1 Corinthians 1:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But to instruct unbelievers in the faith requires great labor, great wisdom, and even entails dangers. There everything has already been done. The one who desires to receive the Mystery has been persuaded in the faith.

It is not at all difficult to baptize one who has believed. Here, however, great labor is needed: to change the disposition, correct the character, destroy error, and plant the truth.

Paul, however, does not speak of this in such a way. He does not prove or affirm that baptizing involves no labor, while preaching the Gospel does. He always knows how to observe moderation.

But he dwells especially on external wisdom and offers his strongest discourse concerning it. Thus he baptized not from opposition to Him Who sent him, but as he also had care for the widows from an abundance of zeal.

He did not do that in opposition to the Apostles, who had said, “It is not good that we should leave the word of God and serve tables” (Acts 6:2). So it is here also.

So now as well we entrust this work to the simpler presbyters, and the imparting of doctrine to the more prudent, because here labor and effort are needed.

Therefore he himself says, “The presbyters who rule well should be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and teaching” (1 Tim 5:17).

For training combatants requires a courageous and skillful teacher. Yet even one unskilled in wrestling can place the crown upon the victor, although the crown glorifies the victor. So it is also in baptism.

Although without it one cannot be saved, the one who baptizes does not perform a great work, since he receives a man already disposed and prepared for it.

“Not in wisdom of speech, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of no effect” (1 Cor 1:17). Having overthrown the pride of those who exalted themselves over baptism, he passes to the rebuke of those who boasted in external wisdom.

He speaks against them with special force. To those who exalted themselves over baptism he said, “I thank God that I baptized none of you.” He also said, “Christ did not send me to baptize.”

For their rebuke he did not use a strong and cutting discourse. After suggesting what he wished in a few words, he passed on to what followed. But here, from the very beginning, he strikes a powerful blow.

“Lest,” he says, “the Cross of Christ should be made of no effect.” Why do you boast in what you ought to be ashamed of?

For if this wisdom is hostile to the Cross and opposed to the Gospel, then one ought not to boast in it, but to be ashamed of it.

For this reason the Apostles were not among such wise men. This was not from lack of gifts, but so that the preaching might suffer no harm. The wise did not assist the preaching, but harmed it. Simple men confirmed it.

This could overthrow pride, strike arrogance, and dispose men to humility. But you will say, if not in wisdom of speech, why was Apollos, “an eloquent man,” sent (Acts 18:24)?

It was not because they placed hope in the power of eloquence, but because he was versed in Scripture and skillful in refuting the Jews.

On the other hand, it was necessary that the very first sowers of the word be uneducated. They had to possess great power in order to begin the destruction of errors. Great strength was needed to set their hand to this work.

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not in wisdom of speech, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of no effect” (1 Cor 1:17).

See what an accusation this is against external wisdom. It not only fails to assist piety, but even becomes a hindrance and obstacle.

Beautiful bodies, comely and lovely faces, lose the glory of their own beauty if they receive some foreign adornment. The honor of that glory is stolen by rouge, cosmetics, and other embellishments.

If you use nothing foreign on them, you display their beauty much better, when their appearance acts by itself and receives full admiration.

So it is with faith, this spiritual bride. If you add anything external to her, whether wealth, power, or the force of eloquence, you humble her glory. You do not allow all her radiance to appear.

Instead, you divide her glory into many parts. But if you allow her to act by herself, removing every human thing, then all her beauty will surely appear.

Then her invincible power will shine forth clearly, when, without using wealth, wisdom, power, noble birth, or other human aids, she conquers and overcomes all.

Through insignificant, lowly, needy, poor, and uneducated men, she overcomes impious rhetoricians, philosophers, tyrants, and the whole world.

For this reason Paul said, “I came proclaiming to you the testimony of God, not in excellence of speech or wisdom” (1 Cor 2:1). And again, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (1 Cor 1:27).

He did not simply say, “the foolish,” but “the foolish things of the world.” Certainly what is foolish in the world is not foolish before God.

On the contrary, many who seem foolish here in the world are wiser before God than all others. In the same way, many who live here in poverty are richer before God than all.

