1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
5 so that your faith might not rest be in the wisdom of men, but on power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among those that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God hidden in a mysteryand that God destined for our glory before time began.
8 which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But we preach, as it is written, what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for them that love Him.
10 For God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13 Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, explaining spiritual things with spirituals
14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
15 For the spiritual man judgeth all things, but he himself is judged of no man.
16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Interesting References in the Early Fathers
1 Cor 2.1 - no witness before Athanasius (c. 357 CE)
1 Cor 2:2 Was not God really crucified? And, having been really crucified, did He not really die? And, having indeed really died, did He not really rise again? Falsely did Paul 7005 “determine to know nothing amongst us but Jesus and Him crucified;” 7006 falsely has he impressed upon us that He was buried; falsely inculcated that He rose again. [Tertullian on the Flesh of Christ 5]
1 Cor 2:2 "For neither did I judge to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." [Tertullian, On Modesty 14]
1 cor 2:2 "Finally, to the Corinthians who were weak, Paul declares that he "knew nothing, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." (Origen De Principiis 4)
1 Cor 2.3 - Origen Commentary on John only witness before 363 CE
1 Cor 2.4 - Origen is the only ante-Nicene witness
1 Cor 2:4 Again, in the Epistle to the Corinthians he says: "For my speech and my preaching was not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." [Gregory Thaumaturgus A Sectional Confession of Faith]
1 Cor 2.5 - This, then, “the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God,” and of those who are “the wise the Lord knoweth their thoughts that they are vain.” Let no man therefore glory on account of pre-eminence in human thought. For it is written well in Jeremiah, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man glory in his might, and let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth that I am the Lord, that executeth mercy and judgment and righteousness upon the earth: for in these things is my delight, saith the Lord.”[2] “That we should trust not in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead,” says the apostle, “who delivered us from so great a death, that our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” “For the spiritual man judgeth all things, but he himself is judged of no man.”[3] I hear also those words of his, “And these things I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, or one should enter in to spoil you.”[4] And again, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ;”[5] branding not all philosophy, but the Epicurean, which Paul mentions in the Acts of the Apostles,[6] which abolishes providence and deifies pleasure, and whatever other philosophy honours the elements, but places not over them the efficient cause, nor apprehends the Creator. [Clement Stromata 1.11] 1 50 § 3 (p.33, l.1) BP1]
1 cor 2:5 - Wherefore also the apostle exhorts, "that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men," (Ἵνα ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν μὴ ᾖ ἐν σοφίᾳ ἀνθρώπων) who profess to persuade, "but in the power of God," which alone without proofs, by mere faith, is able to save. "For the most approved of those that are reputable knows how to keep watch. And justice will apprehend the forger and witnesses of lies," says the Ephesian. For he, having derived his knowledge from the barbarian philosophy, is acquainted with the purification by fire (τὴν διὰ πυρὸς κάθαρσιν) of those who have led bad lives, which the Stoics afterwards called the Conflagration (ἐκπύρωσιν), in which also they teach that each will arise exactly as he was, so treating of the resurrection [Clement Stromata 5.1] 5 9 § 2 (p.331, l.17) BP1
1 Cor 2,5 - Justin Apology 1 60 § 11 (p.126, l.17) BP1
1 Cor 2,6 - Epistula Apostolorum § 28 (p.141, l.38) BP1
1 Cor 2.6 Oratio Pauli (p.249, l.24 - /) BP2
1 Cor 2.6 - Clement Stromata 5 25 § 2 (p.341, l.14) BP1; 5 65 § 5 (p.370, l.5) BP1; 5 80 § 4 (p.379, l.11) BP1; 6 68 § 1 (p.465, l.31) BP1
1 cor 2.6 - They also assert that by Anna, who is spoken of in the gospel Luke 2:36 as aprophetess, and who, after living seven years with her husband, passed all the rest of her life inwidowhood until she saw the Saviour, and recognised Him, and spoke of Him to all, was most plainly indicated Achamoth, who, having for a little while looked upon the Saviour with His associates, and dwelling all the rest of the time in the intermediate place, waited for Him till He should come again, and restore her to her proper consort. Her name, too, was indicated by the Saviour, when He said, Yet wisdom is justified by her children. Luke 7:35 This, too, was done by Paul in these words, But we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. 1 Corinthians 2:6 They declare also that Paul has referred to the conjunctions within the Pleroma, showing them forth by means of one; for, when writing of the conjugal union in this life, he expressed himself thus: This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Ephesians 5:32 (Irenaeus 1.8.4)
1 cor 2.6 - For [they allege] that the truth was not delivered by means of written documents, but vivâ voce: wherefore also Pauldeclared, But we speak wisdom among those that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world.1 Corinthians 2:6 And this wisdom each one of them alleges to be the fiction of his own inventing, forsooth; so that, according to their idea, the truth properly resides at one time in Valentinus, at another in Marcion, at another in Cerinthus, then afterwards in Basilides, or has even beenindifferently in any other opponent, who could speak nothing pertaining to salvation. For every one of these men, being altogether of a perverse disposition, depraving the system of truth, is not ashamed to preach himself. (Irenaeus AH 3.2.1)
1 cor 2:6 - Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be conformable to, and modelled after, His own Son. For by the hands of the Father, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not [merely] a part of man, was made in the likeness of God. Now the soul and the spirit are certainly apart of the man, but certainly not the man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father, and the admixture of that fleshly nature which was moulded after the image of God. For this reason does the apostle declare, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, 1 Corinthians 2:6 terming those persons perfect who have received the Spirit of God, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as he used Himself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and declare the mysteries of God, whom also the apostle terms spiritual, they beingspiritual because they partake of the Spirit, and not because their flesh has been stripped off and taken away, and because they have become purely spiritual. For if any one take away the substanceof flesh, that is, of the handiwork [of God], and understand that which is purely spiritual, such then would not be a spiritual man but would be the spirit of a man, or the Spirit of God. But when the spirithere blended with the soul is united to [God's] handiwork, the man is rendered spiritual and perfectbecause of the outpouring of the Spirit, and this is he who was made in the image and likeness of God. But if the Spirit be wanting to the soul, he who is such is indeed of an animal nature, and being left carnal, shall be an imperfect being, possessing indeed the image [of God] in his formation (in plasmate), but not receiving the similitude through the Spirit; and thus is this being imperfect. Thus also, if any one take away the image and set aside the handiwork, he cannot then understand this as being a man, but as either some part of a man, as I have already said, or as something else than aman. For that flesh which has been moulded is not a perfect man in itself, but the body of a man, and part of a man. Neither is the soul itself, considered apart by itself, the man; but it is the soul of aman, and part of a man. Neither is the spirit a man, for it is called the spirit, and not a man; but the commingling and union of all these constitutes the perfect man. (Irenaeus 5.6.1)
1 cor 2.6 - 8 - Expressly then respecting all our Scripture, as if spoken in a parable, it is written in the Psalms, Hear, O My people, My law: incline your ear to the words of My mouth. I will open My mouth in parables, I will utter My problems from the beginning. Similarly speaks the nobleapostle to the following effect: Howbeit we speak wisdom among those that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought. But we speak the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery; which none of the princes of this world knew. For had theyknown it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. The philosophers did not exert themselves in contemning the appearance of the Lord. It therefore follows that it is the opinion of the wise among the Jews which the apostle inveighs against. Wherefore he adds, But we preach, as it is written, what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for them that love Him. For God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.1 Corinthians 2:9-10 For he recognises the spiritual man and the Gnostic as the disciple of the Holy Spiritdispensed by God, which is the mind of Christ. But the natural man receives not the things of theSpirit, for they are foolishness to him. 1 Corinthians 2:14 Now the apostle, in contradistinction tognostic perfection, calls the common faith the foundation, and sometimes milk, writing on this wise:Brethren, I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, to babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, not with meat: for you were not able. Neither yet are you now able. For you are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envy and strife, are you not carnal, and walk as men?1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Which things are the choice of those men who are sinners. But those who abstainfrom these things give their thoughts to divine things, and partake of gnostic food. According to thegrace, it is said, given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. And another builds on it gold and silver, precious stones. 1 Corinthians 3:10-13 Such is the gnostic superstructure on the foundation of faith in Christ Jesus. But the stubble, and the wood, and the hay, are the additions of heresies. But the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. In allusion to thegnostic edifice also in the Epistle to the Romans, he says, For I desire to see you, that I may impart unto you a spiritual gift, that you may be established. Romans 1:11 It was impossible that gifts of this sort could be written without disguise. (Clement Stromata 5,4)
