The following was translated by Claude. My Latin source contained scripture references but used Latin numerals for the chapters (e.g., John XIV:30); I've converted these into Arabic numerals so my scripture reference tagger would automatically provide a link; however, I may have missed a few.
So he says first: it was said that we speak wisdom among the perfect. Wisdom indeed I speak, not of this age, that is, concerning worldly matters, or wisdom that comes through human reason; nor is it the wisdom of the princes of this age. And so he separates it from worldly wisdom, both as to the manner and subject of inquiry, and as to the authors, who are the princes of this age — which can be understood in terms of three kinds of princes, according to three kinds of human wisdom.
First, the princes of this age can be called kings and worldly powers, according to Psalm 2:2: the princes gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed. From these princes comes the wisdom of human laws, by which the affairs of this world are ordered in human life.
Second, the princes can be called Demons. John 14:30: the prince of this world comes, and in me he has nothing, etc. And from these princes comes the wisdom of the worship of Demons, namely necromancy, the magical arts, and the like.
Third, the princes of this age can be understood as philosophers, who presented themselves as princes among men in teaching, concerning whom it is said Isaiah 29:11: foolish are the princes of Tanis, wise are the counselors of Pharaoh. And from these princes proceeded all human philosophy.
Now, these princes among men are destroyed through death and through the loss of power and authority. Demons, however, are not destroyed through death, but through the loss of power and authority, according to John 12:31: now the prince of this world shall be cast out. Regarding men it is said Baruch 3:16: where are the princes of the nations? And afterwards he adds: they have been destroyed and have descended into Hell. Since they themselves are not stable, neither can their wisdom be firm; and therefore one must not rely upon it.
Then when he says sed loquimur ("but we speak"), etc., he expounds what kind of wisdom it is by comparison to the faithful. First he describes it as to its subject matter or authority, when he says but we speak of God's wisdom, that is, wisdom which is God and which is from God. For although all wisdom is from God, as is said Ecclesiasticus I, 1, nevertheless in a special way this wisdom, which concerns God, is also from God through revelation, according to Wisdom 9:17: but who shall know your thought, unless you give wisdom and send your spirit from on high?
Second he shows its quality, saying in mystery, which is hidden; for this wisdom is hidden from men, insofar as it exceeds the human intellect, according to Sirach 3:25: very many things have been shown to you that surpass human understanding. Hence it is said Job 28:21: it is hidden from the eyes of all the living. And because the manner of teaching and doctrine must be fitting, it is said that he speaks it in mystery, that is, in something concealed, whether by word or by sign. Below 1 Cor 14:2: the Spirit speaks mysteries.
Third he shows the fruit of this wisdom, saying which God has predestined, that is, prepared, for our glory, that is, for the glory of the preachers of the faith, to whom great glory is owed on account of the preaching of such sublime wisdom, both before God and before men. Proverbs 3:35: the wise shall possess glory. And what he says for our glory is to be expounded as referring to all the faithful, whose glory it is that they may know in full light what is now being preached in mystery, according to John 17:3: this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Having given the exposition of the wisdom that the Apostle speaks among the perfect, here he assigns the reason for the aforementioned exposition. First, as to the fact that he had described it by comparison to the unfaithful; second, as to the fact that he had described it by comparison to the faithful, at nobis autem revelavit Deus ("but God has revealed to us"). Regarding the first, he does two things. First he states what he intends; second he proves the stated point, at si enim cognovissent ("for if they had known").
So he says first: it was said that the wisdom we speak is not that of the princes of this age, for this is the wisdom which none of the princes of this age has known — which is true, however one understands it in terms of these princes. For worldly princes have not known this wisdom, because it exceeds the reason of human governance. Job 12:24: He who changes the heart of the princes of the peoples of the earth, and deceives them, so that they walk foolishly in a trackless way. Philosophers also have not known it, because it exceeds human reason. Hence it is said Baruch 3:23: the seekers of wisdom and knowledge did not know the way of wisdom. Demons also do not know it, because it exceeds all created wisdom. Hence it is said Job 28:21: even the birds of heaven are hidden from it. Destruction and death said: with our ears we have heard its fame.
Then when he says si enim cognovissent ("for if they had known"), etc., he proves what he had said. First he proves by sign that the princes did not know God's wisdom, according to what is in itself hidden. Second he proves by authority that they did not know it, according to what is prepared for our glory, at sicut scriptum est ("as it is written").
