The Great Commentary (Mossman/Cobb English)

I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ “For the grace,” in Greek, cVt T0 dpvriy that is, on account of the grace of God, which is given you in Christy i.e. y through Christ See Can. 25. “The source,” says S. Bernard (, Serm . 13 in Cant.) y “of all the springs and rivers 6 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE is the sea : but the source of all virtue and knowledge is the Lord Jesus Christ : the continence of the flesh, the energy of the heart, the rectitude of the will, all flow from that spring : let the heavenly stream be given back to its source ” (by thanksgiving), “ so that the farthest parts of the earth may be replenished ; * I will not give my glory to another/ saith God ” (Isa. xlviii. n)

Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you — i.e., by which, as by two testimonies, the Christian faith was founded and established in you. For the Greeks interpret the Greek k* 0 w, i.e., even as, by enallage, &*>’ through which, that is, the word and knowledge. Others interpret, Even as the testimony , thus : by which things, viz., by the preaching of the Gospel, and by the knowledge of it, as by a sure testimony, it is known that you are faithful and disciples of Christ

God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Note, faithful with S. Paul is the same as constant, truthful, as I shall show on 1 Tim i. 15 ; not, according to Calvin, as though God saves those only who have been effectually called by Him, and all of them ; and as though He bids and makes each one of them believe with a firm faith that he will be saved. For if so, why, in the next verse, anxious about the salvation of the Corinthians, does he condemn their divisions ? Had not the Corinthians believed ? — and yet, having lapsed into schisms, they had incurred the danger of damnation, and, therefore, Paul endeavours to avert it from them. The faithful, therefore, can lapse into sin and be damned. God, then, is said to be faithful, because, not without cause, will He, O Corinthians, withdraw His help from you which He began to give, and afterwards promised that He would give, in order that you might persevere and be confirmed in the faith and fellowship of Jesus ; nor will He desert you unless He be first deserted by you ; as the Council of Trent teaches (following S. Augustine), Sess. vi. c. 1 1 and 1 3, where it lays down the same three things which the Apostle does here : (1.) That God gives the grace of Christ to all the justified : because, if they are willing, they are able to persevere in righteousness. (2.) That they by their own will can fall from it (3.) That no one knows whether he will persevere, and whether he is of the number of the elect, unless he has a special revelation of it from God. Note secondly. Paul here calls the communion of the faith, grace and glory of Christ which is enjoyed in the Church of Christ, the fellowship of His Son ; or that partaking of Christ in which we have a fellowship of sonship, inheritance, the Sacraments, and all the benefits of Christ In other words: Ye are called to be sons of God, fellows, members, brothers, and co-heirs of Christ : so Anselm, Ambrose, Theophylact and Chrysostom (whom see), and 1 S. John i. 3. And here notice : although, as the Apostle says, all faithful Christians are of the fellowship of Christ, yet some are more so than 8 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE others : that is to say, those who share more largely of the life and grace of Christ : as those who follow, not only the precepts, but also the counsels of Christ; even as the Apostles were more of the fellowship of Christ than other Christians. Ver. io. — I beseech you , brethren , by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ , into whose one and the same fellowship, family, house, and Church we are all called, as many as are faithful and Christians, that ye all speak the same thing — that is to say, that, like brothers, ye agree in words and in speech, and that ye all say at the same time “ I am of Christ ; ” but let not one say, “ I am of Paul,” another, “ I of Apollos.” And, again, that ye agree not only in speech, but also in mind: otherwise your verbal confession would be feigned and false. Whence he adds as the root of concord : — That ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment , that ye think the same thing and agree among yourselves in Christ, that ye be fitly united to each other in one mind and spirit in Christ For the Greek signifies, aptly and harmoniously to join and cement anything, so that the parts agree with each other and with the whole. And because a thing is then perfect and complete when it has in this way been neatly and harmoniously united, hence the word signifies also to perfect, as Ps. viiL 2 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 11. Be perfect , /.<?., mutually agree amongst yourselves and with your Head ; and Ps. xl. 6 (Sept.)

