1 Cor 1:26. FOR SEE YOUR CALLING, BROTHERS. "See"—in Greek βλέπετε, which can also be translated "you see." This pleases Valla, and thus Faber, Erasmus, and Hentenius have translated it. Yet the ancient Latin writers read "see" [as imperative], as Irenaeus in book 2, chapter 34, likewise Pelagius, Primasius, Sedulius, and the rest. Only Ambrosiastor, retaining the ambiguity of the Greek word, reads "consider" [intuemini]. Moreover, the Apostle teaches that what he said about the works of God compared to the works of men has application not only in the cross of Christ but also in the believers themselves. Now there is a twofold commentary on this passage. For what is said here and hereafter, some refer to the faithful of that time in general, including even the Apostles through whom faith in the cross of Christ was persuaded to the world, who for the most part were men humble and abject according to the world. Others wish these things to be said properly to the Corinthians, because the Apostle says "your calling," that is, of the Corinthians—although even thus it can be understood as "your," that is, of the faithful, especially since he made the inscription of the epistle very general. For afterward, in the penultimate verse, returning to the Corinthians, he says, "But from Him you are," etc. We therefore will follow the former sense, under which nevertheless the second can also easily be received. Moreover, he calls "calling" those who are called, just as elsewhere "circumcision" means the circumcised. "See," he says, "and consider those called to faith," that is, the faithful—who and what sort they are, even those who are foremost among them, such as the Apostles of Christ.
THAT NOT MANY WISE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH—that is, that not many endowed with human wisdom—there must be supplied either from what precedes, "were called," or from what follows, "were chosen," certainly to faith or even to the preaching of the Gospel. It should be noted that for Paul in this chapter and the two following, "the wisdom of this world," "the wisdom of this age," "wisdom according to the flesh," and "the wisdom of men" or "human wisdom" (which he also calls "carnal wisdom" in 2 Cor. 1) are the same thing. By these names he means to signify that wisdom which can be acquired by human effort without the teaching of the Holy Spirit, on account of which it is also called "wisdom according to the flesh," such as was the wisdom of the Philosophers.
NOT MANY POWERFUL—understand, powerful according to the world.
NOT MANY NOBLE—that is, born of illustrious lineage.
The Apostle does not say "no one wise according to the flesh, no one powerful, no one noble." For some of this sort also came to faith in those early times, such as Nicodemus, a prince of the Jews; Joseph of Arimathea, a noble councilor; two centurions, one praised by the Lord, the other by an angel; the proconsul Paulus; Apollos, an eloquent man; Dionysius the Areopagite—of all of whom we read partly in the Gospel, partly in the Acts of the Apostles; and finally Paul the Apostle himself, instructed in the law at the feet of Gamaliel and also versed in the books of the pagans, as the verses of poets frequently cited by him sufficiently demonstrate. But these were very few in comparison with the multitude of believers, so that even while Christ was preaching it was said, "Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? But this crowd that does not know the law" (John 7). However, among the twelve Apostles of Christ, by whom the cross of Christ was first of all preached to the world, there was absolutely no one wise, powerful, or noble according to the world. Hence Ambrose in book 5 on Luke, at that passage in chapter 6, "He chose from them," says: "Note the heavenly counsel: not some wise men, not rich men, not nobles, but fishermen and tax collectors He chose to send, lest He seem to have led anyone to His grace by cleverness, or purchased them with riches, or drawn them by the power and authority of nobility." Thus he. Therefore it is vain what some fabricate about the royal nobility of St. Bartholomew, especially since the Roman Church recites the aforementioned words of Blessed Ambrose as a sacred lesson in the feast of that same apostle, so as to detract credibility from that fable. How much less should what is read about the same Apostle in the pseudonymous Abdias be accepted—that he walked constantly in purple and jewels, and was so protected by the guardianship of angels that neither were his garments soiled nor his sandals worn out, nor was he himself wearied or hungry—since "the apostle is not greater than he who sent him" (John 13), that is, Christ the Lord, who is read to have been both wearied and hungry, and Paul says in the person of all the apostles below in chapter 4, "To this very hour we hunger and thirst, we are naked."
You will say, "At least Bartholomew was a scribe and skilled in the Jewish law," if what is the very probable opinion of some holds—that he was the same as Nathanael, who in John 1, as one knowledgeable in the law, is read to have answered Philip, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" From which it happens that Augustine, who makes Nathanael different from the apostles, says in his treatment of that passage that for this very reason, because he was learned in the law, he was not numbered by Christ among the twelve. But the response is that this was said by Nathanael with a question. For the speech was about a small and obscure town from which some great good could not be hoped for. Whence Philip responded to him as one questioning, "Come and see"—that is, learn by experience that about which you doubt and ask. But Augustine took his words as an assertion of a man versed in the law and scriptures.
1 Cor 1:27. BUT GOD CHOSE WHAT IS FOOLISH IN THE WORLD—this whole antithesis corresponds exactly to the preceding words: "not many wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble." For first, because he had said "not many wise according to the flesh," now he says "but what is foolish in the world"—in Greek, "foolish of the world," that is, what was foolish according to the world, God chose. And the sense is: Those who were destitute of worldly wisdom and therefore seemed to human judgment to be foolish and senseless and unsuited to teaching others, such as were the fishermen—these, I say, God chose not only to receive faith but also to preach it to others.
TO SHAME THE WISE—that is, to put to shame the wise. Not those who were [wise] but who seemed to be, says Augustine in sermon 63 on various topics, chapter 3; or the wise not simply but according to the flesh, as I said a little before. For such wise men are put to shame when through their wisdom they cannot accomplish—that is, lead men to eternal salvation and make them blessed—what the unlearned accomplish without it.