1 Cor 2:6 - Rightly then, Plato, in the Epistles, treating of God, says: We must speak in enigmas; that should the tablet come by any mischance on its leaves either by sea or land, he who reads may remain ignorant. For the God of the universe, who is above all speech, all conception, all thought, can never be committed to writing, being inexpressible even by His own power. And this too Plato showed, by saying: Considering, then, these things, take care lest some time or other you repent on account of the present things, departing in a manner unworthy. The greatest safeguard is not to write, but learn; for it is utterly impossible that what is written will not vanish.Akin to this is what the holy Apostle Paul says, preserving the prophetic and truly ancient secret from which the teachings that were good were derived by the Greeks: Howbeit we speak wisdom among them who are perfect; but not the wisdom of this world, or of the princes of this world, that come to nought; but we speak the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery.1 Corinthians 2:6-7 Then proceeding, he thus inculcates the caution against the divulging of his words to the multitude in the following terms: And I, brethren, could not speak to you as tospiritual, but as to carnal, even to babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, not with meat: for you were not yet able; neither are you now able. For you are yet carnal. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 If, then, the milk is said by the apostle to belong to the babes, and meat to be the food of the full-grown, milk will be understood to be catechetical instruction— the first food, as it were, of the soul. And meat is the mystic contemplation; for this is the flesh and the blood of the Word, that is, the comprehension of the divine power and essence. Taste and see that the Lord is Christ, it is said. For so He imparts of Himself to those who partake of such food in a more spiritual manner; when now the soul nourishes itself, according to the truth-lovingPlato. For the knowledge of the divine essence is the meat and drink of the divine Word. Wherefore also Plato says, in the second book of the Republic, It is those that sacrifice not a sow, but some great and difficult sacrifice, who ought to inquire respecting God. And the apostle writes, Christ our passover was sacrificed for us; 1 Corinthians 5:7 — a sacrifice hard to procure, in truth, the Son of God consecrated for us. [Clement Stromata 5.10]
1 cor 2:6 - To these statements the apostle will testify: I know a man in Christ, caught up into the third heaven, and thence into Paradise, who heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak,— intimating thus the impossibility of expressing God, and indicating that what is divine is unutterable by human power; if, indeed, he begins to speak above the thirdheaven, as it is lawful to initiate the elect souls in the mysteries there. For I know what is in Plato (for the examples from the barbarian philosophy, which are many, are suggested now by the composition which, in accordance with promises previously given, waits the suitable time). For doubting, in Timæus, whether we ought to regard several worlds as to be understood by many heavens, or this one, he makes no distinction in the names, calling the world and heaven by the same name. But the words of the statement are as follows: Whether, then, have we rightly spoken of one heaven, or of many and infinite? It were more correct to say one, if indeed it was created according to the model. Further, in the Epistle of the Romans to theCorinthians it is written, An ocean illimitable by men and the worlds after it. Consequently, therefore, the noble apostle exclaims, Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and theknowledge of God! Romans 11:3 And was it not this which the prophet meant, when he ordered unleavened cakes to be made, intimating that the truly sacred mystic word, respecting the unbegotten and His powers, ought to be concealed? In confirmation of these things, in the Epistle to the Corinthians the apostle plainly says: Howbeit we speak wisdom among those who are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, or of the princes of this world, that come to nought. But we speak the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery. 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 And again in another place he says:To the acknowledgment of the mystery of God in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3 These things the Saviour Himself seals when He says: To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. And again the Gospel says that the Saviour spoke to the apostles the word in a mystery. For prophecy says of Him: He will open His mouth in parables, and will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world. And now, by the parable of the leaven, the Lord shows concealment; for He says, The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Matthew 13:33 For the tripartite soul is saved byobedience, through the spiritual power hidden in it by faith; or because the power of the word which is given to us, being strong and powerful, draws to itself secretly and invisibly every one who receives it, and keeps it within himself, and brings his whole system into unity. Accordingly Solon has written most wisely respecting God thus:— It is most difficult to apprehend the mind's invisible measure Which alone holds the boundaries of all things. For the divine, says the poet of Agrigenturn, — Is not capable of being approached with our eyes, Or grasped with our hands; but the highway Of persuasion, highest of all, leads to men's minds. And John the apostle says: No man has seen God at any time. The only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him, John 1:18 — calling invisibility andineffableness the bosom of God. Hence some have called it the Depth, as containing and embosoming all things, inaccessible and boundless. [Clement of Alexandria stromata 5.12]
1 cor 2.6 - And when those who have been turned towards virtue have made progress, and have shown that they have been purified by the word, and have led as far as they can a better life, then and not before do we invite them to participation in our mysteries. "For we speak wisdom among them that are perfect." (Origen Contra Celsus 3)
1 Cor 2.6 - 8 - By all these statements, therefore, does he show us what God he means, when he says, “We speak the wisdom of God among them that are perfect.” 5426 It is that God who has confounded the wisdom of the wise, who has brought to nought the understanding of the prudent, who has reduced to folly 5427 the world’s wisdom, by choosing its foolish things, and disposing them to the attainment of salvation. This wisdom, he says, once lay hidden in things that were foolish, weak, and lacking in honour; once also was latent under figures, allegories, and enigmatical types; but it was afterwards to be revealed in Christ, who was set “as a light to the Gentiles,” 5428 by the Creator who promised through the mouth of Isaiah that He would discover “the hidden treasures, which eye had not seen.” 5429 Now, that that god should have ever hidden anything who had never made a cover wherein to practise concealment, is in itself a wholly incredible idea. If he existed, concealment of himself was out of the question—to say nothing 5430 of any of his religious ordinances. 5431 The Creator, on the contrary, was as well known in Himself as His ordinances were. These, we know, were publicly instituted 5432 in Israel; but they lay overshadowed with latent meanings, in which the wisdom of God was concealed, 5433 to be brought to light by and by amongst “the perfect,” when the time should come, but “pre-ordained in the counsels of God before the ages.” 5434 But whose ages, if not the Creator’s? For because ages consist of times, and times are made up of days, and months, and years; since also days, and months, and years are measured by suns, and moons, and stars, which He ordained for this purpose (for “they shall be,” says He, “for signs of the months and the years”), 5435 it clearly follows that the ages belong to the Creator, and that nothing of what was fore-ordained before the ages can be said to be the property of any other being than Him who claims the ages also as His own. Else let Marcion show that the ages belong to his god. He must then also claim the world itself for p. 441 him; for it is in it that the ages are reckoned, the vessel as it were 5436 of the times, as well as the signs thereof, or their order. But he has no such demonstration to show us. I go back therefore to the point, and ask him this question: Why did (his god) fore-ordain our glory before the ages of the Creator? I could understand his having predetermined it before the ages, if he had revealed it at the commencement of time. 5437 But when he does this almost at the very expiration of all the ages 5438 of the Creator, his predestination before the ages, and not rather within the ages, was in vain, because he did not mean to make any revelation of his purpose until the ages had almost run out their course. For it is wholly inconsistent in him to be so forward in planning purposes, who is so backward