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

Nothing in action can be compared with the soul of Paul, or rather, not with his soul, since he did not achieve this by himself, but with the grace that worked in him and conquered everything.

What was said earlier was enough to cast down the pride of those who exalted themselves in their wisdom. Even part of what was said would have been enough. But so that the victory might be more glorious, he continues his discourse, now trampling upon opponents already thrown down.

He says that not only were men without wisdom and without noble birth chosen as disciples of the Gospel. The preacher of the Gospel himself also came, proclaiming to you the testimony of God, that is, the death of Christ, without eloquence and human wisdom.

Notice that the preacher was a simple and uneducated man, and that the subject of the preaching was the Cross and death. Yet they won the victory. Therefore it is clear that the power which accomplished all this is ineffable.

The Apostle Paul, continuing his discourse on the simplicity of the Gospel teaching, proves by his own example that his preaching among the Corinthians did not consist in beauty of style or lofty conceptions. It consisted in piety and in the explanation of the hidden mysteries of God, which are difficult for the fleshly man to understand, since he has not been reborn by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

He divides this chapter into two parts. In the first, the Apostle recalls the manner in which he preached the Gospel teaching to the Corinthians, vv. 1-5. In the second, he shows the difference between human wisdom and the Wisdom of God, which is hidden in the preaching of the Gospel teaching, vv. 6-16.

And I, when I came to you, brethren, did not come with excellence of speech, that is, not with the wisdom of rhetoricians or the art of poets, when I proclaimed to you the mystery of God.

Since the Apostle Paul has already shown clearly above, step by step, the form of our teaching, he now transmits it in no other way than he described. In the foolishness of preaching and the folly of the Gospel, as they appear to the world, he speaks to the Corinthians of the mystery of Christ. This mystery and the testimony named here rest on the fact that the Word of God was hidden with God throughout all ages. It was testified in Christ as the incarnate Word. But the heretics, boasting in themselves, preached their false teaching with great eloquence and according to worldly wisdom. They denied the power of the Cross of Christ, fearing the accusation of folly from the world.

By speech the Apostle means eloquence, and by wisdom he means skill in discourse. He says, "When I came to you, I made use of neither one nor the other."

Chapter 20. Proof that all things prepared by God for those who love Him, "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man" (1 Cor 2:9), are uncreated. A refutation of Akindynos's words, which present them as created.

86. You would not senselessly place among created things those things "which God has prepared for those who love Him, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man" (1 Cor 2:9). For here the Lord promises, as a pledge, His own coming, abiding, and manifestation, together with that of His Father, to those who show their love for Him by doing the divine commandments (Jn 14:23). How then will the promise of "the good things to come" (Heb 9:11; 10:1), whose pledge is such, be a created thing? This is especially so since what He proclaimed remains above sense and mind. Paul, the initiate of what was proclaimed and the apostle, explained this when he said: "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God" (1 Cor 2:10). How, then, could that which is hidden in the depth of God be among created things? It is above every sense and every mind. It is known only to the Spirit, who "searches even the depths of God." It is revealed only to the saints, and even to them through the Spirit Himself.

87. "But it is said," Akindynos declares, "that God Himself is the inheritance of the saints. It is also said that there are other good things laid up for the enjoyment of the righteous, brought into being by God. And distinct from Him: 'the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' Therefore do not present God Himself as distinct from Himself, nor as greater than Himself, nor as less, nor as surpassing, nor as inferior. Nor present anything else, brought into being by Him and distinct from Him, as uncreated and without beginning. For whoever asserts either of these two positions will by no means escape the highest degree of absurdity."

He calls both things supremely absurd. He thinks it absurd to say that what God prepared for those who love Him is uncreated. He also thinks it equally absurd to say that God is above them, if they are uncreated. He considers those who say either the first or the second to have passed by no summit of impiety. Those who say both he counts still more impious.

Let us then see who speaks in this way, since these will be the men whom he, without the least exaggeration, declares impious. The first is the divine Paul: "When all things are subjected to the Son," he says, "then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor 15:28). Did Paul leave us anything other than God for our enjoyment?

