Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 2:7

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom,] which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

7. the wisdom of God in a mystery ] The distinction between faith wisdom and knowledge in St Paul’s writings would appear to be this. Faith is the fundamental principle of Christianity, whereby the life of God in Christ is received into the heart; wisdom is the power of insight into things Divine revealed to faith; knowledge the effect of Christian experience and study upon him who possesses the life of faith. For mystery see ch. 1Co 4:1.

hidden ] Not only from men but also from angels and heavenly powers. See Rom 16:25; Eph 3:10 ; 1Pe 1:12.

which God ordained before the world ] Literally, before the ages. Cf. Act 2:23; Act 4:28; Eph 3:9; Col 1:26; Rev 13:8. The whole scheme of man’s redemption was in the mind of God from all eternity. The fall of man and his restoration, the wondrous fact of salvation through Christ, were decreed in the counsels of the Most High before the world was.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

But we speak – We who have preached the gospel.

The wisdom of God – We teach or proclaim the wise plan of God for the salvation of people; we make known the divine wisdom in regard to the scheme of human redemption. This plan was of God, in opposition to other plans which were of human beings.

In a mystery, even the hidden wisdom – en musterio ten apokekrummenen. The words even and wisdom in this translation have been supplied by our translators; and the sense would be more perspicuous if they were omitted, and the translation should be literally made, We proclaim the divine wisdom hidden in a mystery. The apostle does not say that their preaching was mysterious, nor that their doctrine was unintelligible, but he refers to the fact that this wisdom had been hidden in a mystery from people until that time, but was then revealed by the gospel. In other words, he does not say that what they then declared was hidden in a mystery, but that they made known the divine wisdom which had been concealed from the minds of people. The word mystery with us is commonly used in the sense of that which is beyond comprehension; and it is often applied to such doctrines as exhibit difficulties which we are not able to explain.

But this is not the sense in which it is commonly used in the Scriptures; see the note at Mat 13:11; compare Campbell on the Gospels, Dissertation 9; part 1. The word properly denotes that which is concealed or hidden; that which has not yet been made known; and is applied to those truths which until the revelation of Jesus Christ were concealed from people, which were either hidden under obscure types and shadows or prophecies, or which had been altogether unrevealed, and unknown to the world. The word stands opposed to that which is revealed, not to that which is in itself plain. The doctrines to which the word relates may be in themselves clear and simple, but they are hidden in mystery until they are revealed. From this radical idea in the word mystery, however, it came also to be applied not only to those doctrines which had not been made known, but to those also which were in themselves deep and difficult to that which is enigmatical and obscure; 1Co 14:2; 1Ti 3:16.

It is applied also to the secret designs and purposes of God; Rev 10:7. The word is most commonly applied by Paul to the secret and long concealed design of God to make known his gospel to the Gentiles; to break down the wall between them and the Jews; and to spread the blessings of the true religion everywhere; Rom 11:25; Rom 16:25; Eph 1:9; Eph 3:9; Eph 6:19. Here, it evidently means the beauty and excellency of the person and plans of Jesus Christ, but which were in fact unknown to the princes of this world. It does not imply, of necessity, that they could not have understood them, nor that they were unintelligible, but that, in fact, whatever was the cause, they were concealed from them. Paul says 1Co 2:8, that had they known his wisdom, they would not have crucified him – which implies at least that it was not in itself unintelligible; and he further says, that this mystery had been revealed to Christians by the Spirit of God, which proves that he does not here refer to that which is in itself unintelligible; 1Co 2:10. The apostle has here especially in view the all-wise counsel of God for the salvation of people by Jesus Christ, in the writings of the Old Testament only obscurely signified, and to the generality of people utterly unknown – Bloomfield.

Which God ordained – Which plan, so full of wisdom, God appointed in his own purpose before the foundation of the world; that is, it was a plan which from eternity he determined to execute. It was not a new device; it had not been got up to serve an occasion; but it was a plan laid deep in the eternal counsel of God, and on which he had his eye forever fixed. This passage proves, that God had a plan, and that this plan was eternal. This is all that is involved in the doctrine of eternal decrees or purposes. And if God had a plan about this, there is the same reason to think that he had a plan in regard to all things.

