1 Corinthians 12:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet after baptism they immediately received the Holy Spirit, Whom they did not see, for He is invisible. Therefore grace gave a certain sensible proof of the Spirit's activity. One suddenly began to speak in Persian, another in Roman, a third in Indian, and another in some other tongue. For outsiders, this served as a testimony that the Holy Spirit was active in the speaker. Therefore the Apostle says, "But to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit" (1 Cor 12:7), calling His gifts the manifestation of the Spirit. As the Apostles first received this sign, so believers also received the same gift of tongues. And they received not only this, but much else besides. Many raised the dead, cast out demons, and performed many other such miracles. Some, however, had fewer gifts, and others more. The gift of tongues was the most common among them. This became the occasion for discord among them, not because of the nature of the matter, but because of the folly of those who received the gifts. Those who had received greater gifts exalted themselves over those who had received less. These others grieved and envied those who had received more, as Paul himself shows later. By violating mutual love in this way, they received a mortal wound, which he strives with great care to heal. The same thing happened in Rome, though in another way. Therefore in the Epistle to the Romans he also touches on this subject, but in a veiled and brief manner. He says: "For as in one body we have many members, but not all the members have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the measure of faith; if ministry, let us continue in ministry; he who teaches, in teaching" (Rom 12:4-7). That they also fell into pride because of this, he hinted at in the beginning, when he said: "By the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Rather, think soberly, according to the measure of faith which God has assigned to each" (Rom 12:3). Thus he spoke with the Romans, among whom the sickness of discord and pride was not great. Here he speaks with greater force, because the sickness was much stronger. Nor was this alone causing turmoil among them. There were also many diviners among them, since their city still clung to pagan customs. This, among other things, also offended and troubled them. Therefore here the Apostle first shows the difference between divination and prophecy. For this reason they also received the gift of discerning spirits, so that they might distinguish and know who speaks from the pure Spirit and who from an impure spirit. It was impossible to explain the words spoken from the words themselves. Prophecy bears witness to its truth not when it is uttered, but when it is fulfilled. It was not easy to recognize who truly prophesied and who lied. The impure spirit was harming those who prophesied by raising up false prophets, who also seemed to foretell the future. Nor was it possible to prove the truth of what was said before the prediction had been fulfilled. Objections could easily be made, for only the end shows who lies and who speaks the truth. Therefore, so that the hearers would not be deceived even before the end, the Apostle gives them a sign. Even before fulfillment, this sign helped them distinguish the one from the other. Beginning his discourse from this point, he then turns to the gracious gifts and resolves the dispute that had arisen from them. First, concerning the diviners, he says: "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant." He calls the signs spiritual because they are the activities of one Spirit, and human effort contributes nothing to their accomplishment. Beginning to speak about this, he first shows, as I said, the difference between divination and prophecy. He says: "You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away to mute idols, however you were led." The meaning of his words is this. In the temples of idols, when someone was possessed by an impure spirit and uttered oracles, he was dragged by the spirit as if led and bound. He was not conscious at all of what he was saying. It is characteristic of a diviner to be in ecstasy, to suffer compulsion and violence, to be carried away, and to rage like one possessed. The prophet is not like this. He speaks everything with a sober soul and a sound mind, knowing what he says. Thus distinguish the diviner and the prophet even before the fulfillment of what is said. And see how the Apostle removes every suspicion here. He summons them themselves as witnesses, since they knew this from experience. What I say is not false, he says. I am not slandering the Gentiles or inventing charges against them as their enemy. You yourselves are witnesses to this. You know how, when you were Gentiles, you were then led and carried away. But if someone considers even them suspicious as witnesses, because they are believers, then I will prove this to you also by the testimony of outsiders. Listen to Plato, who says in the Apology of Socrates: "Seers and diviners say many good things, but they themselves do not know at all what they say." Listen also to another poet, who says the same thing. When someone, by various rites and sorceries, introduced a demon into a man, then that man began to utter oracles. While uttering them, he tore and mangled himself, unable to bear the demon's violence. In this way he could tear himself apart and perish. To such sorcerers he said: "Release me; a mortal can no longer endure the god king." And again: "Untie my garlands, sprinkle my feet with pure water, and wipe away the marks, so that I may go." All this and the like, for much more could be said, proves the compulsion by which demons are held and made to serve. It also proves the violence suffered by people who once handed themselves over to them and at that time lost sound judgment. So too the Pythia. I find it necessary now to speak of another shameful practice of theirs, though it would be better to be silent about it. It is unseemly for us to speak of this. Yet to see their shamelessness more clearly, it must be mentioned. From this you may understand how mad and ridiculous are those who resort to sorcerers. This woman, the Pythia, they say, sat on Apollo's tripod with her legs spread apart. Then the evil spirit, penetrating from below and entering her through the generative parts, drove her into ecstasy. She loosened her hair, began to rave, foamed at the mouth, and in such ecstasy uttered frenzied words. I see that you are ashamed and blush as you hear this. Yet they even boasted in such shamelessness and madness! Therefore, alluding to all this and similar things, Paul said: "You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away to mute idols, however you were led." Since he was speaking to those who understood the matter, he does not set everything out in detail, so as not to burden them. He merely reminds them and brings everything to mind, then immediately leaves it and hastens to his subject. What does "to mute idols" mean? Diviners went to them as if being led. But if idols are mute, how did those men make use of them? Why did the demon lead them, like captives and prisoners, to the statues? Among other reasons, he did this to make the deception plausible. So that people would not think the idol was a mute stone, he tried to bind them to the idols. Then what belonged to the former would be ascribed to the latter. But with us it is not so. The Apostle, however, does not explain our case, that is, what concerns the prophets. This was known to the Corinthians, and among them were prophets who prophesied as they ought, with reason and complete freedom. They had authority to speak and not to speak. They were not compelled, but together with honor they preserved their will. For this reason Jonah fled. For this reason Ezekiel drew back. For this reason Jeremiah refused. God did not compel them by force, but counseled, persuaded, and threatened, without darkening their reason. It is characteristic of a demon to produce derangement, frenzy, and great darkness. It belongs to God to enlighten and to teach consciously what must be taught. This is the first difference between a diviner and a prophet!