in revealing them.In the Creator, however, the two courses were perfectly compatible—both the predestination before the ages and the revelation at the end thereof, because that which He both fore-ordained and revealed He also in the intermediate space of time announced by the pre-ministration of figures, and symbols, and allegories. But because (the apostle) subjoins, on the subject of our glory, that “none of the princes of this world knew it, for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory,” 5439 the heretic argues that the princes of this world crucified the Lord (that is, the Christ of the rival god) in order that this blow might even recoil 5440 on the Creator Himself. Any one, however, who has seen from what we have already said how our glory must be regarded as issuing from the Creator, will already have come to the conclusion that, inasmuch as the Creator settled it in His own secret purpose, it properly enough was unknown to all the princes 5441 and powers of the Creator, on the principle that servants are not permitted to know their masters’ plans, much less the fallen angels and the leader of transgression himself, the devil; for I should contend that these, on account of their fall, were greater strangers still to any knowledge of the Creator’s dispensations. But it is no longer open to me 5442 even to interpret the princes and powers of this world as the Creator’s, since the apostle imputes ignorance to them, whereas even the devil according to our Gospel recognised Jesus in the temptation, 5443 and, according to the record which is common to both (Marcionites and ourselves) the evil spirit knew that Jesus was the Holy One of God, and that Jesus was His name, and that He was come to destroy them. 5444 The parable also of the strong man armed, whom a stronger than he overcame and seized his goods, is admitted by Marcion to have reference to the Creator: 5445 therefore the Creator could not have been ignorant any longer of the God of glory, since He is overcome by him; 5446 nor could He have crucified him whom He was unable to cope with. The inevitable inference, therefore, as it seems to me, is that we must believe that the princes and powers of the Creator did knowingly crucify the God of glory in His Christ, with that desperation and excessive malice with which the most abandoned slaves do not even hesitate to slay their masters. For it is written in my Gospel 5447 that “Satan entered into Judas.” 5448 According to Marcion, however, the apostle in the passage under consideration 5449 does not allow the imputation of ignorance, with respect to the Lord of glory, to the powers of the Creator; because, indeed, he will have it that these are not meant by “the princes of this world.” But (the apostle) evidently 5450 did not speak of spiritual princes; so that he meant secular ones, those of the princely people, (chief in the divine dispensation, although) not, of course, amongst the nations of the world, and their rulers, and king Herod, and even Pilate, and, as represented by him, 5451 that power of Rome which was the greatest in the world, and then presided over by him. Thus the arguments of the other side are pulled down, and our own proofs are thereby built up. But you still maintain that our glory comes from your god, with whom it also lay in secret. Then why does your god employ the self-same Scripture 5452 which the apostle also relies on? What has your god to do at all with the sayings of the prophets? “Who hath discovered the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor?” 5453 So says Isaiah. What has he also to do with illustrations from our God? For when (the apostle) calls himself “a wise master-builder,” 5454 we find that the Creator by Isaiah designates the teacher who sketches 5455 out the divine discipline by the same title, “I will take away from Judah the cunning artifip. 442 cer,” 5456 etc. [Tertullian Against Marcion 5.6] 5 6 § 1 (p.678, l.1); 5 6 § 1 (p.678, l.5) BP1 5 6 § 2 (p.678, l.16) BP1 5 6 § 3 (p.679, l.23) BP1]
Epiphanius Panarion 31 26 § 6 (p.425, l.24 - *<) BP4 ; 42 11 § 8 (p.121, l.8 - *<) BP4; 42 12 § 3 (p.160, l.7 - *<) BP;4 42 12 § 3 (p.160, l.9 - <) BP4; 42 12 § 3 (p.161, l.1 - <) BP4]
1 Cor 2.7 Clement Stromata 1 55 § 1 (p.35, l.16) BP1 5 65 § 5 (p.370, l.5) BP1 5 80 § 4 (p.379, l.11) BP1
1 cor 2.8 - For if they had been branches of the Father, they would not have been "enemies of the cross of Christ,"(12) but rather of those who "killed the Lord of glory."(13) But now, by denying the cross, and being ashamed of the passion, they cover the transgression of the Jews, those fighters against God, those murderers of the Lord; for it were too little to style them merely murderers of the prophets. But Christ invites you to [share in] His immortality, by His passion and resurrection, inasmuch as ye are His members. [Ignatius Trallians 11]
1 cor 2.8 - For if the Lord were a mere man, possessed of a soul and body only, why dost thou mutilate and explain away His being born with the common nature of humanity? Why dost thou call the passion a mere appearance, as if it were any strange thing happening to a [mere] man? And why dost thou reckon the death of a mortal to be simply an imaginary death? But if, [on the other hand, ] He is both God and man, then why dost thou call it unlawful to style Him "the Lord of glory," [Ignatius Philadelphians 5]
1 cor 2.8 - Now, this expression, “If thou be the Son,” is an indication of ignorance. For if thou hadst possessed real knowledge, thou wouldst have understood that the Creator can with equal ease both create what does not exist, and change that which already has a being. And thou temptedst by means of hunger1338 1338 Or, “the belly.” Him who nourisheth all that require food. And thou temptedst the very “Lord of glory,”13391339 1 Cor. ii. 8. forgetting in thy malevolence that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” [Ignatius Philadelphians 9]
1 Cor 2.8 - Ascension of Isaiah 9 § 14 (p.178, l.3) BP1 10 § 11 (p.195, l.4) BP1
1 Cor 2.8 - Oratio Pauli (p.249, l.24 - >) BP2
1 Cor 2.8 - Excerpta e Theodoto 5 § 4 (p.62, l.11) BP1
1 Cor 2.8 - Clement Stromata 5 25 § 2 (p.341, l.14) BP1
1 Cor 2.8 - Epiphanius Panarion 77 32 § 1 (p.444, l.14 - *<) BP4 77 32 § 2 (p.444, l.18) BP4
1 cor 2,9 - For [the Scripture] saith, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which He hath prepared for them that wait for Him." [1 clement 34]
1 cor 2,9 - For they kept before their view escape from that fire which is eternal and never shall be quenched, and looked forward with the eyes of their heart to those good things which are laid up for such as endure; things "which ear hath not heard, nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man," [Martyrdom of Polycarp]
1 cor 2.9 - The apostle, too, hasconfessed that the creation shall be free from the bondage of corruption, [so as to pass] into the liberty of the sons of God. Romans 8:21 And in all these things, and by them all, the sameGod the Father is manifested, who fashioned man, and gave promise of the inheritance of the earth to the fathers, who brought it (the creature) forth [from bondage] at the resurrection of the just, and fulfils the promises for the kingdom of His Son; subsequently bestowing in a paternal manner those things which neither the eye has seen, nor the ear has heard, nor has [thought concerning them] arisen within the heart of man, 1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4 For there is the one Son, who accomplished His Father's will; and one human race also in which themysteries of God are wrought, which the angels desire to look into; 1 Peter 1:12 and they are not able to search out the wisdom of God, by means of which His handiwork, confirmed and incorporated with His Son, is brought to perfection; that His offspring, the First-begotten Word, should descend to the creature (facturam), that is, to what had been moulded (plasma), and that it should be contained by Him; and, on the other hand, the creature should contain the Word, and ascend to Him, passing beyond the angels, and be made after the image and likeness of God. [Irenaeus 5.36.3]
1 cor 2.9 - seek immortality, He will give life everlasting, joy, peace, rest, and abundance of good things, which neither hath eye seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. [Theophilus Autocylus 1]
1 Cor 2.9 - Epistula ad Diognetum 12 § 1 (p.149, l.8) BP1
1 Cor 2.9 Clement of Alexandria, Eclogae ex scripturis propheticis 65 (p.155, l.12) BP1
1 Cor 2.9 - Clement of Alexandria, Eclogae ex scripturis propheticis 65 (p.155, l.12) BP1
1 Cor 2.9 - Clement of Alexandria, Excerpta e Theodoto 10 § 5 (p.78, l.18) BP1; 86 § 3 (p.210, l.12 - *) BP1
1 Cor 2.9 - Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus 1 37 § 1 (p.112, l.7) BP1; 2 129 § 4 (p.234, l.10) BP1; 3 86 § 2 (p.283, l.25) BP1
1 Cor 2.9 - Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus 94 § 4 (p.162, l.20) BP1; 118 § 4 (p.188, l.12) BP1
1 Cor 2,9 - Clement of Alexandria Quis dives salvetur 23 § 3 (p.175, l.8) BP1
1 Cor 2,9 - Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2 15 § 3 (p.120, l.16) BP1 4 114 § 1 (p.298, l.19) BP1 4 135 § 3 (p.308, l.13) BP1 5 25 § 4 (p.341, l.22) BP1 5 40 § 1 (p.353, l.22) BP1 6 68 § 1 (p.466, l.1) BP1 -