Thus Lazarus was poorer than all in the world, but in heaven he became richer than all. Therefore Paul calls “foolish things of the world” those who do not possess a sharpened tongue, worldly learning, or eloquence.

It is precisely these people, he says, whom “God chose to shame the wise.” Tell me, then, how are the wise shamed by them? By deeds.

When you ask a widow sitting at the gate and begging alms, often even maimed, about the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of bodies, the providence of God, rewards according to merit, the account there, the dread tribunal, the blessedness prepared for the virtuous, the punishments threatening sinners, and all else, she answers with exactness and complete assurance.

But the philosopher, and the man who boasts greatly of his hair and staff, after many long courses of study and many strenuous labors, cannot even stammer. He does not dare open his mouth about these things.

Then you will know well how “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.” What these wise men could not find because of pride and arrogance, the poorest and most despised people learned with complete exactness.

The wise turned away from the teaching of the Spirit and surrendered themselves entirely to their own reasonings. But the poor trusted in heavenly instruction, though they were deprived of every worldly education.

Yet the Apostle does not stop here in condemning worldly wisdom. No, he adds another and stronger condemnation, saying, “The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” (1 Cor 3:19).

And when instructing his hearers, again with complete contempt for earthly wisdom and with force, he said to them, “If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish, that he may become wise” (1 Cor 3:18).

And again, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will reject” (1 Cor 1:19). And again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain” (1 Cor 3:20).

He says that Christ sent him to preach the Gospel "not in wisdom of speech," that is, not with eloquence and elegant language.

This was so that the Cross, or the preaching of the Cross, would not suffer harm and humiliation.

For what does "lest it be made of no effect" mean? It means lest it prove useless and vain.

Indeed, if the Apostles had preached with wisdom of speech, some might have said that they persuaded by the power of speech, not by the power of what was preached.

This would have been a humiliation and harm to the Crucified One.

But now, by preaching with simplicity, they show that the power of the Crucified One accomplishes everything.

The Cross is made of no effect in another way as well.

For example, a Greek asks me about something divine that surpasses our understanding.

If I try to prove it to him by arguments and external wisdom, I will appear weak, for no intellect can present divine realities.

Thus my weakness will appear to be the weakness of the preaching. By this the Cross itself will be made of no effect, because it will seem empty and vain.

He who counted Paul worthy to be His disciple and Apostle, appointed him teacher of the Gentiles (1 Tim. 2:7), and a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15). He could appoint other ministers of His Church for the performance of the grace-filled Mysteries. Yet for preaching His divine faith, and for planting and increasing His Church, He especially chose those most fit to fulfill the apostolic ministry.

Some of the Corinthians, puffed up by their own high-mindedness, began to despise the apostolic teaching. They did so as though it contained neither philosophical subtleties nor Greek eloquence. Instead, they more willingly turned their attention to the words offered by teachers who displayed the sharpness of human reason in their teaching, and who amazed everyone by the beauty of their style.

The holy Apostle draws the Corinthians away from such error. He teaches plainly that he was sent by Jesus Christ to preach the evangelical teaching, not in wisdom of speech. That is, the holy Apostle kept to simplicity of style. Turning the Corinthians away from the splendor of worldly eloquence, he assured them persuasively of this truth. The chief and initial duty of his apostolic ministry, entrusted to him by Jesus Christ, did not concern the performance of holy Baptism and the other Mysteries. It consisted solely in preaching the evangelical teaching.

He was not to mix with it any lofty thoughts proving sharpness of intellect. Nor was he to adorn or exalt it with rhetorical flights, “lest the Cross of Christ be made of no effect.” That is, the preaching about Jesus Christ, all His sufferings. And all the most precious merits of the Son of God, which the Apostle signified by the name of the Cross of Christ, must not be deprived of its effect. The conversion of all peoples to the evangelical faith must not be attributed to human wisdom, but solely to the action and power of evangelical grace.

