Homilies on First Corinthians 5

'For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called;'

'but the foolish things of the world did God choose, that He might put to shame the wise.'

Having said that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, he showed that human wisdom has been cast out, both from the testimony of the Scriptures and from the outcome of events;

from the testimony, by saying, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;'

and from the outcome, by carrying forward the discourse in the form of a question and saying, 'Where is the wise? where is the scribe?' Again he jointly demonstrated that the matter is not a new thing, but even ancient, as having been prefigured and foretold from of old;

'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.'

Together with these he demonstrated that these things have thus come to pass both usefully and with good reason;

'For since,' he says, 'in the wisdom of God the world knew not God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe;'

and that the cross is a demonstration of ineffable power and wisdom, and that the foolishness of God is far greater than human wisdom; and this too he proves again, not through the teachers, but even through the disciples themselves;

'For behold your calling,' he says.

not only did he select unlearned teachers, but disciples also of the same kind;

'For not many wise,' he says, 'after the flesh.'

Thus is this shown to be both stronger and wiser, when it persuades both many and unwise.

For it is a most difficult thing to persuade an unlearned man, especially when the discourse is concerning necessary and great matters.

and of this he calls themselves as witnesses;

'For behold your calling, brethren,' he says: 'consider it, search it out.'

For that unlearned men should have received doctrines so wise and wiser than all — this bears witness to the greatest wisdom in the teacher.

But what does 'according to the flesh' mean? It means according to what is outwardly apparent, according to the present life, according to the education that comes from without.

Then, lest he should seem to contradict himself (for he persuaded the proconsul, and the Areopagite, and Apollos, and we have seen others who were wise come forward to the preaching), he did not say, 'No one is wise,' but, 'Not many are wise.'

For he was not calling the unlearned by any preferential allotment while dismissing the wise, but he received these too, though far more of the others.

Why then? Because he who is wise according to the flesh is full of much folly, and this above all is the fool, when he is unwilling to cast out the corrupted teaching.

Just as if some physician wished to teach certain persons the matters of his art: those who know a little, using the art badly and wrongly and contending to hold fast to their notions, would not readily endure to learn; whereas those who know nothing at all would most readily accept what is said;

so indeed it happened here also;

the unlearned were the more readily persuaded;

for they had not that uttermost madness, namely, of supposing themselves to be wise.

For indeed those who are exceedingly foolish are precisely the ones who entrust to their reasonings the very things which cannot be found except through faith.

For if, when a smith with his tongs draws out the red-hot iron, someone should contend to do this with his bare hand, we should condemn him for the uttermost folly;

so also the philosophers, contending to discover these things by themselves, dishonored faith.

For this very reason they found none of the things they sought.

'Not many mighty, not many noble.'

For these too are full of arrogance.

And nothing is so useless for the accurate knowledge of God as arrogance and being nailed fast to wealth.

For it makes a man marvel at present things and take no account of things to come, and it stops up the ears with the multitude of cares.

'But God chose the foolish things of the world.'

Which is the greatest proof of victory, when He conquers through the unlearned.

For the Greeks are not so put to shame when they are worsted by the wise;

but they are covered with confusion when they see the craftsman and the man in the marketplace philosophizing better than themselves.

'That He might put to shame the wise.'

And He did this not here only, but also in the other advantages of life.

'For He chose,' he says, 'the weak things of the world, that He might put to shame the strong.'

For He called not only the unlearned, but also the poor and the despised and the obscure, that He might abase those who are in positions of power.

'And the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that He might bring to nought the things that are.'

And what does he call 'the things that are not'? Those who are reckoned to be nothing because of their utter insignificance.

Thus He displayed His great power, casting down the great through those who seemed to be nothing;

which He says also elsewhere: 'My power is made perfect in weakness.'

For it is a great power thus all at once to train men who had been cast off and who had never touched any learning, to philosophize about things beyond the heavens.

Since indeed we most of all marvel at a physician and an orator and all the rest, when they persuade and instruct the utterly unlearned.

But if to instil the reasonings of an art into an unlearned man is a great wonder, much more so are the reasonings that concern so lofty a philosophy.

Yet He did this not merely for the sake of the wonder, nor to display His own power, but also to bring down the boasters.

Wherefore also before he said:

'That He might put to shame the wise, that He might bring to nought the things that are'; and here again:

'that no flesh should glory before God.'

For God does all things on this account, [that He may put down arrogance and pride, that He may destroy boasting;

and are you,' he says, 'occupied with this? He does all things,] that we may reckon nothing to ourselves, that we may ascribe all things to God.