1 Cor 2.9 - Let us not then be enslaved or become swinish; but, as true children of the light, let us raise our eyes and look on the light, lest the Lord discover us to be spurious, as the sun does the eagles. Let us therefore repent, and pass from ignorance to knowledge, from foolishness to wisdom, from licentiousness to self-restraint, from unrighteousness to righteousness, fromgodlessness to God. It is an enterprise of noble daring to take our way to God; and the enjoyment of many other good things is within the reach of the lovers of righteousness, who pursueeternal life, specially those things to which God Himself alludes, speaking by Isaiah: There is an inheritance for those who serve the Lord . Isaiah 54:17 Noble and desirable is this inheritance: not gold, not silver, not raiment, which the moth assails, and things of earth which are assailed by the robber, whose eye is dazzled by worldly wealth; but it is that treasure of salvation to which we must hasten, by becoming lovers of the Word. Thence praise-worthy works descend to us, and fly with us on the wing of truth. This is the inheritance with which theeternal covenant of God invests us, conveying the everlasting gift of grace; and thus our loving Father— the true Father— ceases not to exhort, admonish, train, love us. For He ceases not to save, and advises the best course: Become righteous, says the Lord. You that thirst, come to the water; and you that have no money, come, and buy and drink without money.Isaiah 55:1 He invites to the laver, to salvation, to illumination, all but crying out and saying, The land I give you, and the sea, my child, and heaven too; and all the living creatures in them I freely bestow upon you. Only, O child, thirst for your Father; God shall be revealed to you without price; the truth is not made merchandise of. He gives you all creatures that fly and swim, and those on the land. These the Father has created for your thankful enjoyment. What the bastard, who is a son of perdition, foredoomed to be the slave of mammon, has to buy for money, He assigns to you as your own, even to His own son who loves the Father; for whose sake He still works, and to whom alone He promises, saying, The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for it is not destined to corruption. For the whole land is mine; and it is yours too, if you receive God. Wherefore the Scripture, as might have been expected, proclaims goodnews to those who have believed. The saints of the Lord shall inherit the glory of God and His power. What glory, tell me, O blessed One, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man; 1 Corinthians 2:9 and they shall be glad in the kingdom of their Lord for ever and ever! Amen. You have, O men, the divine promise of grace; you have heard, on the other hand, the threatening of punishment: by these the Lord saves, teaching men by fear and grace. Why do we delay? Why do we not shun the punishment? Why do we not receive the free gift? [Clement of Alexandria Exhortation 10]
1 Cor 2.9 - Let us then avoid custom as we would a dangerous headland, or the threatening Charybdis, or the mythic sirens. It chokes man, turns him away from truth, leads him away from life: custom is a snare, a gulf, a pit, a mischievous winnowing fan.“Urge the ship beyond that smoke and billow.” Let us shun, fellow-mariners, let us shun this billow; it vomits forth fire: it is a wicked island, heaped with bones and corpses, and in it sings a fair courtesan, Pleasure, delighting with music for the common ear.“Hie thee hither, far-famed Ulysses, great glory of the Achæans;Moor the ship, that thou mayest hears diviner voice.”[2]She praises thee, O mariner, and calls the eillustrious; and the courtesan tries to win to herself the glory of the Greeks. Leave her to prey on the dead; a heavenly spirit comes to thy help: pass by Pleasure, she beguiles.“Let not a woman with flowing train cheat you of your senses,With her flattering prattle seeking your hurt.” Sail past the song; it works death. Exert your will only, and you have overcome ruin; bound to the wood of the cross, thou shalt be freed from destruction: the word of God will be thy pilot, and the Holy Spirit will bring thee to anchor in the haven of heaven. Then shalt thou see my God, and be initiated into the sacred mysteries, and come to the fruition of those things which are laid up in heaven reserved for me, which “ear hath not heard, nor have they entered into the heart of any.”[3]“And in sooth methinks I see two suns, And a double Thebes,”[4]said one frenzy-stricken in the worship of idols, intoxicated with mere ignorance. I would pity him in his frantic intoxication, and thus frantic I would invite him to the sobriety of salvation; for the Lord welcomes a sinner’s repentance, and not his death. [Clement of Alexandria Exhortation 12]
1 Cor 2,9 - And let not their ears be pierced, contrary to nature, in order to attach to them ear-rings and ear-drops. For it is not right to force nature against her wishes. Nor could there be any better ornament for the ears than true instruction, which finds its way naturally into the passages of hearing. And eyes anointed by the Word, and ears pierced for perception, make a man a hearer and contemplator of divine and sacred things, the Word truly exhibiting the true beauty “which eye hath not seen nor ear heard before.”15731573 1 Cor. ii. 9. [Clement of Alexandria Instructor 2,13]
1 Cor 2,9 - “If ye shall hear me, ye shall eat the good of the land,” the Instructor again says, calling by the appellation “the good of the land,” beauty, wealth, health, strength, sustenance. For those things which are really good, are what “neither ear hath heard, not hath ever entered into the heart”1743 respecting Him who is really King, and the realities truly good which await us. For He is the giver and the guard of good things. And with respect to their participation, He applies the same names of things in this world, the Word thus training in God the feebleness of men from sensible things to understanding. [Clement of Alexandria, Instructor 2,12]
1 cor 2.9 - Wherefore also the Word says, "Call no man master on earth."[4] For knowledge is a state of mind that results from demonstration; but faith is a grace which from what is indemonstrable conducts to what is universal and simple, what is neither with matter, nor matter, nor under matter. But those who believe not, as to be expected, drag all down from heaven, and the region of the invisible, to earth, "absolutely grasping with their hands rocks and oaks," according to Plato. For, clinging to all such things, they asseverate that that alone exists which can be touched and handled, defining body and essence to be identical: disputing against themselves, they very piously defend the existence of certain intellectual and bodiless forms descending somewhere from above from the invisible world, vehemently maintaining that there is a true essence. "Lo, I make new things," saith the Word, "which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man."[5] With a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, whatever can be seen and heard is to be apprehended, by the faith and understanding of the disciples of the Lord, who speak, hear, and act spiritually. For there is genuine coin, and other that is spurious; which no less deceives unprofessionals, that it does not the money-changers; who know through having learned how to separate and distinguish what has a false stamp from what is genuine. So the money-changer only says to the unprofessional man that the coin is counterfeit. But the reason why, only the banker's apprentice, and he that is trained to this department, learns. [Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.4]
1 cor 2.9,10 - The philosophers did not exert themselves in contemning the appearance of the Lord. It therefore follows that it is the opinion of the wise among the Jews which the apostle inveighs against. Wherefore he adds, But we preach, as it is written, what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for them that love Him. For God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 For he recognises the spiritual man and theGnostic as the disciple of the Holy Spirit dispensed by God, which is the mind of Christ. But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to him.1 Corinthians 2:14 Now the apostle, in contradistinction to gnostic perfection, calls the common faith the foundation, and sometimes milk, writing on this wise: Brethren, I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, to babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, not with meat: for you were not able. Neither yet are you now able. For you are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envy and strife, are you not carnal, and walk as men? 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Which things are the choice of those men who are sinners. But those who abstain from these things give their thoughts to divine things, and partake of gnostic food. According to the grace, it is said, given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. And another builds on it gold and silver, precious stones. 1 Corinthians 3:10-13 Such is the gnostic superstructure on the foundation of faith in Christ Jesus. But the stubble, and the wood, and the hay, are the additions of heresies. But the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. In allusion to the gnostic edifice also in the Epistle to the Romans, he says, For I desire to see you, that I may impart unto you a spiritual gift, that you may be established. Romans 1:11 It was impossible that gifts of this sort could be written without disguise. [Clement of Alexandria Stromata]
1 cor 2,9 - But on the other side hear the Saviour: I regenerated you, who were ill born by the world to death. I emancipated, healed, ransomed you. I will show you the face of the good FatherGod. Call no man your father on earth. Let the dead bury the dead; but follow Me. For I will bring you to a rest of ineffable and unutterable blessings, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of men; into which angels desire to look, and see what good things God has prepared for the saints and the children who love Him.1 Corinthians 2:9; 1 Peter 1:12 I am He who feeds you, giving Myself as bread, of which he who has tasted experiences death no more, and supplying day by day the drink of immortality. I am teacher of supercelestial lessons. For you I contended with Death, and paid your death, which you owed for your former sins and your unbelief towards God. [QDS 23]
