Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
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Clement Of Alexandria
AD 215
And the apostle says, "Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth.".
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."
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man"s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. I.e, not in words taught by Cicero, Demosthenes, or Aristotle, such as human wisdom teaches, but in words inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. In other words, we teach this spiritual wisdom from the Scriptures and other spiritual writings, and do not base it on philosophical, rhetorical, or earthly reasons, ideas, or speeches, as S. Chrysostom says. Œcumenius says: "If we are asked whether Christ rose on the third day, we bring forward testimony and proofs from Jonah. If we are asked whether the Lord was born of a Virgin, we compare His mother in her virginity to Anna and Elizabeth in their sterility, and thence rove it." The Apostle here gives à priori the cause and reason why, at God"s command, he refrained from using eloquence and human wisdom in his preaching. The reason is that Divine and human wisdom so widely differ. Since, then, speec...
Which mysteries and divine truths, we apostles (even when we speak to the more perfect sort of men) deliver not in the learned words of human wisdom, not in the fine language, studied periods and sentences arranged by the art of rhetoric, but in the doctrine of the Spirit, that is, as the Spirit of God within us teacheth us for the good of those that hear us.
Comparing spiritual things with spiritual, that is, treating of spiritual things with persons that are more spiritual and more perfect, adapting our discourses to the capacity of those we speak to. Others will have the sense to be: we compare spiritual things with spiritual things, that is, we treat of such matters after a spiritual manner, with proofs and examples out of the revealed Scriptures (Witham)
St. Paul seems in this place to answer an objection that might be brought against him. If, as you say, you are gifted with a knowledge of mysteries, who do you not reveal those mysteries to us? To this he seems to answer, becaus...
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.".
This is the wisdom spoken in a mystery, concerning which, says (Basil ides), Scripture uses the following expressions: "Not in words taught of human wisdom, but in (those) taught of the Spirit."
Some spiritual truths are unclear and need to be interpreted, but this can be done only by comparing them with other spiritual things. For example, when I say that Christ rose again, I compare this to the deliverance of Jonah from the belly of the whale. And when I say that he was born of a virgin, I compare this to the miraculous childbearing of barren women like Sarah, Rebekah and so on.