Following him exactly, Gregory the Theologian said: "God will be all in all" at the time of restoration (ἐν καιρῷ τῆς ἀποκαταστάσεως) (Acts 3:21). Then we shall no longer be many, as we are now, because of movements and passions of the soul. We shall not bear within ourselves nothing divine, or only very little. Rather, we shall be wholly godlike, containing the whole of God and Him alone. For this is the perfection toward which we eagerly strive.

Therefore, if the saints will be wholly godlike and will contain God alone, how will the enjoyment prepared for them be anything other than Him?

88. Athanasius the Great says: "When the prophets said that the inheritance of the saints is the Lord, Paul said that the Holy Spirit is the inheritance of the saints: 'in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance' (Eph 1:13-14). So too Moses was sealed on his face by the Holy Spirit when he received the law from God (Ex 34:29-30), and none of the children of Israel could 'look upon him' (2 Cor 3:7). For 'the light of the Lord's countenance was marked upon him' (Ps 4:7). And as it is written in the Gospel: 'Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father' (Mt 13:43)."

Do you see that the inheritance of the saints is that ineffable light, which is the light of the Lord's countenance? He Himself showed it on the mountain. Moses' face was sealed with this light, and the righteous will shine with a like light in the age to come. What you count among created things, Paul says is the Holy Spirit. The prophets say it is the Lord. He is not another, but the very One who shines with this light and makes the saints partakers of a radiance corresponding to it.

89. Let a fourth witness also enter, one who proclaims more clearly than the others what is now being examined. "Since the life that runs its course in the present age acts in us in a changeable and manifold way," says the bishop of Nyssa, the divine Gregory, "there are many things of which we partake. These include time, air, place, food, drink, clothing, the sun, a lamp, and many other things needed for daily life. None of these is God. But the blessedness hoped for has need of none of these. For the divine nature will be all these things for us and instead of all these things. It will duly measure itself out for every need of that life."

We explained in the preceding discourse what "divine nature" means here.

90. If the blessedness hoped for needs none of the things listed, and if the divine nature will become these things and all things for us, measuring itself out for every need of that life, how will what is prepared for the enjoyment of those who love Him be distinct from God? When the one truly desirable thing is set before us, how will anything else among all existing things attract us? Everything else would yield. When the sun rises, the moon and the multitude of stars do not pass into non-being. Yet then we need neither the stars nor the shining moon, even if the moon is full and in all its brightness, once the sun is above the earth.

But it seems that this wretched man has raised his hand even against the sons of the age to come, depriving them of the love of God. Although He is freely set before them for their enjoyment, they, according to these mysterious words of Akindynos about the things to come, set another enjoyment before God, as though they did not love Him at all.

Moreover, each existing thing takes its name from what surpasses it. This is especially true for those eager to speak favorably (τοῖς εὐφημεῖν προθυμουμένοις). Therefore, if created things are also granted, along with the uncreated, to the heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17), it would be just for their inheritance to be named from the better reality. Akindynos, however, fights against those who think the inheritance should be named from this. He himself seems to think it right, in mockery, to name it so that it recalls the lesser thing.

91. That God will offer Himself to the saints for participation (πρὸς μετουσίαν), let the same teacher instruct us again. Interpreting the apostolic saying, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor 15:42, 44), he says: "Incorruption, glory, honor, and power are considered properties of the divine nature. They formerly surrounded man, who was created according to the image of God, and we hope for them in the future." A little later he says: "To all who have been cleansed from evil, God will offer participation (μετουσίαν) in the good things that are in Him. Scripture says of these things that eye has not seen them, nor has hearing received them, nor have they become accessible to thoughts" (1 Cor 2:9).

This, at least according to my understanding, is nothing other than to be in God Himself. For the good that is above eye, ear, and heart will be above all things. Therefore, if the things "which God has prepared for those who love Him" are above sight, hearing, and understanding, then they are what surpasses absolutely everything. Does not the man who calls created the things "which God has prepared for those who love Him" plainly call that which is above all things a creature? How then will God be the inheritance of the saints, if what is prepared for their enjoyment is a creature? Or is this merely said, while in reality it is not so?

Such, then, are your faith and your worship of God. For this reason you try to show from what the saints theologize that they are not free from every extreme absurdity. For probably, in your view, they too are called such things, but are not really such, according to your conception of the divine inheritance.

