SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:6
¶ Pero hablamos sabiduría de Dios perfectísima; y sabiduría, no de este siglo, ni de los príncipes de este siglo, que se deshacen,
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:6
Verse 6. We speak wisdom among them that are perfect] By the en toiv teleioiv, among those that are perfect, we are to understand Christians of the highest knowledge and attainments] those who were fully instructed in the knowledge of God through Christ Jesus. Nothing, in the judgment of St. Paul, deserved the name of wisdom but this. And though he apologizes for his not coming to them with excellency of speech or wisdom, yet he means what was reputed wisdom among the Greeks, and which, in the sight of God, was mere folly when compared with that wisdom that came from above. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that the apostle mentions a fourfold wisdom. 1. Heathen wisdom, or that of the Gentile philosophers, chap. i. 22, which was termed by the Jews hynwy hmkj chokmah yevanith, Grecian wisdom; and which was so undervalued by them, that they joined these two under the same curse: Cursed is he that breeds hogs; and cursed is he who teaches his son Grecian wisdom. Bava Kama, fol. 82. 2. Jewish wisdom; that of the scribes and Pharisees, who crucified our Lord, chap. ii. 8.
3. The Gospel, which is called the wisdom of God in a mystery, 1 Cor. ii. 7.
4. The wisdom, tou aiwnov toutou, of this world; that system of knowledge which the Jews made up out of the writings of their scribes and doctors. This state is called hzh lw[h haolam hazzeh, this or the present world; to distinguish it from abh lw[h haolam habba the world to come; i.e. the days of the Messiah. Whether we understand the term, this world, as relating to the state of the Gentiles, cultivated to the uttermost in philosophical learning, or the then state of the Jews, who had made the word of God of no effect by their traditions, which contained a sort of learning of which they were very fond and very proud, yet, by this Grecian and Jewish wisdom, no soul ever could have arrived at any such knowledge or wisdom as that communicated by the revelation of Christ.
This was perfect wisdom; and they who were thoroughly instructed in it, and had received the grace of the Gospel, were termed teleioi, the perfect. This, says the apostle, is not the wisdom of this world, for that has not the manifested Messiah in it; nor the wisdom of the rulers of this world-the chief men, whether philosophers among the Greeks, or rabbins among the Jews (for those we are to understand as implied in the term rulers, used here by the apostle) these rulers came to nought; for they, their wisdom, and their government, were shortly afterwards overturned in the destruction of Jerusalem. This declaration of the apostle is prophetic.
The ruin of the Grecian superstition soon followed.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 6. Howbeit we speak wisdom , etc.] Though the wise philosophers among the Gentiles accounted the Gospel foolishness; and though the apostle, by an ironical concession, had called the ministry of it the foolishness of preaching, and the foolishness of God, and had thought best, for wise reasons, to deliver it in a plain and simple manner, without the embellishments of human wisdom; yet he vindicates it from the charge of folly: it was not folly, but wisdom, which he and his fellow ministers preached, and that of the highest kind, as appears from what follows.
