Fathers

1 Corinthians 2

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When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing. But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit. But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.

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What the Fathers say

1 Corinthians 2:7

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery." What mystery? For surely Christ saith, "What ye have heard in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops." How then does he call it "a mystery?" Because that neither angel nor archangel, nor any other created power knew of it before it actually took place. Wherefore he saith, "That now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God." And this hath God done in honor to us, so that they not without us should hear the mysteries. …

Homily on 1 Corinthians 7 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

He calls the preaching about Christ a mystery. For it is both a proclamation and at the same time a mystery, because even the angels did not know of it before it was announced (1 Pet. 1:12), and we, seeing one thing in it, understand another: thus I see the cross and suffering, but understand power; I hear "servant," but worship the Master. This wisdom is hidden from unbelievers completely, but for the faithful only in part; for now we see as in a mirror (1 Cor. 13:12). By the word "foreordained" he indicates God's love for us. …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius

But this consideration may perhaps have influenced them, that if there were any true religion, it would exert itself and assert its authority, and not permit the existence of anything opposed to it. For they were unable to see at all, on what account, or by whom, and in what manner true religion was depressed, which partakes of a divine mystery and a heavenly secret. And no man can know this by any means, unless he is taught.

The Divine Institutes Book 2 ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says, But we impart, he explains this wisdom as related to believers. First, he describes it as to its subject manner and authority when he says: But we impart a hidden and secret wisdom of God, i.e., which is God and from God. For although all wisdom is from God, as it says in Sirach (1:1), this wisdom, which is about God, is from God in a special way, namely, by revelation: "Who has learned thy counsel, unless thou has given wisdom and sent thy holy Spirit from on high?" (Wis 9:17). …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Bonaventure

The fourth face of wisdom is the most difficult, for it is without form. Thus would it seem to destroy the preceding faces, and yet it does not. The Apostle speaks of it in the First Epistle to the Corinthians: "Wisdom, however, we speak among those who are mature, yet not a wisdom of this world. But we speak the wisdom of God, mysterious, hidden, which eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man. But to us God has revealed it through His Spirit. …

Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2 ↗