1 cor 2,9 - So again in Isaiah, “Ye shall eat the good of the land,” 7466 the expression means the blessings which await the flesh when in the kingdom of God it shall be renewed, and made like the angels, and waiting to obtain the things “which neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man.” 7467 Otherwise, how vain that God should invite men to obedience by the fruits of the field and the elements of this life, when He dispenses these to even irreligious men and blasphemers; on a general condition once for all made to man, “sending rain on the good and on the evil, and making His sun to shine on the just and on the unjust!” 7468 Happy, no doubt, is faith, if it is to obtain gifts which the enemies of God and Christ not only use, but even abuse, “worshipping the creature itself in opposition to the Creator!” 7469 You will reckon, (I suppose) onions and truffles among earth’s bounties, since the Lord declares that “man shall not live on bread alone!” 7470 In this way the Jews lose heavenly blessings, by confining their hopes to earthly ones, being ignorant of the promise of heavenly bread, and of the oil of God’s unction, and the wine of the Spirit, and of that water of life which has its vigour from the vine of Christ. On exactly the same principle, they consider the special soil of Judæa to be that very holy land, which ought rather to be interpreted of the Lord’s flesh, which, in all those who put on Christ, is thenceforward the holy land; holy indeed by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, truly flowing with milk and honey by the sweetness of His assurance, truly Judæan by reason of the friendship of God. [Tertullan on the resurrection fo the flesh 26]
1 cor 2,9 - From which comparison it may be conceived how great are the comeliness, and splendour, and brilliancy of a spiritual body; and how true it is, that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, what God hath prepared for them that love Him." [Origen de principiis 3]
1 cor 2,9 - But swear, says Justinus, if you wish to know “what eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and the things which have not entered into the heart;”560 that is, if you wish to know Him who is good above all, Him who is more exalted, (swear) that you will preserve the secrets (of the Justinian) discipline, as intended to be kept silent. For also our Father, on beholding the Good One, and on being initiated with Him, preserved the mysteries respecting which silence is enjoined, and sware, as it has been written, “The Lord sware, and will not repent.”561 Having, then, in this way set the seal to these tenets, he seeks to inveigle (his followers) with more legends, (which are detailed) through a greater number of books; and so he conducts (his readers) to the Good One, consummating the initiated (by admitting them into) the unspeakable Mysteries.562 In order, however, that we may not wade through more of their volumes, we shall illustrate the ineffable Mysteries (of Justinus) from one book of his, inasmuch as, according to his supposition, it is (a work) of high repute. Now this volume is inscribed Baruch; and one fabulous account out of many which is explained by (Justinus) in this (volume), we shall point out, inasmuch as it is to be found in Herodotus. But after imparting a different shape to this (account), he explains it to his pupils as if it were something novel, being under the impression that the entire arrangement of his doctrine (springs) out of it. [Hippolytus Refut. 5.19]
1 cor 2,9 - When Elohim had prepared and created the world as a result from joint pleasure, He wished to ascend up to the elevated parts of heaven, and to see that not anything of what pertained to the creation laboured under deficiency. And He took His Own angels with Him, for His nature was to mount aloft, leaving Edem below: for inasmuch as she was earth, she was not disposed to follow upward her spouse. Elohim, then, coming to the highest part of heaven above, and beholding a light superior to that which He Himself had created, exclaimed, "Open me the gates, that entering in I may acknowledge the Lord; for I considered Myself to be Lord." A voice was returned to Him from the light, saying, "This is the gate of the Lord: through this the righteous enter in." And immediately the gate was opened, and the Father, without the angels, entered, (advancing) towards the Good One, and beheld "what eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and what hath not entered into the heart of man to (conceive)." Then the Good One says to him, "Sit thou on my right hand." And the Father says to the Good One, "Permit me, Lord, to overturn the world which I have made, for my spirit is bound to men. And I wish to receive it back (from them." [Hippolytus Refut 5.21]
1 cor 2,9 - Hence also, in the first book inscribed "Baruch," has been written the oath which they compel those to swear who are about to hear these mysteries, and be initiated with the Good One. And this oath, (Justinus) says, our Father Elohim sware when He was beside the Good One, and having sworn He did not repent (of the oath), respecting which, he says, it has been written, "The Lord sware, and will not repent." Now the oath is couched in these terms: "I swear by that Good One who is above all, to guard these mysteries, and to divulge them to no one, and not to relapse from the Good One to the creature." And when he has sworn this oath, he goes on to the Good One, and beholds "whatever things eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man;" and he drinks from life-giving water, which is to them, as they suppose, a bath, a fountain of life-giving, bubbling water. For there has been a separation made between water and water; and there is water, that below the firmament of the wicked creation, in which earthly and animal men are washed; and there is life-giving water, (that) above the firmament, of the Good One, in which spiritual (and) living men are washed; and in this Elohim washed Himself. and having washed did not repent. And when, he says, the prophet affirms, "Take unto yourself a wife of whoredom, since the earth has abandoned itself to fornication, (departing) from (following) after the Lord;" that is, Edem (departs) from Elohim. (Now) in these words, he says, the prophet clearly declares the entire mystery, and is not hearkened unto by reason of the wicked machinations of Naas. According to that same manner, they deliver other prophetical passages in a similar spirit of interpretation throughout numerous books. The volume, however, inscribed "Baruch," is pre-eminently to them the one in which the reader will ascertain the entire explanation of their legendary system (to be contained). Beloved, though I have encountered many heresies, yet with no wicked (heresiarch) worse than this (Justinus) has it been my lot to meet. But, in truth, (the followers of Justinus) ought to imitate the example of his Hercules, and to cleanse, as the saying is, the cattle-shed of Augias, or rather I should say, a ditch, into which, as soon as the adherents of this (heresiarch) have fallen, they can never be cleansed; nay, they will not be able even to raise their heads. [Hippolytus 5.22]
1 cor 2,9 - Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be righteous; but if we do not serve Him, because we believe not the promise of God, we shall be miserable. For the prophetic word also declares, “Wretched are those of a double mind, and who doubt in their heart, who say, All these things4386 have we heard even in the times of our fathers; but though we have waited day by day, we have seen none of them [accomplished]. Ye fools! compare yourselves to a tree; take, for instance, the vine. First of all it sheds its leaves, then the bud appears; after that the sour grape, and then the fully-ripened fruit. So, likewise, my people have borne disturbances and afflictions, but afterwards shall they receive their good things.”4387 Wherefore, my brethren, let us not be of a double mind, but let us hope and endure, that we also may obtain the reward. For He is faithful who has promised that He will bestow on every one a reward according to his works. If, therefore, we shall do righteousness in the sight of God, we shall enter into His kingdom, and shall receive the promises, which “ear hath not heard, nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man.” Let us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since we know not the day of the appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, being asked by one when His kingdom would come, replied, "When two shall be one, and that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female."78 Now, two are one when we speak the truth one to another, and there is unfeignedly one soul in two bodies. And "that which is without as that which is within" meaneth this: He calls the soul "that which is within," and the body "that which is without." As, then, thy body is visible to sight, so also let thy soul be manifest by good works. And "the male with the female, neither male nor female," this79 ... [The newly recovered portion follows: ]80 - ... meaneth,81 that a brother seeing a sister should think nothing82 about her as of a female, nor she83 think anything about him as of a male. If ye do these things, saith He,84 the kingdom of my Father shall come. Therefore, brethren,86 let us now at length repent; let us be sober unto what is good; for we are full of much folly and wickedness. Let us blot out from us our former sins, and repenting from the soul let us be saved; and let us not become87 men-pleasers, nor let us desire to please only one another,88but also the men that are without, by our righteousness, that the Name89 be not blasphemed on account of us.90 For the Lord also saith "Continually91 My name is blasphemed among all the Gentiles,"92 and again, "Woe93 to him on account of whom My name is blasphemed." Wherein is it blasphemed? In your not doing what I desire.94 For the Gentiles, when they hear from our mouth the oracles of God,95 marvel at them as beautiful and great; afterwards, when they have learned that our works are not worthy of the words we speak, they then turn themselves to blasphemy, saying that it is some fable and delusion. For when they hear from us that God saith,96 "There is no thank unto you, if ye love them that love you; but there is thank unto you, if ye love your enemies and them that hate you; "97 when they hear these things, they marvel at the excellency of the goodness; but when they see that we not only do not love them that hate us, but not even them that love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the Name is blasphemed. Wherefore,98 brethren, if we do the will of God our Father, we shall be of the first Church, that is, spiritual, that hath been created before the sun and moon;99 but if we do not the will