For it hath been declared unto me by them of Chlol '. Some think that Chloe is the name of a place, but this place is nowhere else mentioned ; nor does the Greek well allow Chloe to be a place. Whence more truly Chrysostom and the Syriac suppose it to be the name of a family or of a woman, and then the meaning is, I have heard from the family of Chlol. By a similar Greek idiom it is said, Rom. xvi. 10, 11 : “Salute thetn which are of Aristobulus, of Narcissus,” viz., of the house and family

That every one of you; i.e., Whoever of you contend with one another, and foment any part of schism. (For there were among the Corinthians many others well-disposed and peaceful, unconnected with schism, and consequently with the following SCHISMS AT CORINTH 9 words) : says , in turn, alternately or respectively ; for not each one was saying, I am of Paul / of Apollos y I of Cephas , but in turn ; since one would say, I am of Paul another, I of Apollos , a third, I of Cephas . In the words “ every one,” therefore, there is a distributive and disjunctive force familiar to the Hebrews; for every one ambitiously and contentiously was saying, “ I am of Paul,” &c., I am of Paul, viz., a disciple, a catechumen ; I of Cephas, that is to say, taught or baptized by the Blessed Pontiff Peter at Antioch, at Rome, or elsewhere. For Peter bad not yet been at Corinth, as is deduced from ch. iv. 15. Whence Baronius thinks that these are the words of those who were avoiding divisions, which had properly arisen because of Paul and Apollos, as appears in ch. iii. 4, and that, to escape from them, while others were boasting of their teachers, they would declare they were the disciples neither of Paul, nor of Apollos but of Peter, the head of the Church ; as though they should say, “This man says and boasts that he is the disciple of Paul, that man of Apollos ; but I say that I am of Cephas, that is, that I am a disciple of Peter, who is the head of the Church, and the Vicar of Christ: for to him I cling, in him I glory; he converted and baptized me by Paul or Apollos or some other.” Whence another rising higher would say : “ I am of Christy who is the supreme Head of Apostles and of the Church, whose Vicar Peter is, whose ministers are Paul and Apollos.” For it is to be noted that he adds 1 am of Christ as the words of those who speak not amiss but rightly, if there is no contention and contempt of the Apostles and the Vicars of Christ, as the Anabaptists now despise Prelates; for it became all to say, “ We are of Christ,” viz., Christians ; whereas some called themselves disciples of Paul, or of Apollos, or of Cephas. So Ambrose, Theophykact, S. Thomas. The occasion of the schism seems to have been that Apollos, who was eloquent, acute, and learned in the Scriptures, was then teaching at Corinth (Acts xviil 27), and compared to him S. Paul seemed to some cold and bald, because he avoided in his preaching all display of knowledge or of rhetorical ornament, as he says himself (ch. ii. 4.) Lastly, S. Jerome (on Tit. i.) gathers from this passage that 10 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE Bishops were given jurisdiction over presbyters, so as to remove all scandals, and that the Church before this was governed by the Presbyters in common council. This opinion must be discussed when we come to the Epistle to Titus

For Christ sent me not to baptize , but to preach the Gospel. Preaching and the administration of the Sacraments are the two duties of Pastors, but especially the former. And therefore the chief work of Bishops, Archbishops, and Primates is to preach the Gospel: and this they are bound to do themselves, unless lawfully hindered (Council of Trent, Sess. v. c. 2, and Sess. iv. c. 4). But they may with Paul intrust the administration of Baptism and the other Sacraments to Parish Priests and their assistants. Not with wisdom of words. I.e., with eloquence and rhetorical adornment, not according to the Gospel. The Greek word for wisdom gives us Sophists, the Greek orators who particularly pleaded in the law courts. Of this kind are modern innovators in religion, who rightly style themselves “ministers of the word.” Not so did Paul, “ lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect? i.e., should become emptied of its force, by men supposing that they had obtained salvation, and their belief in the faith through human eloquence, instead of by the power of the Passion of Christ This was the origin of the schism of those who said, “ I am of Paul,” “I of Apollos,” because the eloquence of Apollos WISDOM AND FOLLY 13 was pleasing to some of the more fastidious Corinthians, and to those who loved eloquence ; while on the other, Paul pleased those who sought for the spirit rather than the words, inasmuch as he was unskilled indeed in rhetoric but not in knowledge. And thence it is that S. Paul here and in the next three chapters attacks and abases in different ways eloquence and worldly wisdom. The “wisdom of words” can be taken for natural philosophy, or the wisdom of human reason ; for it is opposed to the Cross in ver. 18 ; and again, in verses 19, 20-27, he explains it as philosophy and human reason and prudence. (Maidonatus.)

