1 Corinthians 2:5 Douay-Rheims

That your faith might not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

John Chrysostom

A.D. 347–407 Patristic

"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

Seest thou how clearly in every way he hath set forth the vast gain of this "ignorance," and the great loss of this "wisdom?" For the latter made void the Cross, but the former proclaimed the power of God: the latter, besides their failing to discover any of those things which they most needed, set them also upon boasting of themselves; the former, besides their receiving the truth, led them also to pride themselves in God. Again, wisdom would have persuaded many to suspect that the doctrine was of man: this clearly demonstrated it to be divine, and to have come down from heaven. Now when demonstration is made by wisdom of words, even the worse oftentimes overcome the better, having more skill in words; and falsehood outstrips the truth. But in this case it is not so: for neither doth the Spirit enter into an unclean soul, nor, having entered in, can it ever be subdued; even though all possible cleverness of speech assail it. For the demonstration by works and signs is far more evident than that by words.

Source details
A.D. 407 · on 1Cor 2:5 (Homily on 1 Corinthians 6)

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

Read 1 Cor 2:5 in context →