This is what the divine Apostle expressed in what he said. That is: before you received the light of piety, while you still served falsehood, you were carried here and there like irrational beings, enslaved to the deception of senseless idols.

This would seem to be an operation of sense. But Paul also says, "I do not know whether the mind perceived it or the body" (2 Cor 12:3).

Therefore this perception is above sense and mind. When they are operating, one perceives and understands that they are operating. For this reason the Apostle added, "God knows," because the Lord was then the One acting.

Raised above humanity in union with God, the Apostle saw the invisible through the invisible. It did not depart from its suprasensible character, nor did it become sensibly visible.

25. Nor did the great Dionysius present the contemplation of the eternal light as sensible when he called it "visible." For, as he says, the vision is revealed to those who are "Christlike."

You will find that elsewhere also he plainly calls the suprasensible light visible: "If the mind’s voluntary self-determination begins boldly to transgress the moderate bounds of the vision granted to it, the operation of the light will not change at all.

"Rather, self-determination will deprive itself even of its moderate share in it."

If the contemplation of intelligible realities does not depart from its suprasensible character, though it is visible, will the contemplation of those who have attained a Christlike portion cease to be suprasensible because it is visible?

That visible theophany is not only suprasensible, but also beyond reason, as Saint Maximus explained. He says, "Through deification the Spirit will then grant us rest from all bodily and intellectual natural operations.

"Thus God will appear through the mediation of both soul and body."

The light, therefore, will be received by both mind and sense, each according to itself, yet above sense and mind.

What the Areopagite calls "visible theophany" and "union beyond mind" do not differ greatly from one another. In any case, since according to the seers of God we shall not need air and space there, why would we need sensible light?