The Apostle, the teacher of the Gentiles, declares concerning himself that he was sent by his Teacher Christ, not to baptize, but only to preach the Gospel: “Christ did not send me to baptize. But to preach the Gospel.” In the Gospel according to Matthew, Christ commands His disciples to baptize all nations: “Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19).

The sacramental action of grace-filled Baptism was established by Jesus Christ Himself as the first and necessary means for all who turn to the true Christian faith that worships God. Yet, in the apostolic ministry, the performance of this Mystery was not the Apostles’ principal duty. The Author of faith was pleased to choose and employ other lesser disciples for this purpose.

Following this example of their Teacher, His foremost Apostles also entrusted the performance of the sacred Mysteries to other disciples, deliberately chosen for this by the Church. They themselves labored solely in the preaching of Jesus Christ. They regarded the preaching of the Gospel, the planting of piety, and the true faith as the first duty of their ministry. They did this both personally by oral teaching and through their fellow-workers.

Nevertheless, in all the service of their apostolic preaching, they did not themselves neglect fitting occasions to enlighten converted persons with holy Baptism. In this they fulfilled the commandment given them by their most divine Teacher: “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The Apostle preaches that evangelical teaching does not consist in wisdom of speech: “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not in wisdom of speech. Lest the Cross of Christ be made of no effect.” Should one conclude from this apostolic teaching that it is improper for a minister of the Church to care for purity of style and excellence of speech?

By the wisdom of speech that does not belong to evangelical teaching, the Apostle means nothing other than empty adornment of speech, filled with verbal heat. Such excessive grandiloquence is improper for a minister of the Church. But true wisdom, which consists in the orderly adornment of speech both by words and by the matter itself, is not blameworthy. In many places of Holy Scripture it is even called a special gift of God.

This may be seen in the books of Exodus and Acts, where Aaron and Apollos are praised as men powerful in speech and in the Scriptures (Ex. 4:14; Acts 18:24). Therefore, if a shepherd of rational sheep must teach his flock the most august faith, he must use not oratory but the simplest kind of speech. Otherwise, because of the abundance of ornamented speech, the hearers may remain without proper understanding of the matter proposed to them.

For God Himself, who cares for our salvation, does not call us to our salvation with lofty words unintelligible to our mind. Nor does He move us toward it by oratory and intricately woven style. He calls gently and humbly, condescending and adapting Himself to our weak understanding.

For this reason holy Paul commands us to turn away from evil and sinful philosophy and empty talk: “Keep the tradition, turning away from profane empty babblings and contradictions of knowledge falsely so called” (1 Tim. 6:20). But if a minister of the Church needs, through his word, to exhort his hearers, comfort them, or lead them to amendment, then he must temper his word with eloquence. That is, he must present the matter with clarity and grace, while not departing from the usual manner of speech.

He entrusted the execution to his assistants (see Acts 10:46-48). If they had not been present, he would have performed the rite himself by necessity.

The Apostle clearly shows how much better he himself is than those who are honored by others.

He also did not permit Baptism to be defined by his own name because he recognized the danger of attributing the glory of God to men, which is like idolatry.

Unadorned truth. Since Christian preaching does not need the pomp and splendor of eloquence, fishermen, uneducated and unskilled men, were chosen to preach the Gospel.

The truth of the doctrine bears witness to itself together with virtue.

It is inadmissible that the doctrine of God be glorified not by truth, but like teachings invented by men.

From those teachings one requires not substance, not virtue, but skillful weaving of words.

Through this the one who wishes to adorn the faith of Christ with words seeks glory for himself.

He darkens the faith by the brilliance of his own words, so that approval may be gained not for it, but for himself.

So too the false apostles, in order not to appear foolish before worldly wise men, preached Christ deceitfully in the wisdom of men, according to the rules of eloquence.

In their speeches they omitted everything toward which worldly people are distrustful. They kept silent about the immaculate conception by the Theotokos and about the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

Thus preaching the Gospel was truly a more difficult work than baptizing.

The Apostle who preached the doctrine to unbelievers was subjected to persecutions, sufferings, and daily death. The one who baptized those who had accepted the faith suffered nothing of this kind.