Though it was not esteemed so by all men, yet among , or with them that are perfect ; adult, at age, opposed to babes and children; such who have their understandings enlightened by the spirit of wisdom and revelation; who have their senses exercised to discern between divine and human wisdom; and who are perfect in a comparative sense, having more spiritual knowledge and understanding than others; for none, in the present state of things, are absolutely perfect in knowledge; they that know most, know but in part: now to such the Gospel and the doctrines of it appear to be the highest wisdom; for the apostles sense is not that he and other Gospel ministers preached the more sublime doctrines of it to a select set of persons that had more judgment and a better understanding of things than others: if this could be thought to be the apostles meaning, he might be supposed to allude to a custom among the Jews, not to deliver the sublime things of the law, but to persons so and so qualified. Says R. Ame f17 , they do not deliver the secrets of the law, but to him who has the five things or characters in ( Isaiah 3:3) So they did not suffer the first chapter of Genesis and the visions of Ezekiel to be read until thirty years of age f18 ; and from them the Pythagoreans took their notion of not declaring their mysteries but to teleioi , perfect ones, the word here used f19 ; but the apostles sense is, that to such that were perfect, and even to everyone that had the least degree of spiritual knowledge, the Gospel was wisdom. Some refer this clause not to persons, but things; and so the Arabic version reads it, we speak wisdom concerning things that are perfect; as the things of the Gospel are, such as a plenteous redemption, perfect righteousness, full pardon, plenary satisfaction, and complete salvation and happiness: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought : meaning not the idolatry, superstition, curious and magic arts introduced by demons, which principalities and powers, with all their works, are spoiled and destroyed by Christ; but either the political wisdom and crafty schemes of the civil governors of the world, against Christ and his Gospel, who were by this time most, if not all of them, dead; or the vain philosophy of the wise and learned among the Gentiles, who every day were less and less in vogue, through the quick and powerful spread of the Gospel; or rather the highest pitch of wisdom and knowledge in divine things, which the doctors and Rabbins among the Jews attained to in the age before the Messiahs coming; called this world in distinction from the times of the Messiah, which in Jewish language was, the world to come, as Dr. Lightfoot observes; who with all their wisdom were confounded and brought to nought by the superior wisdom of the Gospel.
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
σοφιαν 4678 N-ASF δε 1161 CONJ λαλουμεν 2980 5719 V-PAI-1P εν 1722 PREP τοις 3588 T-DPM τελειοις 5046 A-DPM σοφιαν 4678 N-ASF δε 1161 CONJ ου 3756 PRT-N του 3588 T-GSM αιωνος 165 N-GSM τουτου 5127 D-GSM ουδε 3761 ADV των 3588 T-GPM αρχοντων 758 N-GPM του 3588 T-GSM αιωνος 165 N-GSM τουτου 5127 D-GSM των 3588 T-GPM καταργουμενων 2673 5746 V-PPP-GPM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
6. Wisdom. Emphatic. Lest his depreciation of worldly wisdom should expose him and his companions to the charge of not preaching wisdom at all, he shows that they do preach wisdom, though not of a worldly kind, among matured Christians.Them that are perfect (toiv teleioiv). American Rev., them that are full-grown. Paul's term for matured Christians. See Eph. iv. 13, where a perfect (teleion) man is contrasted with children (nhpioi, ver. 14). So 1 Corinthians xiv. 20: "In malice children, in understanding men (lit., perfect);" Philip. iii. 15. "This wisdom is the Christian analogue to philosophy in the ordinary sense of the word" (Meyer), and the perfect to whom he delivered it would recognize it as such.
That come to nought (katargoumenwn). The A.V. states a general proposition, but the Greek present participle a fact in process of accomplishment: which are coming to nought. So Rev.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:6 {Among the perfect} (en tois teleiois). Paul is not here drawing a distinction between public and secret wisdom as the Gnostics did for their initiates, but simply to the necessary difference in teaching for babes (#3:1) and adults or grown men (common use of teleios for relative perfection, for adults, as is in #1Co 14:20; Php 3:15; Eph 4:13; Heb 5:14). Some were simply old babes and unable in spite of their years to digest solid spiritual food, "the ample teaching as to the Person of Christ and the eternal purpose of God. Such 'wisdom' we have in the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians especially, and in a less degree in the epistle to the Romans. this 'wisdom' is discerned in the Gospel of John, as compared with the other Evangelists" (Lightfoot). These imperfect disciples Paul wishes to develop into spiritual maturity. {Of this world} (tou aiwnos toutou). this age, more exactly, as in #1:20. this wisdom does not belong to the passing age of fleeting things, but to the enduring and eternal (Ellicott). {Which are coming to naught} (twn katargoumenwn). See on 1:28. Present passive participle genitive plural of katargew. The gradual nullification of these "rulers" before the final and certain triumph of the power of Christ in his kingdom.