Unto our glory – In order that we might be honored or glorified. This may refer either to the honor which was put upon Christians in this life, in being admitted to the privileges of the sons of God; or more probably to that eternal weight of glory which remains for them in heaven; 2Co 4:17. One design of that plan was to raise the redeemed to glory, and honor, and immortality. It should greatly increase our gratitude to God, that it was a subject of eternal design; that he always has cherished this purpose; and that he has loved us with such love, and sought our happiness and salvation with such intensity, that in order to accomplish it, he was willing to give his own Son to die on a cross.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Co 2:7

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.

The wisdom of God in the gospel appears

I. In its origin–the Divine purpose.

II. In the form of its revelation–mystery.

III. In the mode of its communication–by man.

IV. In its ultimate design–to our glory. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The gospel-wisdom

I. It is Gods wisdom (1Co 2:6-9).

II. It is revealed inwardly by the Spirit (1Co 2:10-13).

III. It is understood only by the spiritual man (verse 2:14-3:4). (Principal Edwards.)

Gods wisdom in a mystery

Christianity is–

I. The wisdom of God. Wisdom is knowledge directed to practical ends through the most effectual means. The moral systems of Greece ill deserved that appellation. They were imaginative; they fed the appetite for speculation, but fell with no power upon conscience or conduct. But in the gospel the wisdom of Godis displayed in efficient and wondrous arrangements to enlighten and save a fallen world.

1. It affords infallible instruction in all necessary truth. All true knowledge properly comes from God. Even art and science were probably first suggested to the mind by God, but secretly and without any mark of distinction. It is conceivable that much of Bible truth might have been thus secretly suggested, and have been published only as the results of the human investigation. Beyond their own rational evidence none of these truths, however, would have had, in this case, a greater than human authority. They would have been but matters of opinion still. The disadvantage of the most enlightened paganism was, that what of the wisdom of God was in it was not known to be from God. When they met with truth they met also with error; and both appeared to rest upon equal authority, and each was held with equal unsteadfastness and doubt. What was wanting was truth in a revealed form. The wisdom of God has supplied that desideratum. Whilst human teachers remained in the human court darkly investigating what might be hidden within that veil, the Teacher sent from God rent that veil, and He who dwelt between the cherubim shone forth. Whilst they were gazing upon every dark form of error which flitted before them like the clouds of night, He came forth, and cried, I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me, &c.; and the credentials He bore were equal to this high declaration.

2. It is a Divine contrivance to administer pardon to the guilty. This is peculiar to the gospel. The question, What must I do to be saved? has been sighed from many a breast, but has obtained no answer except from Christianity.

3. It is an efficient scheme for promoting personal and universal happiness. Man is miserable, and cannot be otherwise. Between sin and misery there is a necessary connection. Many experiments have been tried to build up happy and peaceful societies, but all have failed. Christianity would not have been wisdom had it not provided for mans happiness; and it could only provide for it by effecting his regeneration. When this takes place the heart is at rest; the fruits of the Spirit spring forth from the renewed soil; then man lives to help and bless his fellows.

II. The wisdom of God in a mystery. The apostle here probably alludes to the mysteries of Paganism. The priesthood in many places pretended to be in possession of a higher and purer doctrine which they kept from the vulgar, under the plea that they were too base and impure to be entrusted with it. It was, therefore, hidden wisdom. But it was occasionally communicated to distinguished persons. The initiated had, however, to undergo severe penances; scenic symbolic representations in caverns, and in the night, were the means adopted for unfolding the secret; and these, and other ceremonies, were employed to inspire greater awe and to enforce secrecy. Probably this secret doctrine contained some of the ancient and purer theology, but mingled with fables. The apostle supposes–

1. Points of resemblance; but even the resemblances are implied contrasts such as exist between the sun and a fire, which at once calls our thoughts from what is common to both, to the contrast exhibited between a darkened blaze and an unsullied light.

(1) Christianity was connected with symbolic representations running through the previous ages, of which it was at once the accomplishment and the exposition; and it retained some figurative rites of its own–e.g., Baptism, the Eucharist, and the Sabbath.