If Paul was not sent to baptize, why did he baptize Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanas?

Because he had the command to preach and at the same time had the grace to baptize, like the other Apostles.

But because, with regard to preaching, he received a special command from Jesus Christ, he said, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel."

Therefore he baptized only when circumstances required it, but preached without ceasing, regarding preaching as his special calling.

For this reason he also wrote: "If I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me. Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16).

Here one must note that Jesus Christ, having given him a special command concerning the preaching of the Gospel, Himself also showed him the manner of teaching this doctrine.

"Not in wisdom of speech," he says, that is, not with speech composed according to school wisdom and sophistic art, nor with speech written by worldly wisdom.

And why? "Lest," he says, "the Cross of Christ be made of no effect," that is, lest the power of the crucified Christ be despised and counted as nothing.

If the apostolic teaching had possessed the beauties, eloquence, and charms of worldly wisdom, everyone would have thought that the force of instructional art had drawn and converted people to faith in Christ.

They would not have attributed it to the power of the crucified Christ.

Consequently all would have counted the grace and power of the Cross as nothing.

But when they heard the simplicity of the preaching and saw the great multiplication of believers, all were persuaded to acknowledge that faith in Christ is the work of the power and grace of the crucified Christ.

Here he means the preaching of the Cross of Christ, or the teaching about the saving death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

But since the death itself is unthinkable without the instrument of execution, the preaching about it is at the same time preaching about the instrument of death, the Cross.

Therefore certain reformers of the Church act unjustly when, supposedly in the spirit of ancient apostolic teaching, they reject the Cross of Christ together with all outward signs and symbols of Christianity.

They place true worship of God in inward piety and in worshiping God in spirit and truth.

For such speculators too, as once for those indicated by the Apostle, "the word of the Cross is foolishness" (1 Cor 1:18).

Their first work must be preaching the gospel and teaching. Therefore the Apostle says elsewhere: "Let the presbyters who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching" (1 Tim 5:17).

"Not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ be made of no effect," that is, lest the preaching of the Cross of Christ be weakened.

For division according to baptizers might seem to have greater significance in Christianity than division according to the dignity of teachers. The Greeks valued such teachers highly, seeking wisdom in verbal expression, which often overwhelmed thought and inner content. This, of course, could not be so in Christianity, whose power lies not in speech, but in the work of salvation.

As the other Apostles could entrust baptism to others, so Saint Paul could perform baptism through others, and not personally. Saint Paul was always accompanied by helpers whom he had dedicated to the work of God. Through them he performed holy baptism, while he himself chiefly devoted himself to preaching. When there was need, he also performed baptism personally.

This is what he wished to say: my chief work is to enlighten through faith, while others with me baptize those who have believed. Thus Saint Chrysostom says: “To preach the Gospel is far more difficult. It required greater labors and a special firmness of soul, and it contained everything within itself. Therefore it was entrusted to Paul.

But why did he baptize, if he had not been sent to baptize? He did this not from opposition to Him Who sent him, but from an abundance of zeal. He did not say that this had been forbidden him, but, ‘I was not sent for this work, but for one far greater.’

The preaching of the Gospel was entrusted to few, but anyone possessing the priesthood could baptize. For any other person can baptize one who has been instructed in the faith and has believed. The disposition of the one who approaches and the grace of God complete everything.

But to instruct unbelievers in the faith requires great labor, great wisdom, and even entails dangers. There everything has already been done. The one who desires to receive the Mystery has been persuaded in the faith, and it is not at all difficult to baptize one who has believed.

Here, however, great labor is needed: to change the disposition, correct the character, destroy error, and plant the truth. So even now we entrust this work, baptism, to the simpler presbyters, but the imparting of doctrine to the more prudent.

For here labor and effort are needed. Therefore he himself says, ‘Let the presbyters who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching’ (1 Tim 5:17).

For training combatants requires a courageous and skillful teacher. Yet even one unskilled in wrestling can place the crown upon the victor, although the crown glorifies the victor. So it is also in baptism.