26. But again, did the Apostle Paul, who was in God and contemplated in ecstasy the invisible things of God, see the essence of God? Who would say such a thing?

In the same way, those purified through hesychia are deemed worthy of invisible contemplations. Yet the essence of God remains unattainable.

Those deemed worthy are initiated into His Mysteries and reflect on what has been seen. Thus, in dispassion and the immateriality of the mind, they partake of the intelligible light-giving of God.

Nevertheless, they know that the divine is above all contemplations and all contemplative initiations.

In this way they receive the suprarational grace inaccessible to us. They know the invisible not through invisibility, as those do who theologize by removing attributes, but through vision itself.

By vision they know what is beyond vision and experience a kind of negation, but not in reasoning.

As the reception and vision of the Godhead are other and higher than affirmative theology, so the reception of negation in spiritual vision, because of the excess of what is seen, is other and higher than negative theology.

If someone sees in a mirror the shadow of the sun, which in heaven is brighter, and if even the brilliance of the shadowlike reflection surpasses the viewer’s power of sight, then he surely grasps the inaccessible invisibility of the prototype.

Yet he grasps it not through not seeing, but through seeing. So also the men counted worthy of most blessed contemplation know, not through negation, but through vision in the Spirit.

They know the invisible height of its deifying operation, and all the more the One who acts in it.

Those taught by them somehow partake of the intelligible light-giving and can rise to negative theology. Yet to obtain such contemplation, and through it and in it to behold the invisibility of God, is impossible.

This is so unless they are counted worthy of a supernatural, spiritual, and supra-intellectual union.

27. Thus also Stephen, according to the divine Gregory of Nyssa, sees the divine not while remaining in human nature and power, but by being mingled with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

"For," Scripture testifies, "like is perceived through like. If the glory of the Father and the Son became accessible to human nature and power, then the one affirming the incapacity of man for the vision of God would be lying.

"On the other hand, he certainly does not lie, and the narrative speaks the truth."

Thus we were right to say above that in Christ’s Transfiguration there was the glory of the Father, since the Father and the Son have one glory.

Here too Stephen, being in God, clearly saw not only God in glory, but the glory itself, which is the glory of the Father.

"What then? Was this an achievement of human nature? Or of one of the angels, who raised lowly nature to such a height? No.

"For Scripture does not say that Stephen saw what he saw by acquiring great power or by being filled with angelic assistance.

"Rather, it says that Stephen, being filled with the Holy Spirit, saw the glory of God and the Only-begotten Son of God (Acts 7:55).

"According to the word of the Prophet (Ps 35:10), it is impossible to see light except by seeing in light."

But if by the power of the Spirit we see the Son as light in the Father’s light, then some immediate union with God is possible for us.

There is also a gift of light in which we share not through the mediation of angels. Our philosopher may deny this and imagine that the great Dionysius teaches what pleases him.

He does so because he cannot precisely understand the meaning of the theology of this teacher in the holy Mysteries.

“In the idol shrines, when someone was possessed by an unclean spirit and uttered oracles, he was led and bound, as it were, carried along by the spirit, and did not know at all what he was saying. It is characteristic of the diviner to be in ecstasy, to suffer compulsion and violence, to be carried away and to rave like a demoniac.

“But the prophet is not like this. He speaks everything with a sober soul and sound mind, knowing what he says.”

In Christianity, however, not only is God the living God, and His Apostles eloquent preachers, but all believers possess various spiritual gifts in different measure. Among these, the gift of tongues was especially frequent.

The pagans also had oracles, but their utterances did not have a spiritual character or definite content. Inspired Christian prophets and evangelists, however, speak only by the prompting of the Spirit of God. The essential mark of their speech is that they speak in honor and glory of Jesus Christ.

Thus, if someone comes forward with preaching as one possessing a spiritual gift, and says anything against Christ the Savior, this is the surest sign that the gift is false. In this way the Apostle teaches Christians to regard spiritual gifts as signs of the truth of Christianity.