And do you assign yourselves to this man and to that man? And what pardon shall you obtain? For God showed that it is not possible to be saved by ourselves alone, and this He did from the very beginning.

For then it was not possible to be saved by ourselves, but it was necessary that, having surveyed the beauty of heaven and the greatness of the earth and the rest of creation with the body, men should thus be led by the hand to the Maker of these works.

And He did this, forestalling the conceit of wisdom that was to come.

As if some teacher, having bidden his disciple to follow wherever he might lead, when he sees him running ahead and wishing to learn everything by himself, lets him err, and having shown that this does not suffice for learning, then thus introduces to him what comes from himself;

so also God commanded, at the beginning, that men should follow by means of the apprehension that comes through the creation;

but since they were unwilling, having shown by experience that they do not suffice for themselves, He then leads them to Himself again by another way;

He gave them the world in place of a writing-tablet.

Yet neither in these things did the philosophers apply themselves, nor were they willing to be persuaded by Him, nor to come to Him by this road which He Himself had commanded.

He introduced another way, clearer than the former, persuading them that man is not sufficient for himself alone.

For then indeed it was possible to set the reasonings in motion, and to make use of the wisdom that comes from without, being led by the hand through the creation;

but now, unless a man become a fool—that is, unless he empty out every reasoning and all wisdom, and deliver himself over to faith—it is impossible for him to be saved.

Not a small thing, then, is it that, together with making the way easy, He also plucked up from thence a disease, namely, not to boast nor to be high-minded;

'That no flesh should glory.'

For from this came sin, that they contended to be wiser than the laws of God, not willing to learn in the way that He Himself had ordained by law.

For this reason they learned nothing at all.

So also it was from the beginning.

'Do this thing, and do not do that.'

That man, supposing that he was finding something greater, disobeyed, and lost even that which he had.

'Do not remain in the creation, but through it behold the Creator.'

But they, forsooth, as though discovering something wiser than what had been said, set in motion countless labyrinths.

For this reason they clashed both with themselves and with one another, and neither found God, nor knew anything clear concerning the creation, nor held a fitting and true opinion about it.

For this reason, again, out of great abundance pulling down their conceit, He brought in the unlearned first, showing that all have need of the wisdom from above.

And not only in the matter of knowledge, but also in all the rest, He set both men and all the other creatures in much need of Him, that He might have this too as a very great means of subjection and of drawing them into fellowship, lest by leaping away they should perish.

For this reason He did not leave them to be self-sufficient unto themselves.

For if even now, being in need, many are contemptuous, had this not been so, to what heights of disdain would they not have gone? So that it was not out of grudging that He took away their boasting in this manner, but in order to draw them back from the destruction that would thence arise.

'But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.'

The phrase 'of Him' here, I think, he speaks not concerning the bringing into being, but concerning faith;

that is, to become children of God, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh.

Do not therefore suppose that, having taken away from us the ground of boasting, He left us thus;

for He gave us another and a greater ground of boasting.

For before Him there ought to be no boasting.

You are His children, having become so through Christ.

And since he had said, 'He chose the foolish things of the world and the base things,' he shows that they are more noble than all, having God as their Father.

But of this nobility not this man or that is the author for us, but Christ, who has made us wise and righteous and holy.

Who then among us is wiser than we, who possess not the wisdom of Plato, but Christ Himself, this being the will of God? And what does 'from God' mean? Whenever he says great things concerning the Only-Begotten, then he adds the Father, lest anyone should suppose the Son to be unbegotten.

Since therefore he said that He wrought such great things, and ascribed the whole to the Son, calling Him made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

again ascribing the whole through the Son to the Father, he said:

But why did he not say, 'He made us wise,' but 'He was made unto us wisdom'? To display the lavishness of the gift.

And observe how he advances by a set path.

For first He made us wise by delivering us from error, and then righteous and holy by bestowing the Spirit, and thus He freed us from all evils, so that we should be His own.

And this is indicative not of essence, but of faith.

Elsewhere then he says that we became righteousness in Him, speaking thus:

'Him who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.'

but now he says that He was made righteousness for us, so that it is possible for whoever wills to partake abundantly.

For it was not this man or that who made us wise, but Christ.

He therefore that boasts, let him boast in Him, not in this man or that.

from Christ have all things come to pass.

Wherefore having said, 'Who was made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,' he added:

'that, according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord.'

For this reason also he inveighed vehemently against the wisdom of the Greeks, that by this very thing he might persuade men, as indeed it is right, to boast in God.

For whenever we seek from ourselves the things that are above us, nothing becomes more foolish, nothing weaker than we.