So he says first: I rightly say that the princes of this age did not know God's wisdom, for if they had known God's wisdom, they would certainly have known that Christ is God, who is contained in this wisdom; knowing which, they would never have crucified the God of glory, that is, Christ the Lord himself, who gives glory to His own, according to Psalm 24:10: the Lord of hosts is Himself the King of glory; and Hebrews 2:10: who had brought many sons into glory. For since glory is naturally desirable to rational creatures, it cannot fall into human will to destroy the author of glory.
That the princes did crucify Jesus Christ is certain, if understood as referring to those princes who have power among men. For it is said in Psalm 2:2: the kings of the earth stood, and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed, which is expounded in Acts 4:27 as referring to Herod and Pilate, and the princes of the Jews who consented to the death of Christ. But the Demons also brought about the death of Christ through persuasion, according to John 13:2: when the Devil had already cast it into his heart to betray Him, etc. And the Pharisees and the Scribes learned in the law, who devoted themselves to the pursuit of wisdom, also brought about the death of Christ by instigating and approving.
But regarding this, a twofold doubt arises. The first concerns the statement that the God of glory was crucified. For the divinity of Christ could not suffer anything, according to which Christ is called the Lord of glory. But it must be said that Christ is one person and hypostasis consisting in both natures, divine and human. Hence He can be designated by the name of either nature, and whatever name signifies Him, what belongs to either nature can be predicated of Him, because only one hypostasis is supposed in either nature. And by this manner we can say that a man created the stars, and that the Lord of glory was crucified — and yet He did not create the stars according to what He is as man, but according to what He is as God; nor was He crucified according to what He is as God, but insofar as He is man. Hence by this statement the error of Nestorius is destroyed, who had said that there was one nature in Christ, of God and of man, because according to that view it could in no way be verified that the Lord of glory was crucified.
The second doubt concerns the apparent supposition that the princes of the Jews or the Demons did not know that Christ is God. And indeed, regarding the princes of the Jews, this seems to be supported by what Peter says, Acts 3:17: I know that you did this in ignorance, as did your princes. But the contrary seems to be what is said Matthew XXI, 38: the farmers, seeing the son, said among themselves: this is the heir, come, let us kill him; which Chrysostom, expounding, says: the Lord clearly proves by these words that the princes of the Jews crucified the Son of God not out of ignorance but out of envy. This is resolved in the Gloss, which states that the princes of the Jews knew him to be the one promised in the law, but did not know his mystery — that he was the Son of God — nor did they know the sacrament of the Incarnation and of Redemption. But against this seems to be what Chrysostom says, that they knew him to be the Son of God. It must therefore be said that the princes of the Jews knew with certainty that he was the Christ promised in the law — which the people did not know. But that He was truly the Son of God they did not know with certainty, though they conjectured it in some way; yet this conjectural knowledge was obscured in them by envy and by the desire for their own glory, which they saw to be diminished by the excellence of Christ.
Similarly, there also seems to be doubt regarding the Demons. For it is said Mark 1:23 ff. and Luke 4:34, that the Demon cried out, saying: I know that you are the Holy One of God. And lest this be attributed to the presumption of Demons, who boasted of knowing what they did not know, the knowledge they had of Christ is asserted by the Evangelists themselves. In Mark it is written: He did not allow them to speak, namely the Demons, because they knew Him to be Christ. And Luke says: rebuking, He did not allow them to speak because they knew Him to be Christ. And to this it is answered in the book on the questions of the New and Old Testament that the Demons knew Him to be the one who had been promised through the law, because they saw all the signs in Him which the prophets had spoken of, but they were ignorant of the mystery of His divinity. But against this seems to be what Athanasius says — that the Demons said Christ was the Holy One of God, as if singularly holy — for He is naturally holy, by whose participation all others are called holy. It must be said, however, that, as Chrysostom says, they did not have firm and certain knowledge of the advent of God, but only certain conjectures. Hence Augustine says in De Civitate Dei IX that it was made known to the Demons not through what is eternal life, but through certain temporal things accomplished by their power.
