But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
Read Chapter 2
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Paul testifies that he has been sent to reveal a secret wisdom which the princes of this world do not know and which they therefore label stupid. The wisdom of God is hidden because it is not in words but in power. It is impossible in human terms, but it can be believed by the power of the Spirit. God foresaw the future sins of the world and therefore decreed this in order to confound those who would turn his wisdom into their own stupidity, and also to glorify us, who would believe it. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. (1.) This is a Hebraism for "the wisdom of the mystery." that great secret of the Divine counsel, about the Incarnation of the Word, and the redemption of man by Christ, which cannot be attained to by man by any effort of reason—no, nor yet by the angels, as is clear from Eph. v4 , 5. Hence, in1Tim. iii16 , this wisdom of the mystery is called the great mystery of godliness. So Theophylact, Ambrose, Å’cumenius, commenting on this verse, and Jerome and Leo Castrius on Isa. lxiv; also S. Leo. (2.) We may understand this wisdom to be concerned with the greatness of the glory of the Blessed, for this was the end of the Incarnation and suffering of the Word.
Secondly, it is simpler to connect the words "in a mystery" with "we speak" rather than with "wisdom." Then the meaning Isaiah , we speak secretly and to a few, viz, those who are perfect, the spiritual, of this deeper and more hidden wisdom. Hence Ephrem and Tertullian render the passage: "W...
Paul is keen to point out that God always loved us, even from the very beginning, when we did not yet exist. For if he had not loved us, he would not have foreordained our riches. Look beyond the broken relationship which has come in between, and you will see that God’s love for us is more ancient still.