For to possess a sharpened tongue is possible, but strong doctrines is impossible;

rather, reasonings taken by themselves resemble the webs of spiders.

For some have driven to such a pitch of madness as to say that nothing of existing things is true, but to maintain with confidence that all things are contrary to what they appear.

Say therefore nothing of your own, but in all things boast in God.

reckon nothing whatever to any man.

For if to Paul nothing ought to be reckoned, much more to others.

'For I,' he says, 'planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.'

He who has learned to boast in the Lord will never be lifted up, but will always be moderate, and will in all things be thankful.

But the ways of the Greeks are not such; rather, they ascribe all things to themselves.

Wherefore also out of men they make gods;

so did their arrogance hurl them headlong.

It is now time, then, to go forth to the battle against these men.

Where then did we leave off our discourse in the former day? We were saying that it was not possible, according to human sequence, for the fishermen to prevail over the philosophers;

and yet it became possible;

whence it is clear that it came to pass by grace.

We were saying that it was not even possible for them so much as to conceive of such great achievements;

and we showed that they not only conceived them, but also carried them through to the end with great ease.

This same main point of our discourse let us also exercise today: whence it entered their minds to expect to prevail over the whole world, had they not seen Christ risen.

For were they beside themselves, so as to reason anything of the kind lightly and at random? For it surpasses all madness to expect, without divine grace, to prevail in so great a matter.

But how could they have accomplished it, being mad and beside themselves? And if they were sober-minded, as indeed the events proved, how, without receiving trustworthy pledges from heaven and enjoying help from above, could they have endured to go forth to so many wars, and to venture over land and sea, and, being twelve men, to strip themselves for the changing of the customs of the whole inhabited world—customs fixed fast over so long a time—and to stand their ground so nobly? And, what is greater, calling men to heaven and to the pursuits on high, whence did they expect to persuade their hearers? And if indeed they had been in glory and wealth and power and learning,

brought up, it would not even so have been likely that they should be lifted up to so great a mass of undertakings;

yet nevertheless the expectation would have had somewhat more of reason.

But as it was, some of them busied themselves about lakes, others about hides, and others about tax-gathering.

And none of these occupations is more useless for philosophy and for persuading men to imagine great things, and especially when one has no example.

But rather, not only had they no examples that they would prevail, but even that they would not prevail, and these ringing fresh in their ears.

For many who had attempted innovations were extinguished (I do not speak of what happened among the Greeks;

for those things did not even exist, but among the Jews themselves at that very time), not with twelve men, but with a great multitude assailing the affairs.

For Theudas also and Judas, having great combinations of men, perished together with their disciples.

And the fear proceeding from those men was sufficient to school these, had they not been exceedingly persuaded that without divine power it was impossible to prevail.

And even if they did expect to prevail, with what hopes did they take up so many dangers, unless they were looking to the things to come? But let us grant that they did also hope to prevail;

what did they expect to gain from leading all men to one who had not risen, as you say?

For if now men who believe concerning the kingdom of heaven and countless good things reluctantly accept dangers, how would those men have endured so much in vain, or rather even to their hurt? For if the things that came to pass had not happened, nor had Christ ascended into heaven, then, contending to fabricate these things and to persuade others, they were bound to offend God and to expect countless thunderbolts from above.

And besides, even if while Christ was living they had such zeal, when He was dead they would have quenched it.

For it would have seemed to them, had He not risen, that He was some impostor and dissembler.

Know you not that armies, while the general and king is living, even though he be weak, hold together;

but when those are gone, even though it be strong, it is dissolved? With what persuasive words, then, tell me, did they make use, when about to lay hold of the preaching and to go forth to the whole inhabited world? And by what hindrances would they not have been held back? For if they were mad (for I shall not cease saying the same thing), they ought not to have succeeded at all;

for no one is persuaded by madmen;

but if they succeeded, as indeed they did succeed, and the outcome shows it, they were wiser than all men.

And if they were wiser than all men, it is quite clear that they would not have come to the preaching lightly.

For if they had not seen Him risen, what was sufficient to lead them forth to this war? And what would not have turned them back? He had said to them that 'After three days I will rise again,' and He had promised concerning the kingdom of heaven;

He had said that 'They shall prevail over the inhabited world, having received the Holy Spirit;'

and countless other things besides these, surpassing all nature.

So that if none of these things had come to pass, even if they had been persuaded while He was living, after His death they would not have been persuaded, unless they had seen Him risen.

'After three days,' He said, 'I will rise again,' and He did not rise;

He promised to give the Spirit, and He did not send it;

how then shall we believe Him concerning things to come, when the things present have been proved false? And for what reason, if He had not risen, did they preach that He had risen? Because they loved Him, one says.