92. Since he calls created the inheritance "which God has prepared for those who love Him," though it lies beyond every mind and sense, this wretched man again blasphemes that divine light by these words. Yet the Damascene theologian teaches about it directly, in the clearest language: "This is what 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man' (1 Cor 2:9). Thus in the age to come we shall see Christ shining with the light of divinity."

The God-inspired hierarch Gregory of Nyssa also bears witness that the fullness of good things lies in the vision of God. "For he who has seen God," he says, "has, through this vision, everything included in the list of good things: unending life, eternal incorruption, immortal blessedness, an unending kingdom, ceaseless joy, true light, spiritual and sweet food, unapproachable glory, continual rejoicing, and every good."

Before these teachers, Dionysius, who spoke God-bearing words from the Areopagus, himself said: "Not by sense, nor from existing things, but beyond all existing things, we shall be filled with the visible theophany, as the disciples of the Savior were at the most divine Transfiguration, when we attain the Christlike and most blessed portion (λήξεως)."

93. We must also learn from the Savior Himself what this "prepared" thing is, and what the promise is. Let us now listen to Him who speaks, and then let it be heard by us: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Mt 25:34). Whose kingdom will the "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ" inherit, according to Paul (Rom 8:17)? Certainly God's kingdom.

Is the Kingdom of God, prepared for those who love God, therefore created? According to divine Maximus, "it is not right that ages or times should precede it. And we believe," he says, "that it is the inheritance of those being saved." Again, according to him, it "is the bestowal by grace of what belongs to God by nature," and "the very form of divine beauty." How can that be created which was not created from the foundation of the world, but prepared? Although the Lord specified nothing more about these words of His, He certainly included the intelligible world in them also, placing even it after "the kingdom prepared for us."

94. Let Paul again teach us when and how the grace of eternal life was prepared for us. Everything of this kind is contained within the Kingdom of God. He says in the Epistle to Timothy: "according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before eternal times" (2 Tim 1:9). Do you see that grace was prepared for us before all ages? How can what was prepared before the ages be created?

But for the sake of these new Sextuses and Pyrrhos (Σέξτους καὶ Πύρωνας), who direct against divine things skeptical and burning (πύρωνείους) objections, let Athanasius the Great explain this God-spoken apostolic saying. "How," he says, "could we have received before eternal times, when we did not yet exist then, but came into being in time, unless the grace that comes to us had been laid up in Christ? For it is fitting to establish our life in nothing else than the Lord, who exists before the ages, 'through whom also the ages' came into being (Heb 1:2). Thus, when our life is in Him, we too may be able to inherit eternal life."

How could the Corinthians forget the absence of eloquence in the Apostle Paul’s speeches, his humble appearance, and even his somewhat fearful manner among them? (1 Cor 2:1-5).

"When I came to you, brethren, I came proclaiming to you the testimony of God, not in excellence of speech or wisdom. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness," that is, in dangers from intrigues and persecutions, according to Chrysostom, "and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on the wisdom of men but on the power of God."

Like the other Apostles, Paul preached in Corinth, proclaiming the Gospel in simplicity. This simplicity was required by the very subject of the teaching and by the newness of its proclamation. It was also required because worldly eloquence and speculation, never appropriate, would not have been effective in Corinth. There they had long been accustomed to eloquence and every kind of philosophy, especially from the lips of the Apostle Paul, who was in fear because of the persecutions raised against him (cf. 2 Cor 12:10).

The Apostle trembled before calamities as a man clothed in weak flesh. Yet as God’s servant, he did not cease preaching even in fear. Still more, he did nothing unworthy, but only what tended to the glory of God.

"And I, when I came to you, brethren, did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor 2:1).

Coming to you, brethren, unknown by face and little acquainted with your manner of thought and life, I am uncertain what to say to you, and how to speak with you. May the divine Apostle Paul resolve this uncertainty, and be today both my instructor and yours.

Calling to the Corinthians' remembrance, and at the same time telling us, how he first came to them with the preaching of the Gospel, he says: "And I, when I came to you, brethren, did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

Do you hear what this stranger, who came from God, says to these citizens? He declared to them the testimony of God. Do you notice how he spoke with them? "Not with excellence of speech or wisdom."

