1 Corinthians 2:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Where is this written? This is also said when something is portrayed not in words, but by the events themselves, as in narratives. It is also said when the same thought is expressed, though not in the same words, as here.

For example, the words "they shall see what had not been told them, and they shall understand what they had not heard" (Is 52:15) mean the same as "eye has not seen, nor ear heard." Thus the Apostle either expresses this, or perhaps it was indeed written in books, but the books themselves were lost.

"But as it is written."

The words "so it also happened" are lacking. The Apostle uses ellipsis in many places.

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him."

What has God prepared for those who love Him? The knowledge of Christ and salvation through His becoming man. No human eye saw this, no human ear heard it, and no human heart imagined it.

The prophets, however, did not see with human eyes, nor hear with human ears, nor understand the revelations concerning Christ with a human mind (Is 64:4). Everything in them was divine. For it is said, "The Lord has added an ear to me," that is, a spiritual ear, and other things like this.

Who are those who love God? The faithful.

It is impossible for human nature to know the order of that life and all its adornments, the adornments of the heavenly Jerusalem. These are the very things "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him."

Where, then, is this written? Nowhere except in the Gospel of our Lord itself, when He said that kings and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear from Me what you hear, and did not hear it (Mt 13:17; Lk 10:23).

Some at this point are accustomed to follow the ravings of the apocrypha. They say that this testimony is taken from the Apocalypse of Elijah, since in Isaiah the Hebrew reads thus: "From of old they have not heard, nor have ears perceived. No eye has seen, O God, besides You, what You have prepared for those who wait for You" (Is 64:4).

The Seventy translated this quite differently: "From of old they have not heard, and our eyes have not seen God besides You, and Your works are true, and You will show mercy to those who wait for You."

We understand where the testimony was taken from. Yet the Apostle did not cite it word for word. He showed the same meaning in other expressions, περιφραστικώς, that is, periphrastically.

Something similar is written in the prophet Isaiah (Is 64:4) and in the apocryphal Apocalypse of Elijah. Paul speaks this way about unexpected things being accomplished, in order to indicate what does not fit within human understanding and what was hidden among the heavenly powers: the Incarnation of God.

Question: What do the words mean: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man"?

Answer: In that time the great and righteous kings and Prophets knew that the Deliverer would come. But they did not know, had not heard, and it had not entered into their hearts that He would suffer and be crucified. They did not know that blood would be poured out on the Cross, that there would be baptism with fire and the Holy Spirit, and that in the Church bread and wine would be offered as antitypes of His flesh and blood.

[...] "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor 2:9).

But concerning this wondrous thing I will ask: if it "has not entered into the heart of man," how do you, the saints, know it? This is especially so after you confessed in Acts that you also are "men of like passions with us" (Acts 14:15).

But hear what blessed Paul answers to this: "God," he says, "has revealed it to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God" (1 Cor 2:10).

Yet one must not think that God revealed the mystery indiscriminately to some and left others to perish in ignorance. Rather, one must know and be assured that, by the power of His foreknowledge, He rendered to each according to merit and according to what was profitable for him. For He foresees the intention of each one before his existence.

Although Scripture, in order to awaken in us desire for the good things to come, depicted them under the names of things desired and glorious, pleasant and precious among us. Saying, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard," and so forth, by this it proclaimed that the future good things are incomprehensible and have no likeness to the good things here.

See 2 Cor 12:4. Do you wish me to explain to you in another way what these good things are, which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man?

I think you surely desire to hear what even Paul, who saw them, did not say or set forth. Why did he not say it? I think it was so that he would not subject people to the sin of unbelief. They would hear and not believe.

Therefore, if you are not certain that you will believe what I am about to say, it is better for you not to hear it. For if you hear and do not believe, but disregard my words, or rather the words of God, that very word will condemn you on the day of judgment. You heard and did not believe.

Therefore listen to my words without wavering in doubt, or, as I said before, to the words of God. Know, then, the answer we are seeking concerning the ineffable words heard by holy Paul in Paradise. They are those eternal good things.