Although without it one cannot be saved, the one who baptizes does not perform a great work, since he receives a man already disposed and prepared for it.”

“Not in wisdom of speech, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of no effect.” “Here the Apostle passes to the rebuke of those who boasted in external wisdom, and he speaks against them with special force,” says Saint Chrysostom.

The “wisdom of speech” means speech adorned with rhetorical art and seasoned with every kind of rational argument. I was sent, says the Apostle, to preach the Gospel without these instruments of human wisdom. I was sent to set forth the naked truth alone concerning the Cross of Christ.

He says: God became incarnate, suffered, died on the Cross, and saved us. Believe this, and you will be saved. This is how I have always acted and how I act now.

I do not embellish the word. I do not surround the death on the Cross with pathetic images. I do not devise any rational arguments about the necessity and suitability of such a death for the work of our salvation.

Everywhere I preach only this naked truth: God died on the Cross and saved us. Believe, and you will be saved. I leave this truth itself to act upon hearts and minds, without any mediation by human aids. It finds its own.

It is just as when a magnet is brought near particles of different metals. From among all of them the magnet selects and draws to itself the particles of iron. So, when I extend the word of the Gospel before a whole assembly of people, my word itself finds its own.

Those who are of the truth turn to it and cleave to it of themselves. The fact that my word produces such an effect must be ascribed not to my speech, but to the truth itself, naked and unadorned: God died on the Cross and saved us.

If I began to embellish it, the same thing would happen to it as happens to a magnet when it is wrapped in something that prevents it from acting upon iron.

If I wrapped the word of the Cross in ornaments of speech and arguments of human wisdom, I would block its path to act upon simple hearts. By this I would make its power void. I would convert no one.

This is entirely natural. Let us divide the hearers into two groups: those who share in human wisdom and those who do not. For the former, the word of the Cross cannot be acceptable, however much one adorns it or surrounds it with arguments.

To labor over such a word for them means to waste time and strength in vain. If any of them can believe, it will be only through the presentation to them of the naked truth concerning the Cross.

In adornments and arguments they will always find many objections against this truth. These objections will not allow it to take root in their mind and pass into the heart, so as to lay there the beginnings of faith.

Thus, for the learned, adornment and argument do not help the success of the word of the Cross. On the contrary, they are an obstacle.

They are also an obstacle for the unlearned, because for an unaccustomed mind they entangle the truth in subtle turns of speech and in reasonings inaccessible to simple people.

This is also because verbal devices and intellectual cleverness always arouse suspicion as to whether the truth is being offered. If it is the truth, speak directly and simply. Why be clever? Such is the law of simple hearts.

Thus the adornment of speech and its entanglement in arguments would make the Cross of Christ void. Saint Paul had not been commanded to mix this wisdom of speech into his Gospel. And he did not do it.

This discourse of the Apostle was very intelligible to those who, valuing human wisdom too highly, had piled up so many disputes in Corinth. He spoke, as it were, to each of them: “Why do you boast in what you ought to be ashamed of?

For if this wisdom is hostile to the Cross and opposed to the Gospel, then one ought not to boast in it, but to be ashamed of it,” says Saint Chrysostom.

To this day, one of the strong proofs of the truth of the Gospel is that it conquered the world by its artless simplicity. Saint Chrysostom portrays this aspect well: “For this reason the Apostles were not among the wise.

This was not from lack of gifts, but so that the preaching might suffer no harm. The wise did not assist the preaching, but harmed it. The unwise confirmed it. The preaching gained victory not by human wisdom, but by the grace of God.

Therefore, when people say that the Apostles were simple men, we shall add that they were also uneducated, unlettered, poor, undistinguished, unwise, and unknown.

This is not to the dishonor of the Apostles, but to their glory. Being such men, they became more glorious than the whole world.

For these simple, unlettered, and uneducated men conquered the wise, the powerful, and the sovereign, who boasted in wealth, glory, and all outward things. They conquered them as though these were not men at all.

From this it is clear that the power of the Cross is great, and that everything was accomplished not by human strength. Such deeds do not belong to the nature of things, but are above nature.”