AND GOD CHOSE WHAT IS WEAK IN THE WORLD—this part corresponds to where he said "not many powerful." "Weak of the world," that is, weak according to the world, means men endowed with no worldly power but common people and the poor.
TO SHAME THE STRONG—that is, to put to shame, as it were, by comparison with them, all the power of this world, when through them He accomplishes what the powerful of the world cannot.
1 Cor 1:28. AND GOD CHOSE WHAT IS IGNOBLE IN THE WORLD AND WHAT IS DESPISED—This he opposes to what he said, "not many noble." "Despised"—in Greek τὰ ἐξουθενημένα, that is, "what is held as nothing." The sense: And those who according to the world were ignoble and obscure, and therefore despised and held as if for nothing, God chose.
AND THINGS THAT ARE NOT—in Greek καὶ τὰ μὴ ὄντα, "and non-beings," that is, things that were not. What he said "held as nothing" he amplifies by the Hebraism "non-beings," although the same thing is signified. For what is held in contempt is said by the Hebrews "not to be" insofar as it is valued as nothing, as if you were to say "men of no name or account." Such were most of those whom Christ chose for faith and the preaching of the Gospel.
TO DESTROY WHAT IS—"destroy" in Greek καταργήσῃ, "abolish, obliterate," as Erasmus translates. The translator renders the same word in Romans 3:3 as "evacuate." The sense is: In order to make those who are great in men's estimation contemptible and obscure, and as it were reduce them to nothing, which is "to destroy" according to our version. This was done when it appeared how little nobility of birth—and in general whatever the world admires as great—contributes to the business of men's eternal salvation.
1 Cor 1:29. THAT NO FLESH MIGHT BOAST IN HIS SIGHT—in Greek ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, "before him." "No" for "none" and "flesh" for "man" are Hebrew idioms. Yet Scripture more readily calls man "flesh" where it notes his weakness or reproves his pride, as in Isaiah 40, "All flesh is grass," and Jeremiah 17, "Cursed is the man who makes flesh his arm." This explanation should be referred to the three preceding clauses in which it was said that He chose the foolish and weak and ignoble of the world to shame the wise and powerful and noble. For He did all this so that it might appear that no man should boast of whatever goods are possessed by nature, such as worldly wisdom, power, nobility—boast, I say, before God, that is, in those things that commend man to God, such as faith and works of piety—but that all glory in these things should be attributed to God alone through Christ. Whence follows:
1 Cor 1:30. BUT FROM HIM YOU ARE IN CHRIST JESUS—"from Him," Erasmus [translates] "from the same," but no more fittingly than in what immediately precedes, "in his sight." This part is variously expounded. The first sense is: From Him, namely from God and not from yourselves, even you are whatever you are before God, and from Him you have whatever good you have that pertains to piety, and that through Christ Jesus. Otherwise: You are from God, that is, you are sons of God, men of God, as if born from God, and that through Christ Jesus. A third sense: From God you are in Christ, that is, by God's grace you are Christians, incorporated into Christ and partakers of His benefits. Thus "to be in the Lord" for "to be a Christian" he said in Romans 16:12. To this sense as well as to the two former, what follows agrees well:
WHO WAS MADE FOR US WISDOM FROM GOD—that is, by whose merit we have true wisdom from God as author. He opposes this to worldly wisdom, concerning which [he spoke] above and again below in the following chapter.
AND RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SANCTIFICATION AND REDEMPTION—All these things are said in the same sense, namely causal, that by Christ's merit we have received righteousness, sanctification, and redemption from God. For "from God" must be repeated for each. Those who adduce this passage in support of imputed righteousness introduced by the Lutherans abuse the sacred writings either deliberately or through ignorance, so that what is clearly said in a figurative sense they wish to understand literally. For just as Christ was made sanctification and redemption for us because through His cross we were sanctified and redeemed, so certainly He was made righteousness for us because through His cross we were justified—not because His righteousness, whether divine or human, is imputed to us. Thus elsewhere He is called "our peace" because by His merit He reconciled peace for us (Ephesians 2:14).
1 Cor 1:31. THAT, AS IT IS WRITTEN—It is written in Jeremiah chapter 9, though not in the same words but in sense:
"LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD"—In the prophet it is read thus: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the strong man boast in his strength, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows me." Now this was to boast in the Lord. For if through human wisdom someone could know and worship God as He ought to be known and worshiped, the wise man could boast in his wisdom, which the Lord forbids through the prophet. Therefore the Apostle's sense from the prophet is of this sort: He who rejoices and boasts that he has something by which he pleases God should not ascribe it to his wisdom or power or any other good of nature, but should acknowledge it as received from the grace of God alone. Although "in the Lord" can be taken concerning Christ, of whom the discourse had just been, so that the sense is that one should boast in nothing else except in what we have through Christ, who was made all things for us. This sense also agrees with the other passage in 2 Corinthians 10, where this sentence is repeated, as you will see there. Whence also to what follows in the prophet, "For I am the Lord who practices mercy and judgment and righteousness in the earth," he seems to have alluded in the earlier words, as if signified there in a certain hidden sense was the incarnation and redemption of Christ the Lord, through which God has worked these things for us in Him. Finally, what the Apostle says, "as it is written," can be referred to the sense and character of all Sacred Scripture. For as Augustine writes in Enchiridion 98: "Those who rightly contemplate the supreme and most salutary sacrament—the whole face and, so to speak, countenance of the Holy Scriptures—will find that it admonishes this: that he who boasts should boast in the Lord."
CONTINUE
Comments
Post a Comment