of the Lord, we shall be of the scripture that saith, "My house was made a den of robbers."100 So then let us choose to be of the Church of life,101 that we may be saved. I do not, however, suppose ye are ignorant that the living Church is the body of Christ;102 for the Scripture saith, "God made man, male and female."103 The male is Christ, the female is the Church. And the Books104 and the Apostles plainly declare105 that the Church is not of the present, but from the beginning.106 For she was spiritual, as our Jesus also was, but was manifested In the last days that He107 might save us. Now the Church, being spiritual, was manifested in the flesh of Christ, thus signifying to us that, if any of us keep108 her in the flesh and do not corrupt her, he shall receive her again109 in the Holy Spirit: for this flesh is the copy of the spirit. No one then who corrupts the copy, shall partake of the original.110 This then is what He meaneth, "Keep the flesh,111 that ye may partake of the spirit." But if we say that the flesh is the Church and the spirit Christ,112 then he that hath shamefully used the flesh hath shamefully used the Church. Such a one then shall not partake of the spirit, which is Christ. Such life and incorruption this flesh113 can partake of, when the Holy Spirit is joined to it. No one can utter or speak "what the Lord hath prepared" for His elect.11 Now I do not think I have given you any light counsel concerning self-control,115 which if any one do he will not repent of it, but will save both himself and me who counselled him[2 Clement 11]
1 cor 2.9 - But we speak about the upper world, about God and angels, about ambrosial food, about garments that last and become not old, about those things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath there come into the heart of sinful men what God has prepared for those that love Him [Acts of his Holy Apostle Thomas]
1 Cor 2.10 - Odae Salomonis 16 § 8 (p.283, l.15) BP1
1 Cor 2.10 - Gospel of Truth (p.19, l.11) BP1
1 Cor 2:10 - Clement of Alexandria Stromata 2 7 § 3 (p.116, l.25) BP1 4 110 § 3 (p.296, l.28 - *) BP1 5 25 § 4 (p.341, l.22) BP1
1 cor 2.10 - But we shall not be wrong if we affirm the same thing also concerning the substance of matter, that God produced it. For we have learned from the Scriptures that God holds the supremacy over all things. But whence or in what way He produced it, neither has Scripture anywhere declared; nor does it become us to conjecture, so as, in accordance with our own opinions, to form endless conjectures concerning God, but we should leave such knowledge in the hands of God Himself. In like manner, also, we must leave the cause why, while all things were made by God, certain of His creatures sinned and revolted from a state of submission to God, and others, indeed the great majority, persevered, and do still persevere, in [willing] subjection to Him who formed them, and also of what nature those are who sinned, and of what nature those who persevere, -- [we must, I say, leave the cause of these things] to God and His Word, to whom alone He said, "Sit at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."(3) But as for us, we still dwell upon the earth, and have not yet sat down upon His throne. For although the Spirit of the Saviour that is in Him "searcheth all things, even the deep things of God,"(4) yet as to us "there are diversities of gifts, differences of administrations, and diversities of operations;"(5) and we, while upon the earth, as Paul also declares, "know in part, and prophesy in part."(6) Since, therefore, we know but in part, we ought to leave all sorts of [difficult] questions in the hands of Him who in some measure, [and that only,] bestows grace on us. That eternal fire, [for instance,] is prepared for sinners, both the Lord has plainly declared, and the rest of the Scriptures demonstrate. And that God fore-knew that this would happen, the Scriptures do in like manner demonstrate, since He prepared eternal fire from the beginning for those who were [afterwards] to transgress [His commandments]; but the cause itself of the nature of such transgressors neither has any Scripture informed us, nor has an apostle told us, nor has the Lord taught us. It becomes us, therefore, to leave the knowledge of this matter to God, even as the Lord does of the day and hour [of judgment], and not to rush to such an extreme of danger, that we will leave nothing in the hands of God, even though we have received only a measure of grace [from Him in this world]. [Irenaeus AH 2,28,7]
1 Cor 2:10 - “For the wise man,” who has been persuaded to obey the commandments, “having heard these things, will become wiser” by knowledge; and “the intelligent man will acquire rule, and will understand a parable and a dark word, the sayings and enigmas of the wise.”2167 For it is not spurious words which those inspired by God and those who are gained over by them adduce, nor is it snares in which the most of the sophists entangle the young, spending their time on nought true. But those who possess the Holy Spirit “search the deep things of God,”2168—that is, grasp the secret that is in the prophecies. “To impart of holy things to the dogs” is forbidden, so long as they remain beasts. For never ought those who are envious and perturbed, and still infidel in conduct, shameless in barking at investigation, to dip in the divine and clear stream of the living water. “Let not the waters of thy fountain overflow, and let thy waters spread over thine own streets.”2169 For it is not many who understand such things as they fall in with; or know them even after learning them, though they think they do, according to the worthy Heraclitus. Does not even he seem to thee to censure those who believe not? “Now my just one shall live by faith," [Clement Stromata 2.2]
1 Cor 2.10 - Those even who claim God as their teacher, with difficulty attain to a conception of God, grace aiding them to the attainment of their modicum of knowledge; accustomed as they are to contemplate the will [of God] by the will, and the Holy Spirit by the Holy Spirit. "For the Spirit searches the deep things of God. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit."[8] The only wisdom, therefore, is the God-taught wisdom we possess; on which depend all the sources of wisdom, which make conjectures at the truth. [Clement Stromata 6.18]
1 cor 2.10, 14 - But you do not even deny God intelligently, you treat of Him ignorantly; nay, you accuse Him with a semblance of intelligence, whom if you did but know Him, you would never accuse, nay, never treat of. You give Him His name indeed, but you deny the essential truth of that name, that is, the greatness which is called God; not acknowledging it to be such as, were it possible for it to have beenknown to man in every respect, would not be greatness. Isaiah even so early, with the clearness of an apostle, foreseeing the thoughts of heretical hearts, asked, Who has known themind of the Lord? For who has been His counsellor? With whom took He counsel?...or who taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding? With whom the apostleagreeing exclaims, Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! Romans 11:33 His judgments unsearchable, as being those of God the Judge; and His ways past finding out, as comprising an understanding and knowledge which no man has ever shown to Him, except it may be those critics of the Divine Being, who say, God ought not to have been this, and He ought rather to have been that; as if any one knew what is in God, except the Spirit of God.1 Corinthians 2:11 Moreover, having the spirit of the world, and in the wisdom of God by wisdom knowing not God, 1 Corinthians 1:21 they seem to themselves to be wiser than God; because, as the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, so also the wisdom of God is folly in the world's esteem. We, however, know that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:25 Accordingly, God is then especially great, when He is small to man; then especially good, when not good in man'sjudgment; then especially unique, when He seems to man to be two or more. Now, if from the very first the natural man, not receiving the things of the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 2:14has deemed God's law to be foolishness, and has therefore neglected to observe it; and as a further consequence, by his not having faith, even that which he seems to have has been taken from him — such as the grace of paradise and the friendship of God, by means of which he might have known all things of God, if he had continued in his obedience— what wonder is it, if he, reduced to his material nature, and banished to the toil of tilling the ground, has in his very labour, downcast and earth-gravitating as it was, handed on that earth-derived spiritof the world to his entire race, wholly natural and heretical as it is, and not receiving the things which belong to God? Or who will hesitate to declare the great sin of Adam to have beenheresy, when he committed it by the choice of his own will rather than of God's? Except that Adam never said to his fig-tree, Why have you made me thus? He confessed that he was led astray; and he did not conceal the seducer. He was a very rude heretic. He was disobedient; but yet he did not blaspheme his Creator, nor blame that Author of his being, Whom from the beginning of his life he had found to be so good and excellent, and Whom he had perhaps made his own judge from the very first. [Tertullian Against Marcion 2.2]
1 Cor 2.10 - Epiphanius Panarion 48 7 § 7 (p.229, l.6) BP4
1 cor 2.11 - If any material was necessary to God in the creation of the world, as Hermogenes supposed, God had a far nobler and more suitable one in His own wisdom6291—one which was not to be gauged by the writings of6292philosophers, but to be learnt from the words or prophets. This alone, indeed, knew the mind of the Lord. For “who knoweth the things of God, and the things in God, but the Spirit, which is in Him?”6293 Now His wisdom is that Spirit. [Tertullian Against Hermogenes 18]
1 Cor 2.12 Odes of Solomon 6 § 6 (p.232, l.11) BP1
1 Cor 2.12 - Oratio Pauli (p.249, l.13) BP2
