1 Corinthians 2:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What then? Was the sin of the Jews concerning the Cross forgiven, according to Christ's words, "Forgive them" (Lk 23:34)? If they repented, it was forgiven. Paul, who raised many hands against Stephen and persecuted the Church, became a defender of the Church.

In the same way, the sin was forgiven to those among them who wished to repent. Paul says this: "I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means." And again: "Has God rejected His people? By no means." Then, to prove that repentance is not closed to them, he brings forward his own conversion: "For I myself am an Israelite" (Rom 11:11, 1-2).

The words "they did not know" seem to me to be said here not with respect to Christ, but with respect to the work of God's economy. That is, they did not understand what the death and the Cross meant. Here too Christ did not say, "They do not know Me," but, "They do not know what they do" (Lk 23:34). That is, they do not understand the economy and mystery being accomplished.

They did not understand that the Cross would shine forth so brightly, that by it the salvation of the whole world would be accomplished, and that God would be reconciled with men. They did not understand that their city would be taken, and that they would undergo extreme calamities.

Paul calls Christ, the Cross, and the preaching wisdom. Yet not without reason does he here call Christ the Lord of glory. Since the Cross seemed to be a sign of disgrace, he shows that there is great glory in the Cross.

Great wisdom was needed not only to know God, but also to understand such an economy of God. External wisdom was an obstacle not only to the former, but also to the latter.

Likewise, if the high priests had known that their city would be subdued, and that they themselves would be led away captive, they would not have crucified Christ.

Here he calls Christ "the Lord of glory." Since they regarded the Cross as something dishonorable, he shows that Christ lost none of His glory through the Cross. On the contrary, He was glorified still more, because through the Cross He revealed His love for mankind more clearly.

If, then, they did not know, should this sin have been forgiven them? Yes. If afterward they had repented and been converted, their sin would have been forgiven, as it was forgiven to Paul and to others of the Jews.

By the name "princes of this age," the Apostle here indicates those very persons who hated the teaching of the Christian faith. They did not wish to hear the preaching about Jesus Christ, and by external assaults they embittered His disciples and Apostles.

Among such persecutors he includes earthly governors and rulers, brought up in pagan delusion, and sages renowned for Greek philosophy. To these he adds the assemblies of the rulers of the Jewish people, Pilate, and the other scribes, sufficiently skilled in the Jewish Law.

This wisdom was hidden from all sages, from all rulers of the world, and from all Jewish teachers of the Law and Pharisaic scribes. Through it God, having sent His beloved Only-begotten Son into the world, willed to save the human race.

"For had they understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." That is, if the sages of this age had known the incomprehensible mystery of this wisdom, they would have acted differently.

If the rulers of the Jewish people, the scribes and Pharisees, and the Roman officials had considered this hidden wisdom, they would have known it without doubt. They would have been fully convinced that Jesus Christ is the Only-begotten Son of God.

They would have known that He was appointed by God the Father for the deliverance of the lost human race. Then they surely would not have stretched out their God-slaying hands against Jesus Christ. They surely would not have dared to nail the Lord of glory to the Cross.

The explanation of the difficulties that arise is contained in the following propositions.

25. Concerning the Jews who crucified Jesus, the Apostle proclaims that they committed this sin in ignorance. If they had known that Christ is the Savior of the world, they would in no way have dared to crucify Him.

"Which none of the princes of this age understood. For had they understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

Christ Himself, speaking with the Jews, answers us that they know who He is: "Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, You both know Me, and you know whence I am" (Jn 7:28).

Likewise Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, bears witness concerning Jesus that He was sent from God: "He came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God."

"For no one can do these signs that You do, unless God is with him" (Jn 3:2).

Explanation. In resolving this difficulty, the following observations must be known.

1. The apostolic words do not refer directly to Christ. They signify the divine decree, incomprehensible to the human mind, which God was pleased to establish in His pre-eternal counsel concerning man's salvation through the sending of His Only-begotten Son into the world.

Although many of the Jews were convinced that Christ was a teacher sent into the world from God, and did not doubt that He was a very great Prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people (Lk 24:19), they still lacked knowledge.

According to the Apostle's teaching, they did not know that He had to die for the whole human race, and by His death satisfy the righteousness of God.

This truth is confirmed by the fact that the Jewish scribes and elders did not acknowledge Jesus to be true God. Seeing Him daily teaching the people with authority, they asked Him with great indignation whence He had received such authority.

They also asked who had appointed Him as Teacher over them: "They spoke to Him, saying, Tell us, by what authority do You do these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?" (Lk 20:2).

2. The Apostle does not ascribe ignorance concerning Christ to all Jews in general. He ascribes it especially to their chief rulers and to those who condemned Jesus to death on the Cross.