These good things, which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the human mind has never conceived, God has prepared for those who love Him. They are not hidden in the heights. They are not enclosed in some place. They are not concealed in the depths. They are not found at the farthest limits of earth or sea. They are before your eyes.

What are they, then? Together with the good things treasured in the heavens, they are the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we see, taste, and drink each day. These are those good things.

Apart from them, pass through all creation, and nowhere will you find even one of the good things of which I have spoken. If you wish to be assured of the truth of my words, first become holy through the practice of God's commandments. Then partake of the holy and most pure Body and Blood of Christ. Then, by experience, you will know precisely the power of my words.

So that you may more readily believe these words of mine, hear the Lord's own words, which He spoke both to the Jews and to His disciples: "Amen, amen, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." "The Jews then murmured against Him, because He said, 'I am the bread which came down from heaven.' And they said, 'Is this not the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does He say, I have come down from heaven?'" (Jn 6:32-35, 41-42).

Take heed to yourself, lest you also murmur like the Jews and say: Is this not bread, what lies on the diskos? Is that not wine, what is in the chalice? How then does he say that this visible bread and this visible wine are those good things which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the human mind has never conceived?

But hear what the Lord said to those who then murmured and spoke such words: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day'" (Jn 6:43-44).

It is as though He were saying to them: Why do you not believe? Why do you doubt this? No one can know My Godhead, for this is what the words "no one can come to Me" mean, unless My Father draws him and raises him to this knowledge.

Here, however, drawing does not show any violence or compulsion, but a calling through revelation. "Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined; and those He called" through the revelation of His Son (Rom 8:29-30). In some way He ravishes them by love for His Son, who is revealed to them.

The Lord shows this more clearly in the words that follow: "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God. He has seen the Father" (Jn 6:45-46). Therefore only one taught by God can believe in the Son of God.

Again the Lord says: "Amen, amen, I say to you, he who believes in Me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever. The bread which I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." "The Jews therefore disputed among themselves, saying. 'How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?' Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink'" (Jn 6:47-55).

Have you heard that communion in the divine and most pure Mysteries is eternal life? Have you heard that the Lord will raise up on the last day those who have this eternal life in themselves?

This does not mean that others will remain in the tombs. Rather, those who have life in themselves will rise to eternal life, while the others will rise to eternal torments.

So that you may understand that this is true, listen to what follows: "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall live because of Me" (Jn 6:56-57).

Do you see what He says? Do you hear how clearly the Son of God cries out that, through communion in the most pure Mysteries, we have the same union and life with Christ that He Himself has with the Father?

For as He is one with God His Father by nature, so, He says, we also become one with Him by grace when we eat His Flesh and drink His Blood.

So that we would not think that the visible bread accomplishes all this, He said, "I am the bread which comes down from heaven." He did not say only, "which came down," for that would mean He had descended only once.

What, then, does He say? "Which comes down from heaven." That is, I always come down and come to those who partake worthily.

At the same time, wishing to draw our mind away from what is visible, or rather to raise us through the visible to the contemplation of the invisible glory of His hypostatic Godhead, Christ the Lord said, "I am the bread of life." And again, "My Father will give you the true bread," not from the earth, but "from heaven."

By saying, "the true bread from heaven," He showed that the bread from the earth is not true, since it does not bring the needed benefit. To show this more clearly, He says, "The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

Again He says, "comes down," and again, "gives life." Why? So that you would not think He speaks of anything bodily. When you partake, you must not imagine anything earthly.

Rather, with the spiritual eyes of your soul, you must contemplate that very small portion in which you partake as deified. It has become wholly like the bread that comes down from heaven, which is the true God, the bread and drink of immortal life.

Thus you will not remain in unbelief with only the bread that you see by your senses. Thus you will not eat only earthly bread instead of heavenly bread. Thus you will not be deprived of life, as one who has not spiritually tasted the heavenly bread.

As Christ Himself says, "It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing" (Jn 6:63). Whom does it not profit? Those who say that He is a mere man and not God.

And you, faithful one, if you partake only of bread and not of the deified Body, and if you do not believe that you receive the whole Christ Himself into yourself, how do you hope to receive life from Him? How do you hope to have Him within you perceptibly to the sense of your soul?