1 Cor 2.12 - For he recognises the spiritual man and the Gnostic as the disciple of the Holy Spirit dispensed by God, which is the mind of Christ. Clement Stromata 5 25 § 5 (p.341, l.26) BP1
1 Cor 2.12 - Clement Recognitions 3 11 § 5 (p.106, l.9) BP2
1 Cor 2.13 - There is then in philosophy, though stolen as the fire by Prometheus, a slender spark, capable of being fanned into flame, a trace of wisdom and an impulse from God. Well, be it so that "the thieves and robbers" are the philosophers among the Greeks, who from the Hebrew prophets before the coming of the Lord received fragments of the truth, not with full knowledge, and claimed these as their own teachings, disguising some points, treating others sophistically by their ingenuity, and discovering other things, for perchance they had "the spirit of perception."(195) Aristotle, too, assented to Scripture, and declared sophistry to have stolen wisdom, as we intimated before. And the apostle says, "Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."(196) For of the prophets it is said, "We have all received of His fulness,"(197) that is, of Christ's. So that the prophets are not thieves. "And my doctrine is not Mine," saith the Lord, "but the Father's which sent me." And of those who steal He says: "But he that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory."(198) Such are the Greeks, "lovers of their own selves, and boasters."(199) Scripture, when it speaks of these as wise, does not brand those who are really wise, but those who are wise in appearance. He Illustrates the Apostle's Saying, "I Will Destroy the Wisdom of the Wise." And of such it is said, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise: I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." The apostle accordingly adds, "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? "setting in contradistinction to the scribes, the disputers(200) of this world, the philosophers of the Gentiles. "Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? " [Clement Strom 1.17] 1 87 § 4 (p.56, l.8) BP1
1 Cor 2. 13 - But since they will believe neither in what is good justly nor in knowledge unto salvation, we ourselves reckoning what they claim as belonging to us, because all things are God’s; and especially since what is good proceeded from us to the Greeks, let us handle those things as they are capable of hearing. For intelligence or rectitude this great crowd estimates not by truth, but by what they are delighted with. And they will be pleased not more with other things than with what is like themselves. For he who is still blind and dumb, not having understanding, or the undazzled and keen vision of the contemplative soul, which the Saviour confers, like the uninitiated at the mysteries, or the unmusical at dances, not being yet pure and worthy of the pure truth, but still discordant and disordered and material, must stand outside of the divine choir. “For we compare spiritual things with spiritual.”2995 Wherefore, in accordance with the method of concealment, the truly sacred Word, truly divine and most necessary for us, deposited in the shrine of truth, was by the Egyptians indicated by what were called among them adyta, and by the Hebrews by the veil. Only the consecrated—that is, those devoted to God, circumcised in the desire of the passions for the sake of love to that which is alone divine—were allowed access to them. For Plato also thought it not lawful for “the impure to touch the pure.” [Clement Stromata 5.4] 5 19 § 3 (p.338, l.26) BP1
1 Cor 2.13, 14 - These are, he says, what are by all called the secret mysteries, “which (also we speak), not in words taught of human wisdom, but in those taught of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.”[28] And these are, he says, the ineffable mysteries of the Spirit, which we alone are acquainted with. Concerning these, he says, the Saviour has declared, “No one can come unto me, except my heavenly Father draw some one unto me.”[29] For it is very difficult, he says, to accept and receive this great and ineffable mystery. And again, it is said, the Saviour has declared, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”[30] And it is necessary that they who perform this (will), not hear it merely, should enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, he says, the Saviour has declared, “The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you.”[31] For “the publicans,” he says, are those who receive the revenues[32] of all things;[33] but we, he says, are the publicans, “unto whom the ends of the ages have come.” [Hippolytus Refutation. 5.4]
1 cor 2.13, 14 - or, being orally instructed by Christ, who was seated near, he began to acquire wisdom, (inasmuch as he thereby) learns who is the Non-Existent One, what the Sonship (is), what the Holy Spirit (is), what the apparatus of the universe (is), and what is likely to be the consummation of things. This is the wisdom spoken in a mystery, concerning which, says (Basilides), Scripture uses the following expressions: “Not in words taught of human wisdom, but in (those) taught of the Spirit.”839 The Archon, then, being orally instructed, and taught, and being (thereby) filled with fear, proceeded to make confession concerning the sin which He had committed in magnifying Himself. This, he says, is what is declared: “I have recognised my sin, and I know my transgression, (and) about this I shall confess for ever.” [Hippolytus Refutation 7.14]
1 Cor 2.14 - Clement of Alexandria 1 56 § 1 (p.35, l.28) BP1 5 25 § 5 (p.341, l.28) BP1 6 166 § 3 (p.517, l.26) BP1
1 Cor 2.14, 15 - For, according to their teaching, the woman represented Sophia; the three measures of meal, the three kinds of men— spiritual, animal, and material; while the leaven denoted the Saviour Himself. Paul, too, very plainly set forth the material, animal, and spiritual, saying in one place, As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; 1 Corinthians 15:48 and in another place, But the animal man receives not the things of the Spirit; 1 Corinthians 2:14 and again: He that is spiritual judges all things. 1 Corinthians 2:15 And this, The animal man receives not the things of the Spirit, they affirm to have been spoken concerning the Demiurge, who, as being animal, knew neither his mother who was spiritual, nor her seed, nor the Æons in the Pleroma. And that the Saviour received first-fruits of those whom He was to save, Pauldeclared when he said, And if the first-fruits be holy, the lump is also holy, Romans 11:16 teaching that the expression first-fruits denoted that which is spiritual, but that the lumpmeant us, that is, the animal Church, the lump of which they say He assumed, and blended it with Himself, inasmuch as He is the leaven. [Irenaeus AH 1.8.3]
1 Cor 2.14 - A spiritual disciple of this sort truly receiving the Spirit of God, who was from the beginning, in all the dispensations of God, present with mankind, and announced things future, revealedthings present, and narrated things past— [such a man] does indeed judge all men, but is himself judged by no man. For he judges the Gentiles, who serve the creature more than theCreator, Romans 1:21 and with a reprobate mind spend all their labour on vanity. And he also judges the Jews, who do not accept of the word of liberty, nor are willing to go forth free, although they have a Deliverer present [with them]; but they pretend, at a time unsuitable [for such conduct], to serve, [with observances] beyond [those required by] the law, God who stands in need of nothing, and do not recognise the advent of Christ, which He accomplished for the salvation of men, nor are willing to understand that all the prophets announced His twoadvents: the one, indeed, in which He became a man subject to stripes, and knowing what it is to bear infirmity, Isaiah 53:3 and sat upon the foal of an ass, Zechariah 9:9 and was a stone rejected by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the slaughter, Isaiah 53:7 and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek; Exodus 17:11 while He gathered from the ends of the earth into His Father's fold the children who were scattered abroad, Isaiah 11:12 and remembered His own dead ones who had formerly fallen asleep, and came down to them that He might deliver them: but the second in which He will come on the clouds, Daniel 7:13 bringing on the day which burns as a furnace, Malachi 4:1 and smiting the earth with the word of His mouth, Isaiah 11:4 and slaying the impious with the breath of His lips, and having a fan in His hands, and cleansing His floor, and gathering the wheat indeed into His barn, but burning the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17 [Irenaeus AH 4.33.1]
1 Cor 2.14 - Now the law has figuratively predicted all these, delineating man by the [various] animals: Leviticus 11:2; Deuteronomy 14:3, etc. whatsoever of these, says [the Scripture], have a double hoof and ruminate, it proclaims as clean; but whatsoever of them do not possess one or other of these [properties], it sets aside by themselves as unclean. Who then are the clean? Those who make their way by faith steadily towards the Father and the Son; for this is denoted by the steadiness of those which divide the hoof; and they meditate day and night upon the words of God, that they may be adorned with good works: for this is the meaning of the ruminants. The unclean, however, are those which do neither divide the hoof nor ruminate; that is, those persons who have neither faith in God, nor do meditate on His words: and such is the abomination of the Gentiles. But as to those animals which do indeed chew the cud, but have not the double hoof, and are themselves unclean, we have in them a figurative description of the Jews, who certainly have the words of God in their mouth, but who do not fix their rooted steadfastness in the Father and in the Son; wherefore they are an unstable generation. For those animals which have the hoof all in one piece easily slip; but those which have it divided are more sure-footed, their cleft hoofs succeeding each other as they advance, and the one hoof supporting the other. In like manner, too, those are unclean which have the double hoof but do not ruminate: this is plainly an indication of all heretics, and of those who do not meditate on the words of God, neither are adorned with works of righteousness; to whom also theLord says, Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say to you? Luke 6:46 For men of this stamp do indeed say that they believe in the Father and the Son, but they never meditate as they should upon the things of God, neither are they adorned with works of righteousness; but, as I have already observed, they have adopted the lives of swine and of dogs, giving themselves over to filthiness, to gluttony, and recklessness of all sorts. Justly, therefore, did the apostle call all such carnal and animal, — [all those, namely], who through their own unbelief and luxury do not receive the Divine Spirit, and in their various phases cast out from themselves the life-giving Word, and walk stupidly after their own lusts: theprophets, too, spoke of them as beasts of burden and wild beasts; custom likewise has viewed them in the light of cattle and irrational creatures; and the law has pronounced themunclean. [Irenaeus 5.8.4]
