For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 1:26 Go To 1 Corinthians 1
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. The for gives the reason of what had gone before. This verse contains another proof of what was said in ver21 , "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." For this is proved in two ways: (1.) in ver23 , from the object of preaching, viz, the Cross, by which God was pleased to save the world, but which to the world seems foolishness; (2.) from the ministers of preaching, viz, the Apostles, whose duty it was to preach salvation through the Cross, and who were men of no account, unpolished, despised, and foolish in the eyes of the world.
Again, the particle for fitly joins this verse to the preceding; ver25 gives an indefinite and general statement which is true, not only of the Cross, but also of the preachers of the Cross, as Athanasius points out (Ad Antiochum, qu129).
This particle, then, declares the likeness of the Apostles to the Cross that they preached. It is as if S. Paul had said: God willed to use the foolishness and weakness of the Cross, and with it to overcome and subdue to Himself the wisdom and power of all men; and we see this, not only in the Cross itself, and its victory, but also in the Apostles who preach the Cross: for God has not chosen the wise and powerful of this world, but the Apostles, who are poor, simple, and foolish in the eyes of the world, that they might carry the banner of the Cross on high throughout the whole world, and bring all men into obedience to the faith of the Cross, and that they all might believe and hope for their righteousness and salvation through the Cross of Christ.
It is a reason drawn from likeness or analogy. For such as the Cross was—worthless, despicable, and foolish before the world—such should be all preachers of the Cross. For God in His wonderful wisdom has so well adapted everything to the Cross, which is the burden of all preaching, that not only the preachers but believers too should be like the Cross; for the first who were called to the faith were men of low birth, of no reputation, unknown, sinners, publicans, and harlots.
Ye see your calling. The reason and mode of your calling. Because the Apostles who called you are not wise, according to this Wisdom of Solomon , which knows not that which is spiritual and Divine. So S, Thomas applies the words to the Apostles, who called others. S. Chrysostom, however, applies them and rightly (from ver2) to those who had been called and converted; for many unlearned gad been converted to Christ, and but few who were learned and nobly born. The words, then, mean: Ye see of what kind are both caller and called.
Some wise and powerful, of course, as, e.g, Dionysius the Areopagite, Paulus the Proconsul, Nicodemus, S. Paul himself, but they were few. Moreover, the Apostle is speaking mainly of the Apostles, who were the first called, though they were poor and of no reputation. And therefore S. Ambrose (on S. Luke 6:13), says: "See the counsel of God. He chose not the wise, the rich, the noble, but fishermen and publicans to train, that He might not be thought to have drawn any to His grace by His Wisdom of Solomon , to have redeemed us by His riches, to have won us to Him by the influence of power or birth; and that Song of Solomon , not love of disputation, but truth by its reaonableness might prevail." S. Augustine (vol. x. Serm59) says, "Great is the mercy of our Maker. He knew that if the Senator were chosen, he would say, "I was chosen because of my rank." If the rich man were chosen, he would say, "I was chosen for my wealth." If a king, he would put it down to his power; if an orator, to his eloquence; if a philosopher, to his wisdom. "For the present," says the Lord, "those proud men must be rejected: they are too haughty. Give Me first that fisherman. Come, poor men. You have nothing, you know nothing; follow Me. The empty vessel must be brought to the plentiful stream." The fisherman let down his nets; he received grace, and became a Divine orator. Now while the words of the fishermen are read, orators bow their heads in reverence." It seems, therefore, that what some fable about the royal birth and renown of the Apostle Bartholomew is groundless.