Then when he says sed sicut scriptum est ("but as it is written"), he proves by authority that the princes of this age did not know God's wisdom, as to the fact that it has been predestined for the glory of the faithful, saying: but as it is written Isaiah 64:4, where our text reads: the eye has not seen, O God, apart from you, what you have prepared for those who love you. Now that glory of vision is shown to be ignorant among men in two ways. First, in that it is not subject to human senses, from which all human knowledge takes its beginning. And he provides two senses. First, the sense of sight, which serves discovery, when he says the eye has not seen — Job 28:7: the bird has not known its path, nor has the eye of the vulture seen it. And this is because it is not something colored and visible. Second, he provides the sense of hearing, which serves learning, saying nor has the ear heard, that is, this glory itself, because it is not a sound or a sensible voice. John 5:37: nor have you seen His form, nor have you heard His voice.
Then he excludes intellectual knowledge of it, when he says nor has it ascended into the heart of man. This can be understood in one way: that to ascend into the heart of man is said of anything that is known in any manner by man, according to Jeremiah 2:50: let Jerusalem ascend above your heart; and so the heart of man must be taken as the heart of the carnal man, according to what is said below 1 Cor 3:3: since there is among you jealousy and contention, are you not carnal, and do you walk according to man? The meaning is therefore that this glory is not only not perceived by the senses, but neither by the heart of the carnal man, according to John 14:17: whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him, nor does it know Him.
In another way it can be expounded according to what is properly said to ascend into the heart of man — that which arrives at human intellect from below, that is, from sensible things, of which he had previously made mention. For things are in the intellect according to its manner; things that are inferior are therefore in a higher intellect in a higher way than they are in themselves. And so when they are taken up by the intellect, they ascend in some sense into the heart. Hence it is said Isaiah 65:17: the former things shall not be in memory, nor shall they ascend above the heart. But those things that are superior to the intellect are in themselves in a higher way than they are in the intellect. And so when they are taken up by the intellect, they in some sense descend. James 1:17: every perfect gift descends from above from the Father of lights. Since, therefore, the knowledge of that glory is not received from sensible things but from divine revelation, he therefore significantly says nor has it ascended into the heart of man, but rather it descends — that which God has prepared, that is, predestined, for those who love Him, because the essential reward of eternal glory is owed to charity, according to John 14:21: if anyone loves Me, he shall be loved by My Father, and I shall love Him and shall manifest Myself to Him, in which the perfection of eternal glory consists; and Job 36:33: He announces to His friend concerning it, that is, concerning the light of glory, that it is His possession. The other virtues receive the efficacy of meriting eternal life insofar as they are informed by charity.
Then when he says nobis autem ("but to us"), etc., he proves the aforementioned exposition of divine wisdom by comparison to the faithful. First he states what he intends; second he proves the stated point, at spiritus enim ("for the Spirit"). So he says first: it was said that no prince of this age has known God's wisdom, but God has revealed it to us through His Spirit, whom He sent to us, according to John 14:26: but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things; Job 32:8: the inspiration of the Almighty gives understanding. For since the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, inasmuch as He proceeds from the Son, who is the truth of the Father, to those whom He is sent He inspires truth, just as the Son, sent by the Father, makes the Father known, according to Matthew 11:27: no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whomever the Son wishes to reveal Him.
Then when he says spiritus enim ("for the Spirit"), he proves what he had said, namely that through the Holy Spirit, God's wisdom has been revealed to the faithful. First he shows that the Holy Spirit is efficacious for this; second he proves that He had done this in the disciples of Christ, at nos autem ("but we"). Regarding the first, he does two things. First he states what he intends; second he makes the stated point clear, at quis enim scit hominum ("for who among men knows"), etc.
So he says first: it was said that God revealed His wisdom to us through the Holy Spirit, and this could come about, for the Holy Spirit searches all things. This is not to be understood as if by inquiring how things come to be, but because He perfectly knows even the innermost depths of all things, just as a man thoroughly searches through something at times. Hence it is said Wisdom 7:22 ff. that the spirit of intelligence, the Holy One, is understanding all things, and comprehends all spirits of understanding, clean, subtle — and not only created things, but also the depths of God He knows perfectly. Those things are called depths which lie hidden in Him Himself, and not those things which are known of Him through creatures, which seem to be known only superficially, according to Wisdom 13:5: from the greatness of visible things and their beauty, the Creator of them can be seen by understanding.
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