1 Cor 2.14 - True4858 knowledge, then, consists [Ir in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which “the natural man receiveth not,”4859 the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man “taste,”4860 he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men,4861 who go into matters of which they have no perception.4862 For the truth is unsophisticated (ἀσχημάτιστος); and “the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart,”4863 as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience “the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.”4864 For this is the affinity4865 of the apostolical teaching and the most holy “faith delivered unto us,”4866 which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not “giving heed to endless genealogies,”4867 but studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven. For truly the first thing is to deny one’s self and to follow Christ; and those who do this are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all their Teacher’s will, becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; those who seek which first shall not be forsaken. [Irenaeus Fragment 36]
1 Cor 2.14 - And only by those whom the Spirit of God dwells in and fortifies are the bodies of the demons easily seen, not at all by others,-I mean those who possess only soul; [Tatian Address to the Greeks]
1 Cor 2.14 - But since this tradition is not published alone for him who perceives the magnificence of the word; it is requisite, therefore, to hide in a mystery the wisdom spoken, which the Son of God taught. Now, therefore, Isaiah the prophet has his tongue purified by fire, so that he may be able to tell the vision. And we must purify not the tongue alone, but also the ears, if we attempt to be partakers of the truth. Such were the impediments in the way of my writing. And even now I fear, as it is said, “to cast the pearls before swine, lest they tread them under foot, and turn and rend us.” 1940 For it is difficult to exhibit the really pure and transparent words respecting the true light, to swinish and untrained hearers. For scarcely could anything which they could hear be more ludicrous than these to the multitude; nor any subjects p. 313 on the other hand more admirable or more inspiring to those of noble nature. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him.” 1941 But the wise do not utter with their mouth what they reason in council. “But what ye hear in the ear,” says the Lord, “proclaim upon the houses;” 1942 bidding them receive the secret traditions 1943 of the true knowledge, and expound them aloft and conspicuously; and as we have heard in the ear, so to deliver them to whom it is requisite; but not enjoining us to communicate to all without distinction, what is said to them in parables. But there is only a delineation in the memoranda, which have the truth sowed sparse 1944 and broadcast, that it may escape the notice of those who pick up seeds like jackdaws; but when they find a good husbandman, each one of them will germinate and produce corn. [Clement Stromata 1.12]
1 Cor 2.14 - The philosophers did not exert themselves in contemning the appearance of the Lord. It therefore follows that it is the opinion of the wise among the Jews which the apostle inveighs against it. Wherefore he adds, "But we preach, as it is written, what eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and hath not entered into the heart of man, what God hath prepared for them that love Him. For God hath revealed it to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God." For he recognises the spiritual man and the Gnostic as the disciple of the Holy Spirit dispensed by God, which is the mind of Christ. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to him." Now the apostle, in contradistinction to gnostic perfection, calls the common faith the foundation, and sometimes milk, writing on this wise:"Brethren, I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, to babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, not with meat: for ye were not able. Neither yet are ye now able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envy and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? " Which things are the choice of those men who are sinners. But those who abstain from these things give their thoughts to divine things, and partake of gnostic food. "According to the grace," it is said, "given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and something else is built thereon with gold and silver, precious stones." Such is the gnostic superstructure on the foundation of faith in Christ Jesus. But "the stubble, and the wood, and the hay," are the additions of heresies. [Clement Stromata 5.4]
1 Cor 2.14 - With whom the apostle agreeing exclaims, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”2712 “His judgments unsearchable,” as being those of God the Judge; and “His ways past finding out,” as comprising an understanding and knowledge which no man has ever shown to Him, except it may be those critics of the Divine Being, who say, God ought not to have been this,2713 and He ought rather to have been that; as if any one knew what is in God, except the Spirit of God.27142714 1 Cor. ii. 11. Moreover, having the spirit of the world, and “in the wisdom of God by wisdom knowing not God,”2715 they seem to themselves to be wiser2716 than God; because, as the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, so also the wisdom of God is folly in the world’s esteem. We, however, know that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”27172717 1 Cor. i. 25. Accordingly, God is then especially great, when He is small2718 to man; then especially good, when not good in man’s judgment; then especially unique, when He seems to man to be two or more. Now, if from the very first “the natural man, not receiving the things of the Spirit of God,”2719 has deemed God’s law to be foolishness, and has therefore neglected to observe it; and as a further consequence, by his not having faith, “even that which he seemeth to have hath been taken from him”2720—such as the grace of paradise and the friendship of God, by means of which he might have known all things of God, if he had continued in his obedience—what wonder is it, if he,2721 reduced to his material nature, and banished to the toil of tilling the ground, has in his very labour, downcast and earth-gravitating as it was, handed on that earth-derived spirit of the world to his entire race, wholly natural2722 and heretical as it is, and not receiving the things which belong to God? Or who will hesitate to declare the great sin of Adam to have been heresy, when he committed it by the choice2723 of his own will rather than of God’s? Except that Adam never said to his fig-tree, Why hast thou made me thus? He confessed that he was led astray; and he did not conceal the seducer. He was a very rude heretic. He was disobedient; but yet he did not blaspheme his Creator, nor blame that Author of his being, Whom from the beginning of his life he had found to be so good and excellent, and Whom he had perhaps2724 made his own judge from the very first. [Tertullian Against Marcion 2.2] 2 2 § 6 (p.476, l.19) BP1
1 Cor 2.14 - Tertullian Against Marcion 4 22 § 5 (p.601, l.4) BP1
1 Cor 2.14 - This, he says, is what has been written in Scripture: On this account I bend my knees to the God and Father andLord of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God would grant you to have Christ dwelling in the inner man, Ephesians 3:14-18 — that is, the natural (man), not the corporeal (one),— that you may be able to understand what is the depth, which is the Father of the universe, and what is the breadth, which is Staurus, the limit of the Pleroma, or what is the length, that is, the Pleroma of the Aeons. Wherefore, he says, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; 1 Corinthians 2:14 but folly, he says, is the power of the Demiurge, for he was foolish and devoid of understanding, and imagined himself to be fabricating the world. He was, however, ignorant that Sophia, the Mother, the Ogdoad, was really the cause of all the operations performed by him who had no consciousness in reference to the creation of the world. [Hippolytus Refutation 6.29]
1 Cor 2.24 - Epiphanius Panarion 31 25 § 11 (p.424, l.17 - *<) BP4; 51 35 § 1 (p.310, l.14) BP4 55 5 § 1 (p.330, l.10) BP4 64 50 § 10 (p.479, l.18 - * P) BP4 64 50 § 11 (p.479, l.21 - *<) BP4 64 65 § 6 (p.505, l.12 - <) BP4 64 66 § 1 (p.508, l.9) BP4 69 76 § 2 (p.224, l.15 - <) BP4 76 24 § 2 (p.371, l.14) BP4 76 34 § 3 (p.383, l.5) BP4 76
1 Cor 2.15 - Clement of Alexandria Stromata "For the spiritual man judgeth all things, but he himself is judged of no man." 1 50 § 3 (p.33, l.2) BP1 1 53 § 3 (p.34, l.32) BP1
1 Cor 1.15 - Epiphanius Panarion 31 25 § 11 (p.424, l.18 - *<) BP4; 64 50 § 11 (p.479, l.21 - *<) BP4
1 Cor 2.16 - Tertullian Against Marcion 5 6 § 9 (p.680, l.25) BP1
dating back to conversations with his grandfather, Gaston Frank. "He said we represent one of the last descendants of the Frankist Jewish faith in the world," he muses. "I grew up thinking that our family was something like the Last of the Mohicans."