And yet henceforth it were likely rather to hate one who had deceived and betrayed them, and who, having raised them with countless hopes, and having severed them from home and parents and all things, and having set an entire nation—that of the Jews—at war with them, afterwards betrayed them.

And if what had happened had been a matter of weakness, they would have pardoned it;

but as it was, it was accounted a matter of great villainy.

For He ought to have spoken the truth, and not to have promised heaven, being a mortal man, as you say.

So that it were likely they should do the contrary—proclaim the deceit, and call Him a dissembler and a cheat;

for so would they both have been rid of the dangers, and so would they have brought the war to an end.

For if the Jews gave money to the soldiers that they might say the disciples had stolen the body,

if the disciples had come forward and said, 'We stole Him, and He did not rise,' of what honor would they not have enjoyed? So that it was open to them both to be honored and to be crowned.

Instead of these things they took in exchange being insulted and endangered—which they would never have done, had there not been some divine power persuading them, a power mightier than all these considerations. And if we do not yet persuade you, consider this also: that if it had not been so, then even had they striven to the utmost, they would not have proclaimed the message upon His name, but would have turned away from Him.

For you know that we are not even willing to hear the names of those who deceive us in such matters.

For what reason then did they proclaim His name? Because they expected to prevail through Him? Yet on the contrary they ought to have expected that, even if they were going to prevail, they would perish by carrying the name of a deceiver into public view.

And if they had wished to cover over what had gone before, they ought to have kept silence;

since to keep contending only kindled both the war and the derision more fiercely.

Whence then did it come to them to fabricate such things? For indeed they had lost even the things they had heard.

But if, when there was no fear, they forgot much, and some things they did not even understand—as the evangelist himself says—when so great a peril overtook them, how would not everything have flown away from them? And why do I speak of the words? seeing that even their longing for the Teacher Himself was gently withering away through their fear of what was to come;

which very thing He also reproached them with.

For whereas before this, hanging upon Him, they continually asked, 'Where are You going?' but afterward, when He drew out those long discourses, relating the dreadful things that would befall them at the very cross, then, stunned with dread, they remained speechless;

hear how He brings this very thing home to them, saying:

'Where are You going? But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.'

If then, while expecting that He would die and rise again, they thus grieved, how, upon not seeing Him risen, would they not have perished, and been eager to sink into the very earth, besieged by despair at the deception and by dread of what was to come? (5)

And whence came to them their lofty doctrines? For He said they would hear the more lofty things afterward;

'For I have many things to say to you,' He says, 'but you cannot bear them now.'

So that what remained was more lofty.

But one of the disciples was not even willing to go into Judea with Him, when he heard of the dangers, but said:

'Let us also go, that we may die with Him,'

being weighed down because he expected to die.

But if, being with Him, he expected to die and on that account drew back, what would he not then have hoped to suffer without Him and without the rest of the disciples? And great was the proof of their shamelessness.

And what could they have said as they went forth? For the Passion the whole inhabited world knew;

for indeed He hung upon the lofty scaffold, and at midday, and in the mother-city, and at the greatest feast, at which above all it was impossible for anyone to be absent;

but the Resurrection none of those outside beheld, which was no small hindrance to them in persuading men.

And that He was buried, all bruited abroad;

and that the disciples stole His body, the soldiers together with all the Jews were saying;

but that He rose, none of those outside beheld.

Whence then did they expect to persuade the inhabited world? For if, when miracles were being wrought, soldiers were persuaded to bear the contrary witness, whence did these men expect, without miracles, to preach and, possessing not even an obol, to persuade land and sea concerning the Resurrection? And if it was out of love of glory that they did this, much rather would each one have ascribed the doctrines to himself, not to Him who had departed.

But would not men have believed them? And concerning whom, on hearing, did they rather believe? Concerning Him who was seized and crucified, or concerning those very men who had escaped the Jewish hands? And for what reason, tell me, if they intended to do this, did they not straightway leave Judea and depart to the cities outside, but turned about within it? And how, if they were not working signs, did they persuade? And if indeed they were working them (as they were), what came to pass was the power of God;

but if they did not work them and yet prevailed, far more wonderful was what came to pass.

Did they not know the Jews, tell me, and their wicked scheming, and their soul laden with envyings? For indeed they stoned Moses after the sea which they had crossed on foot, after the victory and that wondrous trophy

which they set up without bloodshed through his hands against the Egyptians who had enslaved them; after the manna, after the rocks and the springs of rivers that were burst forth from thence, after the countless miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness;

they cast Jeremiah into a pit, and slaughtered many of the prophets.