Herod and Pontius Pilate did not know the Godhead of Jesus Christ or His mediatorial office. This was both because they wandered in the darkness of pagan unbelief, and because the hatred and slander of the scribes and Pharisees aroused such malice and fury in them.

Thus even the countless proofs establishing the innocence of the Son of Man could not persuade them of His incomparable holiness.

3. Not only the rulers of the Jewish people, but also all who judged Him worthy of crucifixion, knew nothing of the most exalted Person of Jesus Christ.

If those who crucified Jesus had firmly and soundly known His incomparable majesty, they would have been horrified even to think of such crimes. He possesses this majesty from eternity as the Only-begotten Son of God.

As the Son of Man, He possesses it in time through the hypostatic union. Yet they dared to undertake these crimes against His majesty.

Mentioning this ignorance of the Jews concerning Christ, the holy Apostle Peter assures them that this sin, committed by them in ignorance, can be forgiven them through true and heartfelt acknowledgment of it and repentance.

"And now, brethren, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:17, 19).

26. The Hebrews condemned Jesus Christ to crucifixion through ignorance. "Had they understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

If the Jewish rulers crucified Jesus through their ignorance, it follows that none of them committed the sin against the Holy Spirit.

For the sin against the Holy Spirit consists in the voluntary and stubborn rejection of the gracious means necessary for man's salvation.

Explanation. The leaders and elders of the Jewish assembly did not all have the same knowledge concerning the Messiah. Some had little understanding of Him, while others had greater understanding.

As for Herod and Pilate, who delivered Jesus to crucifixion, it was entirely unknown to them that Christ is the Savior of the world. Therefore they cannot be considered to have committed the sin against the Holy Spirit.

As for the Jewish Pharisees and scribes, they were divided into two groups.

To the first belong those whose mind was so darkened and so unfit for the knowledge of divine and human things that they could not understand from Jesus' countless miracles that He was "the One who would redeem Israel" (Lk 24:21).

These miracles surpassed every human power. Yet all the prophecies contained in Holy Scripture were for them "the words of a sealed book" (Is 29:11).

Therefore the prophecy foretold by Habakkuk is clearly fulfilled in them: "Behold, you despisers, and look, and marvel at wonders, and vanish. For I work a work in your days which you will not believe, if anyone declares it to you" (Hab 1:5).

Such blindness of the Pharisees cannot excuse their rejection of the preaching of the Gospel. This is especially so because even the unheard-of miracles performed by Christ could not convince them of His perfect Godhead.

Nevertheless, since their unbelief proceeded not from hatred and contempt for Christ, but from the weakness of their judgment in knowing the highest mysteries, it cannot be imputed as a sin against the Holy Spirit.

Nor can they be regarded as unworthy and forever deprived of the mercy of God [...].

The rulers of this world crucified Him through their ignorance of the God of majesty. But how can the Jewish authorities, subjected to the oppression of the Romans, be called rulers of the world? And did the Romans crucify Christ, when Pilate said, "I find no fault in Him" (Jn 19:4)?

For this reason he also washed his hands and said to the Jews, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous Man. See to it yourselves" (Mt 27:24). Those principalities crucified our Lord Jesus Christ whom He authoritatively put to shame, triumphing over them in Himself (Col 2:15).

The Evangelist Mark also says this concerning the demons: "He cast out many demons, and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ" (Mk 1:34). They knew that He was the Christ, the One promised in the Law. But they did not know His mystery, in which He is God the Son.

If they had known that such salvation would come to the Gentiles from the Cross, they would not have gone as far as the crucifixion. They would have preferred to restrain their envy rather than provide salvation for the Gentiles, expel them, and take their place themselves.

Such were the scribes and Pharisees, who considered themselves wise and understanding (Mt 11:25). Such too were the self-deceived guides of men like them in the pagan world. The Apostle calls them together the princes of this age because they ruled in the world before the appearing of Christ.

This age means the world lying in evil, hostile to the Gospel and the Kingdom of God (cf. 2 Tim 4:10). None of these features applies either to Orthodox sovereigns, who reign by the mercy of God, or to the rulers of Christ's Church, who receive the duties of shepherding from the Lord.

This is the wisdom "which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ... God has revealed it to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." He does this as easily as the human spirit knows its own inward actions and states (1 Cor 2:11).

All this, the Apostle adds, is what has been "given to us by God," and we proclaim it with unshaken hope of success. We speak "not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual."

