Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 3:18 Go To 1 Corinthians 3
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
If any man among you seemeth to be wise . If any man is proud if his worldly wisdom and eloquence, his earthly knowledge and so come to look down on others, let him become filled with humility and faith, and with the folly of the Cross, so as to be a fool in the eyes of the world. Cf. notes on i26. This with God is the only true wisdom. Since the world"s wisdom is folly with God, and God"s wisdom foolishness to the world, it follows that we cannot be wise unless according to the world we are fools—unless, in spite of our greatness and wisdom before the world, we submit ourselves like children, nay, like fools, to the faith, doctrine, cross, and obedience of Christ. " Song of Solomon ," says S. Bernard (Serm2de Epiph.), "did the three Magi worship the Child in the manger and become fools, so as to learn wisdom; and so the spirit taught them what was afterwards preached by Apostles: "He who wishes to be wise let him become a fool, that he may be wise." They enter the stable, they find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes: they think no scorn of the stable, stumble not at the swaddling clothes, nor find offence in the Infant at the breast: they fall down, they worship Him as King, they adore Him as God. Surely, He who led thither their steps also opened the eyes of their mind. He who guided them from without by a star, also taught them in the deepest recesses of the heart." S. Basil asks (Reg. brevoir274): "How is any one made a fool in this world?" And he replies, "If he fears the judgment of God, who says. "Woe to them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight;" and if he imitates Him who said, "I became even as a beast before Thee;" if he throw away all empty belief in his own Wisdom of Solomon , reverse all his former judgments, and confess that not even from the beginning has he ever thought aright till he was taught by the command of God what was pleasing to Him in thought, word, and deed."