Hear then what Elijah says after that fearful famine and the wondrous rain and the flame which he brought down from the heavens, and the marvelous whole burnt offering, as he was being driven as far as possible from their land:

'Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have dug down Your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life.'

And yet he was disturbing nothing of the customary observances.

To these men, then, whence had they any grounds to give heed? tell me;

for indeed they were meaner than all those, and were making such innovations as those for which they even crucified the Teacher.

And besides, it did not seem so dreadful a thing that Christ should say these things as that these men should.

For Him perhaps they supposed to be doing these things to gain glory for Himself, but these men they would have hated the more, inasmuch as they were making war upon them on another's behalf.

But did the laws of the Romans help them? Nay, by these rather were they hindered;

'Everyone who makes himself a king is no friend of Caesar.'

So that this alone was sufficient to hinder them: that they were disciples of one reputed to be a usurper, and were wishing to establish his cause.

And what at all urged them to fall into so many dangers? and what, in speaking about Him, made them seem persuasive? that He was crucified? that He was born of a poor Jewish woman betrothed to a Jewish carpenter? that He was of a nation hated by the inhabited world? Nay, all these things were sufficient not only not to persuade and draw the hearers, but even to set everyone against them—and especially the things spoken by the tentmaker and the fisherman.

Would not the disciples then have considered all these things? for indeed cowardly natures are able to fabricate more than actually exists;

and such were theirs.

Whence then did they hope to succeed? Or rather they did not hope, seeing there were ten thousand things drawing them back, if indeed Christ had not risen.

Is it not plain even to the very foolish, that unless they had enjoyed abundant and great grace, and had received pledges of the Resurrection, they would have been able not only not to do and attempt these things, but not even to conceive of them? For if, when there were so many obstacles even to their taking counsel—I do not say to their succeeding—they both took counsel and brought it into deed and accomplished things greater than all hope, it is surely plain to everyone that it was not by human power, but by divine grace, that they wrought all these things.

Let us then exercise ourselves in these arguments, not by ourselves alone, but also with one another;

for thus the discovery of the rest would become easier for us also.

Nor, because you are a craftsman, think this exercise foreign to you.

For Paul too was a tentmaker, but he also was then filled with much grace, it says, and from thence uttered all things.

But even before grace he was at the feet of Gamaliel;

and he received grace for this reason, because he showed a purpose worthy of grace; and after these things he again shared in the trade.

Let no one, then, of those who have a trade be ashamed, but rather those who are fed to no purpose and live in idleness, who make use of many servants and enjoy unspeakable attendance.

For to be nourished by continual labor is a kind of philosophy;

of these men the souls are purer, of these the minds are more vigorous.

For he who is idle speaks much at random, and does much at random, and works nothing through the whole day, being filled with much torpor;

but he who is engaged in work will not readily admit anything superfluous, neither in deeds, nor in words, nor in thoughts;

for the whole soul is stretched throughout toward the laborious life.

Let us not, then, despise those who are fed by the labor of their hands, but rather let us count them blessed for this very reason.

For what thanks are due to you, tell me, when, having received the inheritance from your father, you continue doing nothing, but squander all those things to no purpose? Do you not know

that we shall not all render the same account, but that some, having enjoyed here more freedom from care, shall fare more grievously, while those who have been afflicted either by toils or by poverty or by some other such thing shall fare more gently? And these things are plain from Lazarus and the rich man.

For you, having used your leisure for no needful thing, are justly accused; but the poor man, who even amid his occupation spent the remaining time on needful things, shall enjoy great crowns.

But you will by all means throw military service at me, and lay the blame on its lack of leisure? Yet the pretext would have no reason in it.

For Cornelius too was a centurion, and the soldier's belt in no way injured his exact manner of life.

But you, when you spend your leisure on dancers and mimes, and continually consume your life upon the stage, nowhere put forward the necessity of military service, nor the fear of rulers;

but when we call you to the church, then come the ten thousand hindrances.

And what will you say in that day, when you see the flame and the rivers of fire, and the bonds that cannot be loosed, and hear the gnashing of teeth? Who will stand up for you in that day, when you see the craftsman who has lived uprightly enjoying all glory,

but yourself, who now art clothed in soft garments and breathing of perfumes, suffering remediless things—what profit will your wealth and abundance be to you? and what harm will his poverty be to the craftsman? That we may not, then, suffer these things, let us fear the words now spoken, and let us spend all our leisure in the pursuit of things necessary.

For having in this manner propitiated God for our past sins, and having added to them the good deeds that are to come, we shall be able to attain the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and lovingkindness [of our Lord Jesus Christ], and so forth.