In all this one hears the Apostle's reproving thought. Perhaps the Corinthians still chase after outward signs of verbal wisdom, and are disturbed over their various teachers and preachers, because they themselves are still far from the Christian way of receiving the Gospel preaching. They cannot stand among those perfect ones among whom Christian wisdom is successfully preached by comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

The Apostle's saying about "comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Cor 2:13) needs particular explanation. St. Chrysostom offers it in this sense: the Apostles took the subjects needed on various occasions to explain their speech from the same spiritual and sacred-biblical realm, for example, from types and prophecies, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

"For example," the holy Father reasons in the person of the Apostle Paul, "I say that Christ rose, and that He was born of a Virgin. For explanation I bring testimonies and types: Jonah's stay inside the whale and his subsequent deliverance from it, the childbirth of barren women, Sarah, Rebecca, and others, and the growth of trees in Paradise, when seeds had not yet been sown, rain had not fallen, and furrows had not been drawn. Future events were inscribed and prefigured, as in shadow, by earlier ones, so that people would believe them when they came to pass. Thus I explain spiritual things by spiritual things, and nowhere have recourse to external wisdom."

"By the princes of this age," says St. John Chrysostom, "he means not demons, as some think, but men clothed with honors and authority, who regard it as something great. He means philosophers, rhetoricians, and writers, who often possessed authority and were rulers of the people. He calls them princes of this age because their authority extends no further than the present age."

The chief power acting upon the hearts of believers was the content of the apostolic preaching. The Apostles proclaimed what none of the most distinguished philosophers had ever taught. More than this, this teaching was the proclamation of salvation through the sufferings of Jesus Christ for us. It had long been revealed as the greatest mystery of the Wisdom of God. Yet the wise men of this world did not know this mystery and did not receive it as revealed.

Pointing to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as striking proof that this mystery was not understood, the Apostle first speaks, of course, about the princes and leaders of the Jewish people. At the same time, he also speaks partly about the Greco-Romans, who had their representative at the trial of Jesus Christ, namely Pilate.

According to St. John Chrysostom's explanation, "The Wisdom of God preached by the Apostle is called a mystery because in it we contemplate not what we see. We see one thing and believe another. Such is the nature of our mysteries. I look upon them in one way, and the unbeliever in another. Hearing of baptism, he imagines only water. But I see not only what is visible, but also the invisible: the cleansing of the soul accomplished by the Spirit."

“For had they understood, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Since he speaks generally, he mentions those who crucified the Lord only as representatives of the rulers of the age. There was Pilate, representative of the rulers of the age from among the Gentiles. There were Herod, Caiaphas, the chief priests, and the scribes, representatives of the rulers of the age from among the Jews.

He mentions the crucifixion as the most striking testimony to the blindness of the rulers of the age. They were face to face with Wisdom itself, and did not understand it. The crucifixion took place in Judea, in Jerusalem, and it could not have been otherwise, according to the prophecies and types that had existed. Yet in the nature of the matter, it could have taken place anywhere.

The rulers of the age are everywhere of one spirit. What they did in Jerusalem, they could have done in any other place. Failure to understand the wisdom of God continues, and the crucifying of the Lord of glory continues. It is always done by the rulers of the age, the managers of life according to the spirit of the age and the leaders of human wisdom.

For the wisdom of God is beyond reach not only for the rulers of the age at that time, but generally for all such rulers, insofar as they are rulers of the age. It is not only beyond their reach, but irritates them and becomes the object of their hatred, persecution, and oppression. They do this in every age, as soon as their wisdom finds convenient means and sees that it can do this without obstructing its main aims. These aims are peace and abundance in this life.

They crucified the Lord of glory. They crucified the man Jesus. But since He was God incarnate, who is the Lord of glory, in crucifying Him they crucified the Lord of glory. The Apostle speaks this way according to the unity of the Hypostasis in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Someone may say: in what, then, are they guilty, since they acted in ignorance? But their very ignorance is culpable. The Lord did not leave Himself without witness. How many testimonies and assurances did the Jews have concerning who Jesus Christ is! He spoke to them directly: “My Father works until now, and I work.” They understood that He was making Himself equal with God.

He also instructed them by a parable, saying in it: “They will reverence the Son.” They likewise understood that He was speaking this parable about them. He also instructed them by prophecies: David calls Christ Lord; how then is He his Son? And they were silent, because the answer led them straight to acknowledging Him as the Lord of glory.

Pilate also was not left without instruction. What did the Lord’s brief words to him mean, “My Kingdom is not of this world,” and the rest, if not instruction? The dream of his wife had this meaning especially. Thus all the crucifiers could have understood, but they did not understand.

The wisdom of God was veiled here, and seeing, they did not see. But the reason they had no eyes to see was their own guilt. They were all saturated with the spirit of the age and wished to know nothing except human reasonings. This was not forced upon them. It was the fruit of their free life.

The spirit of the age is opposed to the wisdom of God, and the rulers of the age do not understand it. Their whole cast of mind is different, as are the tastes of their heart and the plans of their life. As it was then, so it is always. The rulers and sons of the age always fail to understand the wisdom of God and are ready to crucify it for the same reason: it cannot be contained by them and is opposed to their foundations.