Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 2:12 Go To 1 Corinthians 2
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God. He contrasts the spirit of the world with the Spirit which is of God, claims the latter for himself and the Apostles, and assigns the other to the wise men of this world. The spirit of the world, therefore, is that which id infused by the world, by worldly and carnal Wisdom of Solomon , which aspires after worldly, earthly, and carnal goods, and makes men worldly and carnal. In the other hand the Spirit of God is that which is infused by God and Divine Wisdom of Solomon , which makes us pursue heavenly and Divine goods, and makes men spiritual and heavenly. Therefore the Apostle adds—
That we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. On this passage the heretics found their peculiar belief that each Christian knows for a certainty that he ought by heavenly faith to believe that he has through Christ had given to him by God the forgiveness of his sins, with grace and righteousness, and as Calvin says, that he has been chosen to eternal glory. But this is not faith, but a foolish and false presumption, not to say blindness; because we do not certainly know that we have been duly disposed for righteousness, and whether we surely believe, and as we ought; nor is it anywhere said or revealed in Holy Scripture that I believe as I ought to do, or that I am righteous or one of the elect. The best answer to them is the sense of the passage, which is this: The Holy Spirit shows and reveals to us what and how great are the gifts given to us, the Apostles, by God, and to others who love God—so great indeed that eye has not seen them, nor have they entered into the heart of man; for the Apostle looks back to ver9.
I say, then, that the Apostle is speaking in general terms of the gifts which were given to the Apostles and the Church, and of those gifts alone. He says in effect: "We received this Spirit that we, i.e, the Apostles, might know with what gifts and good things in general Christ has enriched us, i.e, His Church, viz, with what grace of the Spirit, what redemption, what virtues, and especially with how great glory;" for these were the things alluded to in ver9; and these things are, as he says in ver11 , in God, i.e, by the free-will and predestination of God. "We know, too, through the Holy Spirit the Revelation , that these things have been given by God to the Church; for we speak of and teach these things as part of the faith. But that I am possessed of them, or a sharer in them, is not a matter of faith, but of conjecture: it is not to be publicly preached, but secretly hoped for."
Again, the word know may be taken in a twofold sense: (1.) Objectively; (2.) Subjectively.
1. Objectively, the Apostle knew, and all the faithful knew, from the prophecies, miracles, and from other signs from God, that He had promised to His congregation (i.e, His Church, which had been called together by the Apostles, and was afterwards to be called together), and that, according to His promises, He had given His grace, and lastly a sure hope of eternal life. But all this was to His Church in common, not to this or that individual in it; for we cannot know in a particular case whether this one or that us faithful. In this sense the word know is the same as believe. For we believe that the Catholic Church is holy, and that in her there is forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. God, therefore, has only revealed that His Church is holy, but not that I am holy. For although he has revealed and has promised to all in the Church, who rightly believe and repent, forgiveness of sins and righteousness, yet He has not revealed that I believe truly repent; and therefore He has not revealed that my sins are forgiven, and that I am justified.
2. The word know may be taken subjectively: we Apostles know by experience what wisdom and grace God has given us; and in this way the word know is the same as experience. For no one of the Apostles believed by faith from above that he had wisdom and grace; but he experienced the acts and effects of grace in himself so vehemently frequently, clearly, and surely, that he felt morally certain that he had true Wisdom of Solomon , and it behoved them to teach others the same, and wholly to long to bring the world to Christ. Although, then, the Apostles knew by experience that they had been justified and sanctified, still the rest of the faithful did not know it, nor do they know it now. They can only hope Song of Solomon , and conjecture it from the signs of an upright and good life. Yet neither the Apostles, nor they, believe it on the testimony of infused faith; for experience of every kind merely generates human faith, not Divine: that springs from and depends on the revelation of God alone.