For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness . Any declaration about the salvation bestowed by the Cross, or about our redemption by the Cross and Passion of Christ, seems foolishness to men who are sceptical and perverse, and therefore ready to perish. Isaiah, too, says this in the person of Christ: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel ” (Isa. viii. 18). See also Heb. ii. 13

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Mark the phrase, “ in the wisdom of God.” God shows His wisdom in the marvellous structure and government of the world, as S. Thomas says. In other words, the world in its foolishness knew not God practically in His wisdom stamped on His Creation, as the Author of its salvation, and Leader to a life of bliss ; nor yet speculatively , because philosophers regarded God as powerless to create; they thought Him to act under necessity, and to be void of providence, &c. Hence it is that God has revealed Himself and His salvation to the world in a way which seems to the world foolishness, viz., by the Cross. He has thus stooped to men, and become as it were foolish among them ; just as a teacher will sometimes act as a boy, and talk as a boy, amongst boys. So Christ, because He was not understood as God, revealed Himself to men, as a man, and one liable to suffering. This is wisdom unspeakable. See S. Thomas, Anselm, and others

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. That is, say Ambrose and Anselm, the foolishness and weakness of God, or what men think is foolishness and weakness in God and in Christ incarnate and suffering, as eg.. His humanity, mortality, Passion and Cross, was just that by which Christ, when seemingly conquered, yet most wisely and most powerfully conquered men, Satan, and the whole world. In other words, God’s wisdom and power were most plainly seen in His overcoming all wisdom and strength by what was foolish and weak, viz., the Cross. And therefore Jerome and S. Augustine vol. 1. B l8 FIRST EPISTLE TO TIIE explain the passage of Habakkuk (iii. 4) was it not to us the way of prudence , the form of righteousness , the example of holiness t Therefore the Apostle also adds , i The foolishness of God is wiser than men . 9 Death then set us free from deaths life from error , grace from sin. And truly His death won the victory through His righteousness ; because the Just One , by paying what he never took 9 rightly recovered all that He had lost : 9 Hence it is that Francis and the greatest Saints have sought to be considered foolish by the world, in order that they might the rather please God. Some religious Orders, indeed, so regard this as the height of perfection and Christian wisdom that they enjoin their members to love, desire, and embrace contempt, ridicule, insults, and injuries, and to long to be considered fools, just as eagerly as worldly men seek for a reputation for wisdom, for honour, and renown. They do this to teach them in this way (1.) to utterly despise the world ; (2.) to humiliate themselves and uproot their innate desire of honour, praise, glory, and high position ; (3.) to be more like Christ, and to clothe themselves with His garments and His marks, who for our sakes, and to give us an example of virtue and perfection, chose these things Himself, willed to be considered foolish, and became a scorn of men, and the outcast of the people. They say, therefore, with S. Paul, “ God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world.” All this does the Cross of Christ teach if you often meditate on it ; nay, the Cross is the fount of wisdom. S. Bonaventura, when asked where he had drunk in so much wisdom, showed a crucifix almost worn away by kisses. S. Jacoponus, a man of good birth and of great learning, after having learned from the Cross of Christ to become foolish to the world, was asked by Christ, who appeared to him in a friendly and familiar way, why he was so enamoured of 20 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE this foolishness, and he answered with his customary pious pleasantry, “Because Thou, Lord, hast been more foolish than I.” In short, S. Chrysostom (. Horn , 4 on the Cross and the Robber ) sums up the power and praise of the Cross as follows : “ If you wish to know the power of the Cross , and what I have to say in its praise , listen .* The Cross is the hope of Christians , the resurrection of the dead the way of them that despair ; the staff of the lame, the consolation of the poor, the curb of the rich, the destruction of the proud, the punishment of them that live badly, victory over the demons, subjugation of the devil, the instructor of the young, nourishment of the needy, hope of the hopeless, the rudder of seafarers, haven to the storm-tost, wall to the besieged, father of the fatherless, defender of widows, counsellor of the just, rest to the weary, guardian of little ones, head of men, end of the aged, light to them that sit in darkness, the magnificence of kings, an everlasting shield, wisdom of the foolish, liberty to the slaves, a philosophy for kings, law to the lawless, the boast of martyrs, the self-denial of monks, the chastity of virgins, the joy of priests , the foundation of the Church, the destruction of temples, the rejection of idols, a stumblingblock to the Jews, perdition to the ungodly, strength to the weak, physician to the sick, bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, 1 *

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, “// pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe n 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 THE CHRISTIAN PREACHER 21 of the Cross, but also of the preachers of the Cross, as Athanasius points out (Ad Antiockum , 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 worlds 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 22 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE of no reputation. And therefore S. Ambrose (on ), says : “ See the counsel of God He chose not the wise , the rich the noble, hut 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 poiver or birth; and that so, not love of disputation , but truth by its reasonableness might prevail I” S. Augustine (vol. x. Serm . 59) says, u 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