That is, he did not use artificial eloquence to draw them to himself. He did not scatter before them the treasure of knowledge. As far as possible, in simple speech, he set forth the chief and necessary teaching.

Therefore I also, coming to you now, brethren, according to the same duty of evangelical ministry, come not with excellence of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God.

This ministry our Lord first entrusted to the Apostles. From them, through the unbroken succession of sacred ordination, He has extended it even to our unworthiness.

I am not concerned with the art of human speech, nor with the wealth of human knowledge. The word of God has no need of such insignificant aids. The Wisdom of God even hides His mysteries from the wise and prudent, and reveals them to babes.

So far as God grants, I desire to declare to you the testimony of God in simplicity of speech and purity of truth. More precisely, I desire not to declare it as something new, but to renew it for common edification, as already known in your thoughts and feelings.

What is the testimony of God? By this name the Apostle means the teaching of the Christian faith. This is evident from his own words. After mentioning the testimony of God, he immediately defines its subject.

"For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

The Apostles received from Jesus Christ Himself the practice of calling the teaching of the Christian faith the testimony of God. Appointing them preachers of this faith, He said to them, "You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

On another occasion He explained the same appointment to them in these words: "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 teaching of the Christian faith may be called the testimony of God because it bears witness concerning God, or because God bears witness concerning it.

Against pagan errors it bears witness concerning God that He is one, eternal, and unchangeable in His essence and in His will. He is almighty and all-wise, righteous and good.

Against Jewish ignorance it bears witness that the one God is Trinity: God the Father, without beginning and unbegotten; the Son of God, begotten of God the Father and consubstantial with Him; and the Spirit of God, proceeding from God the Father, equal to the Father and the Son in Godhead and glory.

To all mankind in general it bears witness that God is Creator, Provider, and Savior. Especially to men as sinners, it bears witness that God does not desire the death of a sinner, but that he should turn and live (Ezek 33:11).

For this, God the Father was well pleased to send to earth His only-begotten Son and His Holy Spirit.

The Son of God, incarnate of the most pure Virgin Mary, united Godhead and humanity in His own Person. He did this so that He might reconcile and unite all the rest of mankind with the Godhead.

This God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, suffered and died, that He might put to death our old man. This means the sinful power within us, born in us from Adam and nourished by our own sins.

He rose again, that He might raise up in us the new man. This means the gracious spiritual power that lived in us before the sin of Adam.

He ascended into heaven, that by the all-embracing authority of His Godhead He might draw from earth to heaven all humanity that is of one nature with Himself.

Through the intercession of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit came to earth. He breathes where He wills. Yet He breathes with special power and perceptible effect in the word of the Gospel and in the Mysteries of the Church.

By His invisible action, often coming from an unknown place, this Spirit reproves the sinner who has grown hardened in sins. He enlightens him, moves him to turn to God, and teaches him who does not know how to turn.

He strengthens and quickens the one who grows weak in the struggle of conversion. In this way He brings the kingdom of God within man, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

He does this in order, at last, to bring man perfectly into the kingdom of God, when Jesus Christ appears. Then He will call those blessed of His Father to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

Here, in a few words, is the richly meaningful testimony of the Christian faith concerning God and His saving works.

Is assurance needed that this testimony, so important for men in its content, is true and worthy of all acceptance? God Himself bears reciprocal witness to it and confirms its authenticity.

I do not speak of how, even for the pagans, "He did not leave Himself without witness, doing good, giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17).

Nor do I speak of the opposite: when He removes from the earth His fruitful blessing, reminding men of their spiritual barrenness and calling them to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.

I do not speak of the miracles that served as confirming witness to the Law, which was our tutor unto Christ (Gal 3:24). Nor do I speak of the prophecies, which from afar also gave divine witness to Christianity still awaited in the world.

I hasten to set forth that divine testimony which the Founder of Christianity Himself presents concerning Himself and the truth of His teaching. He gives it with such force of assurance that He even permits men not to believe Him without this testimony.

"If I do not do the works of My Father," He says, "do not believe Me. But if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe My works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him" (Jn 10:37-38).

And again: "The works which the Father has given Me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me has Himself borne witness of Me" (Jn 5:36-37).

