contemptible things of this world, and the things that are not, to destroy the things that are.” He chose ignoble and contemptible things, then: not because they are truly ignoble and contemptible, but they are so judged by the world, because they spurn worldly reasonings by believing in Christ; so that he might destroy the things that are truly ignoble and contemptible; because those who judge are rather the ones to be judged and condemned. For error invented their assertion, and it was not from the beginning; but our teaching is from the beginning. Theirs is destroyed, then, since it is asserted with bare words and no witness; but ours is proved not by words alone but with power as its witness.

“So that no flesh may glory in his sight.” That is, so that the wisdom of the flesh may blush at its error, with God as judge; for it is the mind of the flesh to distrust God's power to make a virgin give birth and the rest, because the reasoning of the world, which is akin to the flesh, does not accept this.

“For from him you are in Christ Jesus.” From him, that is, from God who is almighty, we are in the faith of Christ; for it is God's purpose that we should learn his truth and mercy through Christ. The truth is the mystery of the Trinity; the mercy, that when we were captives he redeemed us.

“Who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” To strengthen believers, he says that Christ did by the will of God what he did; so that we may know that we have truly learned wisdom, and have been sanctified and justified and redeemed by God through Christ; for no one redeems except what had been his own. Whether, then, that we have been redeemed, or sanctified, that is, cleansed from the work of the flesh and the uncleanness of idols, or justified (for it is just to worship the Creator, spurning all else), or made wise in that we have learned that worldly men are unskilled: all this is God's benefit through Christ. Our redemption, however, is this: Christ offered himself to the devil, who desired him, so that he might remove the claim of sin against himself, and so rescue the devil's captives. “So that, as it is written: Let him who glories glory in the Lord.” This is written in the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 9:24). What the prophet says is fitting: that we should glory in God; for one who glories in the Lord cannot be confounded, since his works and magnificence appear in things done. Therefore, he says, let those be confounded in their idols, which do not send rain and did not make heaven and earth; and in the same way those who glory in men, whom they know to be of no power; for which reason Scripture also says: “Vain is hope in man” (Jer 17:5).