Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:9
Verse 9. But, as it is written] The quotation is taken from Isaiah lxiv. 4. The sense is continued here from verse seven, and laloumen, we speak, is understood-We do not speak or preach the wisdom of this world; but that mysterious wisdom of God, of which the prophet said: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. These words have been applied to the state of glory in a future world; but they certainly belong to the present state, and express merely the wondrous light, life, and liberty which the Gospel communicates to them that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in that way which the Gospel itself requires. To this the prophet himself refers; and it is evident, from the following verse, that the apostle also refers to the same thing. Such a scheme of salvation, in which God's glory and man's felicity should be equally secured, had never been seen, never heard of, nor could any mind but that of God have conceived the idea of so vast a project; nor could any power but his own have brought it to effect.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 9. But as it is written , etc.] Not in an apocryphal book, called the Apocalypse of Elijah the prophet, as some have thought, but in ( Isaiah 64:4) with some variation; and is brought to prove that the Gospel is mysterious and hidden wisdom, unknown to the princes of this world, and ordained before the world was, for the glory of the saints: for the following words are not to be understood of the glories and happiness of the future state; though they are indeed invisible, unheard of, and inconceivable as to the excellency and fulness of them, and are what God has prepared from all eternity, for all those on whom he bestows his grace here; but of the doctrines of grace, and mysteries of the Gospel, as the context and the reason of their citation abundantly show; and are what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard : which could never have been seen to be read by the eye of man, nor the sound thereof ever heard by the ear of man, had not God been pleased to make a revelation of them; and though they are to be seen and read in the sacred writings, and to be heard either read or expounded, with the outward hearing of the ear; yet are neither to be seen nor heard intellectually, spiritually, and savingly, unless, God gives eyes to see, and ears to hear; the exterior senses of seeing and hearing are not sufficient to come at and discover the sense of them; flesh and blood, human nature cannot search them out, nor reveal them, no nor the internal senses, the intellectual capacity of men: neither have entered into the heart of man ; this clause is not in the original text; but is a phrase often used by the Jews, for that which never came into a mans mind, was never thought of by him, or he ever had any conceptions, or the least notion and idea of; so the elders of the city, at the beheading of the heifer, are represented not only as saying, our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it; but also neither wnybl l[ htl[ , hath it entered into our hearts, that the sanhedrim hath shed blood f23 ; and elsewhere it is said, this matter is like to a king, wblb hl[ , into whose heart it entered, to plant in his garden, etc. The things which God hath prepared for them that love him ; in the original text it is, for him that waiteth for him; the sense is the same, for such as hope in the Lord and wait for him, are lovers of him; and the meaning is, that God has prepared and laid up in his own breast, in his counsels and covenant, in the types, shadows, and sacrifices of the old law, in the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament, such doctrines and mysteries of grace as were not so seen, heard, known, and understood by the Old Testament prophets and saints; and has reserved for his people under the Gospel dispensation, the times of the Messiah, a more clear discovery of them: so the Jews themselves own that these words belong to the world to come f25 , which with them commonly signifies the days of the Messiah; though here they think fit to distinguish them, and interpret the phrase, eye hath not seen, of the eye of the prophets: their words are these f26 ; all prophesied not, but of the days of the Messiah; but as to the world to come, eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee.
The gloss on it is, the eye of the prophets hath not been able to see it.
Indeed, the mysteries of the Gospel are more clearly discerned now, than by the prophets formerly.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 6-9 - Those who receive the doctrine of Christ as Divine, and, having bee enlightened by the Holy Spirit, have looked well into it, see not onl the plain history of Christ, and him crucified, but the deep an admirable designs of Divine wisdom therein. It is the mystery mad manifest to the saints, Col 1:26, though formerly hid from the heathe world; it was only shown in dark types and distant prophecies, but no is revealed and made known by the Spirit of God. Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory; a title much too great for any creature. There are man things which people would not do, if they knew the wisdom of God in the great work of redemption. There are things God hath prepared for thos that love him, and wait for him, which sense cannot discover, n teaching can convey to our ears, nor can it yet enter our hearts. We must take them as they stand in the Scriptures, as God hath bee pleased to reveal them to us.
Greek Textus Receptus
αλλα 235 CONJ καθως 2531 ADV γεγραπται 1125 5769 V-RPI-3S α 3739 R-APN οφθαλμος 3788 N-NSM ουκ 3756 PRT-N ειδεν 1492 5627 V-2AAI-3S και 2532 CONJ ους 3775 N-NSN ουκ 3756 PRT-N ηκουσεν 191 5656 V-AAI-3S και 2532 CONJ επι 1909 PREP καρδιαν 2588 N-ASF ανθρωπου 444 N-GSM ουκ 3756 PRT-N ανεβη 305 5627 V-2AAI-3S α 3739 R-APN ητοιμασεν 2090 5656 V-AAI-3S ο 3588 T-NSM θεος 2316 N-NSM τοις 3588 T-DPM αγαπωσιν 25 5723 V-PAP-DPM αυτον 846 P-ASM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
9. Eye hath not seen, etc. From Isa. lxiv. 4, freely rendered by Septuagint. The Hebrew reads: "From of old men have not heard, not perceived with the ear, eye has not seen a God beside Thee who does (gloriously) for him who waits on Him." Septuagint, "From of old we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen a God beside Thee, and Thy works which Thou wilt do for those who wait for mercy." Paul takes only the general idea from the Old-Testament passage. The words are not to be limited to future blessings in heaven. They are true of the present. Have entered (anebh). Lit., went up. See on Acts vii. 23. Compare Daniel ii. 29, Sept.Heart (kardian). See on Rom. i. 21.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:9 {But as it is written} (alla kaqws gegraptai). Elliptical sentence like #Rom 15:3 where gegonen (it has happened) can be supplied. It is not certain where Paul derives this quotation as Scripture. Origen thought it a quotation from the _Apocalypse of Elias_ and Jerome finds it also in the _Ascension of Isaiah_. But these books appear to be post-Pauline, and Jerome denies that Paul obtained it from these late apocryphal books. Clement of Rome finds it in the LXX text of #Isa 64:4 and cites it as a Christian saying. It is likely that Paul here combines freely #Isa 64:4; 65:17; 52:15 in a sort of catena or free chain of quotations as he does in #Ro 3:10-18. There is also an anacoluthon for ha (which things) occurs as the direct object (accusative) with eiden (saw) and ekousan (heard), but as the subject (nominative) with anebe (entered, second aorist active indicative of anabainw, to go up). {Whatever} (hosa). A climax to the preceding relative clause (Findlay). {Prepared} (hetoimasen). First aorist active indicative of hetoimazw. The only instance where Paul uses this verb of God, though it occurs of final glory (#Lu 2:31; Mt 20:23; 25:34; Mr 10:40; Heb 11:16) and of final misery (#Mt 25:41). But here undoubtedly the dominant idea is the present blessing to these who love God (#1Co 1:5-7). {Heart} (kardian) here as in #Ro 1:21 is more than emotion. The Gnostics used this passage to support their teaching of secret doctrine as Hegesippus shows. Lightfoot thinks that probably the apocryphal _Ascension of Isaiah_ and _Apocalypse of Elias_ were Gnostic and so quoted this passage of Paul to support their position. But the next verse shows that Paul uses it of what is now {revealed} and made plain, not of mysteries still unknown.