Of what works does He speak? Of those to which He also points the disciples of John, as an unchanging testimony concerning Himself.

"The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them" (Mt 11:5).

Finally, the Raiser of the dead Himself, having been put to death in the flesh, is made alive in the spirit. In His body He allows the wounds to be touched, witnessing both to His former mortality and to His present immortality.

Who except God can accomplish such works? Therefore, in them God Himself speaks and bears witness concerning Jesus Christ, His teaching, and His faith.

But what further testimony of God the Father does He present as His own: "He Himself has borne witness"? It is the testimony that God the Father gave His beloved Son at the Jordan, by His voice and by the manifestation of His Holy Spirit.

He gave it on Tabor also, by speech and by the manifestation of light and glory. Finally, He gave it in the midst of Jerusalem itself and among the people.

When Jesus prayed, "Father, glorify Thy name," a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again" (Jn 12:28).

It is true that not everyone then understood this testimony. Yet soon it became intelligible to all nations and tribes of the earth, with new and astonishing signs of divinity.

For when the Holy Spirit filled the Apostles, He suddenly began through them to proclaim the mighty works of God in all human tongues.

By this testimony of God, and could it have been otherwise, fishermen caught the wise. The poor subdued the lords of the earth. Half the human race was persuaded to receive this testimony.

And they received it in such a way that, for its sake, they completely changed their manner of thought and life. The martyrs signed this testimony with their blood.

The Church, guarded and established by the testimony of God, has conquered by it the malice and fury of external enemies. She has conquered the cunning and audacity of domestic violators of peace and concord.

She is not overcome by the temptations that increase at the end of the ages. To this day she solemnly proclaims the testimony of God, and in turn receives testimony from God.

According to the unchanging promise of her Founder, even to the end of the world, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her (Mt 16:18).

What should we think, brethren, and what should we feel, as we attend to the testimony of God? We received it already in our parents and forefathers, and we so often hear it again, proclaimed, repeated, and recalled especially for us.

We must, I say with the Apostle, give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

"For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was first spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness with signs and wonders, with various powers, and with distributions of the Holy Spirit according to His own will" (Heb 2:1, 3-4).

It seems impossible to fear that any of us would depart so far from the testimony of God as to return to pagan errors or Jewish ignorance.

But there can be people who profess to know God, yet deny Him by their works (Tit 1:16). There can also be people who violate the purity of His faith and depart from the unity of His Church.

They choose teachers for themselves, as the Apostle long ago foresaw and said, according to their own desires, because their ears itch (2 Tim 4:3).

Or, with crude hearing and untrained perception, they choose teachers of unbelief and corruption.

For this reason I say once more with the Apostle: we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away (Heb 2:1).

We do not serve many gods, as the pagans do. Yet we must take heed whether our belly has become our god. Are we serving wealth more than God? Are we serving the idols of the passions?

Does our pride wish to set us up as idols for others?

We do not exalt ourselves, as the Jews did, in being children of Abraham. Yet we must take heed whether we exalt ourselves as boldly and foolishly in the name of Christians.

Have we become true children of God through spiritual rebirth, living faith, and holy life?

Those who, through thoughtless disagreement and disobedience to the Church of Christ, dare to cut apart the living body of Christ, and to tear His seamless tunic, must also take heed.

Yes, they must take heed to what they are doing, and to what testimony they are following.

Have not seven pillars been set up to establish the house of the Wisdom of God? Have not the seven spirits of God been sent for the governance of the universal Church? Have not seven Mysteries been given for the sanctification of souls?

How then do some dare, by fanciful thought, to break one or another pillar of the house of God? How do they think there can be a time when the seven spirits of God cease to breathe in the Church?

Since he was sent to preach the Gospel not in wisdom of speech, and since it was appointed to save through the foolishness of preaching, I also came to you to preach. Among you I proclaimed the testimony of God, not with elegant speech and not with wise reasonings.

"Not according to excellence of speech or wisdom," ou kath hyperochen logou e sophias, means not according to superiority of speech or wisdom. The testimony of God is divine revelation. It is teaching witnessed by God, or attested by Him as true. It offers the true path of salvation, apart from which one cannot be saved.