For you hear what He says: "He who eats Me," that is, the bread coming down from heaven, "shall live forever." And again: "The flesh profits nothing. It is the Spirit who gives life."

Truly it is the Spirit who cleanses us and makes us worthy of communion in the Lord's Body. For those who partake unworthily eat and drink judgment to themselves, not discerning the Lord's Body, as the Apostle says.

Therefore, all you faithful, all who have known the power of the mysteries of which we have spoken and are speaking, all who have tasted the heavenly bread and with it have acquired eternal life, bestowed by this heavenly bread, that is, by the Son of God, and have begun to abide in Him and with Him, come. Let us also be spiritually and noetically caught up to the third heaven, or rather to the very heaven of the Most Holy Trinity.

Let us see and hear all that was uttered, yet remains ineffable. Let us taste, smell, and touch it well with the hands of the soul, that is, let us know it truly by the spiritual sense. Then let us give thanks and glorify the God who loves mankind, saying: Supremely glorified are You, O Lord, who were pleased to appear and reveal Yourself in us.

Let us say this to all our brethren generally. Fathers and brothers, monks and laypeople together, rich and poor, slaves and free, youths and elders, and every age and rank, listen.

God is not false, nor is He powerless to do what He has promised. He will not delay to visit all nations. No one can hide from His eyes, or endure the manifestation of His glory on the day of judgment.

For when "the heavens will pass away with a great noise" and "the elements will be dissolved by fire," as Saint Peter says (2 Pet 3:10), then no one will be able to endure the day of the coming of the unapproachable God, who dwells in unapproachable light.

He always abides in that light, and with it He comes into the world. In this way He will be seen by every human being.

Then a truly great fear and trembling will seize sinners. There is no sorrow, grief, sickness, or torment that could be compared with what sinners will then experience.

But you who believe this and desire salvation for yourselves, hear what the Holy Spirit says: Let each of you turn back from the evil way in which he walks. That is, let him abandon the sins he commits.

Learn to do good. Deliver the wronged. Seek the Lord diligently, and your soul shall live. Turn away from evil and do good.

Kings, love to be clothed in chastity, righteousness, truth, and pious faith more than to be adorned with a royal crown and royal garments.

Patriarchs, if you are not friends of God and His sons, come down from your thrones. Go first and teach yourselves from the divine Scriptures. When you become an image of God and grow like Him, then draw near with fear and trembling and touch divine things.

If not, then when God appears, you will know that He is a consuming fire, not for those who have loved Him, but for those who did not wish to receive Him when He came to enlighten them.

Those in authority, submit and humble yourselves. And you who are rich, become poor instead, because it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

If it is difficult for a rich man to enter, then it is altogether impossible for one in authority to enter. Yes, impossible. For the Lord says to His disciples: "The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be greater among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave" (Mt 20:25-27).

Scripture calls a ruler one who seeks only honor and glory for himself, and by the power of his authority does only his own will.

But our Lord and God came down to earth for our salvation and gave us in all things a saving example. He said, "I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me" (Jn 6:38).

Who, then, among those who believe in Him can be saved if he does not do the will of God, but only his own? And why do I say "be saved"? Such a man cannot even be faithful, nor truly be called a Christian.

"But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard..." The passage cited by the Apostle from Is 64:4 differs both from the Hebrew original and from the Septuagint. Therefore Origen and others considered these words borrowed from the apocryphal book The Apocalypse of Elijah. Chrysostom and Theodoret thought they came from some other lost book. It is more correct, however, that these words are a paraphrase or collection of many expressions of Isaiah, besides the one indicated above, for example Is 65:17.

But marks an opposition. To what? To the lack of understanding among the rulers of the age. They did not understand. Yet let no one think that this is something not even worth looking at. No, he says, it is not so. They did not understand because of blindness. In reality this is so lofty a good that there is nothing like it, nor has there been, nor will there be.

“Since the Apostle mentioned the ignorance of the Jews and said that the mystery of the divine economy was hidden, he necessarily added that what no one had heard, what no one had ever seen, and what even the most insatiable mind had not conceived, the God of all prepared for those who have fervent love for Him” (Theodoret).