Blessed Theodoret says: “When the greater part of mankind was enslaved to demonic deception, these unlearned and poor people could not have believed and come to know the truth so easily, unless divine grace had been plainly revealed and had presented miracles as a pledge for the truth of the faith.”

St. John Chrysostom also draws attention here to the distinction clearly indicated by the Apostle between prophets and soothsayers. He says: “In the idol shrines, when someone was possessed by an unclean spirit and uttered oracles, he was led and bound, as it were, carried along by the spirit, and did not know at all what he was saying.

“It is characteristic of the soothsayer to be in ecstasy, to suffer compulsion and violence, to be carried away and to rave like a demoniac. The prophet is not like this. He speaks everything with a sober soul and sound mind, knowing what he says. Hinting at all this and the like, Paul said, ‘You were led away.’”

Another mark of a true or false soothsayer is the confession of the Lord Jesus Christ, or blasphemy against Him. In many cases, false prophets possessed by a tempting spirit could confess the Lord Jesus. More often still, they revealed the demonic character of their wonders by blasphemy against Him.

The Corinthians rose up from this diabolical net and passed from Satan’s domain to God. Their eyes were now opened, and they saw what folly their former attraction to idols had been.

Therefore the Apostle says to them, "You know." What is said here about false belief also applies to sinfulness.

Sin entangles in the same way. Following it, the sinner is led as one being conducted, yet he sees neither the delusion nor his own bondage.

Only afterward, when he turns to virtue, does he clearly look upon the sinful state. He sees how evil it is and how it binds, giving no freedom to be loosed from it.

The enemy’s delusion is the same in pagan belief and in sinful life.

Theodoret depicts the delusion of idolatry in this way: "The Apostle wishes both to expose the senselessness of Hellenic mythology and to show the truth of piety.

"For demons seized and appropriated the name god, and so led men into great error. Men turned aside from the right path and abandoned the true God.

"They began to render divine honor to many and thought that not every god could do everything. They recognized one as the giver of wisdom, another of military skill, and another of the art of seafaring.

"This is what the divine Apostle expressed in what he said: before you received the light of piety, while still serving falsehood, you were led here and there like irrational beings, enslaved to the delusion of insensible idols."

Chrysostom draws attention here to another side of the matter. Idolatry was supported, among other things, by soothsayers in a state of frenzy.

Oracles came either from people in frenzy or even from idols. This marvel drew people to the idols.

Chrysostom deliberately explains the difference between these frenzied oracles and true prophecies. He does this to show that the gifts of the Spirit, of which the discussion begins, have nothing in common with the misshapen marvels of paganism.

He says: "In the idol temples, when someone was possessed by an unclean spirit and uttered oracles, he was carried along by the spirit as though led and bound. He was in no way conscious of what he said.

"It is proper to the soothsayer to be in frenzy, to suffer compulsion and violence, and to be carried away and rave like one possessed.

"But the prophet is not so. He says everything with a sober soul and sound mind, knowing what he says. Thus distinguish the frenzied soothsayer from the prophet.

"When someone brought a demon into a man through various sorceries and rites, that man began to utter oracles. While uttering them, he tore and lacerated himself, unable to endure the demon’s violence.

"At last he began to cry out: Untie me, untie the wreaths for me, sprinkle my feet with pure water, and erase the marks, so that I may go.

"All this and the like, for much more could be said, proves both the compulsion by which demons are held and made to serve, and the violence suffered by men who have once surrendered themselves to them.

"At that time they are deprived of sound mind. Hinting at all this and the like, Paul said, You were led away.

"Since he was speaking to those who understood the matter, he does not set everything out in detail, lest he burden them, but only reminds them.

"Nor does he explain our side, that is, what concerns the prophets. For this too was known to the Corinthians. Among them there were prophets who prophesied as they ought, with understanding and complete freedom.

"They had the authority to speak and not to speak. They were not compelled, but together with honor they also preserved their will. This is the first difference between the frenzied soothsayer and the prophet."