And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
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John Chrysostom
AD 407
Nothing was ever more prepared for combat than the spirit of Paul; or rather, I should say, not his spirit, (for he was not himself the inventor of these things,) but, nothing was ever equal to the grace working within him, which overcomes all things. For sufficient indeed is what had been said before to cast down the pride of the boasters about wisdom; nay, even a part of it had been enough. But to enhance the splendor of the victory, he contends anew for the points which he had been affirming; trampling upon the prostrate foe. Look at it in this way. He had brought forward the prophecy which says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. He had shown the wisdom of God, in that by means of what seemed to be foolishness, He destroyed the philosophy of the Gentiles; he had shown that the foolishness of God is wiser than men; he had shown that not only did He teach by untaught persons, but also chose untaught persons to learn of Him. Now he shows that both the thing itself which was preached, and the manner of preaching it, were enough to stagger people; and yet did not stagger them. As thus: not only, says he, are the disciples uneducated, but I myself also, who am the preacher.
Therefore he says, And I, brethren, (again he uses the word brethren, to smooth down the harshness of the utterance,) came not with excellency of speech, declaring unto you the testimony of God. What then? Tell me, had you chosen to come 'with excellency,' would you have been able? I, indeed, had I chosen, should not have been able; but Christ, if He had chosen, was able. But He would not, in order that He might render His trophy more brilliant. Wherefore also in a former passage, showing that it was His work which had been done, His will that the word should be preached in an unlearned manner, he said, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel; not with wisdom of words. But far greater, yea, infinitely greater, than Paul's willing this, is the fact that Christ willed it.
Not therefore, says he, by display of eloquence, neither armed with arguments from without, do I declare the testimony of God. He says not the preaching, but the testimony of God; which word was itself sufficient to withhold him. For he went about preaching death: and for this reason he added, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. This was the meaning he meant to convey, that he is altogether destitute of the wisdom which is without; as indeed he was saying above, I came not with excellency of speech: for that he might have possessed this also is plain; for he whose garments raised the dead and whose shadow expelled diseases, much more was his soul capable of receiving eloquence. For this is a thing which may be taught: but the former transcends all art. He then who knows things beyond the reach of art, much more must he have had strength for lesser things. But Christ permitted not; for it was not expedient. Rightly therefore he says, For I determined not to know any thing: for I, too, for my part have just the same will as Christ.
And to me it seems that he speaks to them in a lower tone even than to any others, in order to repress their pride. Thus, the expression, I determined to know nothing, was spoken in contradistinction to the wisdom which is without. For I came not weaving syllogisms nor sophisms, nor saying unto you anything else than Christ was crucified. They indeed have ten thousand things to say, and concerning ten thousand things they speak, winding out long courses of words, framing arguments and syllogisms, compounding sophisms without end. But I came unto you saying no other thing than Christ was crucified. and all of them I out-stripped: which is a sign such as no words can express of the power of Him whom I preach.