(2) It, too, is hidden from the profane, and those who receive it must be prepared by a previous discipline. But its discipline is not some foolish bodily austerity or onerous ceremonies, it is the discipline of humility and prayer. For the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and to them He shows His covenant.

(3) It also produces deep impressions of awe and reverence upon those who are admitted, to it. Religion has an awful grandeur, but nowhere is it displayed so impressively as in the gospel.

2. Points of direct contrast.

(1) The mysteries of Paganism were, for the most part, by artifice; those of Christianity by nature and necessity. The bottom of this ocean is not discovered, not because the waters are muddy, but because they are deep.

(2) In the Pagan mysteries plain truths were often hidden in doubtful enigmas; in Christianity nothing is mysterious but what is so by the appointment of Him who hides that from us which is unfit for us to know, or from the necessary magnitude of the objects.

(3) The impression produced upon the initiated was the result greatly of trick, and brought the spirit of man into bondage and disquieting superstition. But the mysteries of godliness at once humble and exalt; and whilst they inspire fear, elevate, strengthen, and sanctify.

(4) In the mysteries of Paganism, whatever wisdom was hidden was for the few; that of Christianity, for all. From the former the poor were systematically excluded. The poor find mercy in the gospel, but nowhere else.

III. This Wisdom of God In a mystery was Ordained before the world to glory.

1. Christianity was ordained before the world. We hear sometimes of its invention by man. We acknowledge that things invented have been added by human authority. But these are no parts of the system itself; and we may ask, When was that invented? And what human mind first devised its leading fundamental principles?–that man is a fallen being who can be saved only through the merits of a Divine sacrifice.

2. It was ordained as a perfect and efficient plan for human recovery. (R. Watson.)

The great theme of gospel preaching

I. The wisdom referred to in the text. It is called the wisdom of God; by which we are to understand, not that attribute of Gods nature, but that attribute in its display. The wisdom of God has been denominated manifold–manifold, not simply because the things in which it is displayed are many, but because, as displayed in each of those things, it is in itself manifold; in other words, ample, full in its display. And of what does he thus speak? It is of Gods wisdom as displayed in the economy of human salvation. What is wisdom? What but that which, having an object in view, chooses a plan, and employs means for the attainment of its object–not indeed any plan, but that which is indisputably the best–nor any means, but those which are indisputably the most suitable; and by its choice of the one and its employment of the other, both seeks the attainment of its object, and makes provision for the removal out of the way of what would otherwise operate to make its attainment impossible. If this be what wisdom is, does it not furnish an explanation of what the wisdom of God is, as displayed in the economy of human salvation? He had an object in view. That object was twofold–His own glory and mans salvation. Had sinful man been left to perish, without any regard to the wish of mercy, the holiness, and the faithfulness, and the justice of God would doubtless have been seen in mans perdition. Or had sinful man been rescued from destruction, without any regard to the demand of holiness, and faithfulness, and justice, the mercy of God would doubtless have been seen in mans preservation from ruin. But where–in either the one or the other of those supposed cases–where would have been Gods glory? For His glory is not His mercy, or His justice, or His faithfulness, or His holiness, in their separate form, but all these perfections in combination. And is not this the appearance which these perfections of God present to view in His mode of saving man?

II. The peculiar description which the apostle in the text further gives of it.

1. The wisdom of God in a mystery. By this, questionless, the apostle primarily intended to intimate that in speaking, or in ministerially publishing the wisdom of God, or the plan of human salvation in the mode of its accomplishment, in which the wisdom of God has its highest illustration, he proclaimed that which, in itself, is mysterious or incomprehensible. And is it not so? But though there is here that which is mysterious, that which is incomprehensible, there is nothing that is incredible. To refuse the plan of human salvation a place in our creed, because the mode of its accomplishment transcends our comprehension, we must, in order to be consistent, disbelieve whatever we cannot fully understand or explain. And in what tremendous and hopeless scepticism would this involve us! For what is there that is not to us replete with mystery?

2. But though the apostle may have referred to what is strictly mysterious in the plan of human salvation when he said, We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, yet, from what immediately follows, it would appear that he meant to be understood as referring, not so much to the essential incomprehensibility of that plan, as to its previous secrecy. The plan of human salvation was before a mystery, a secret; but in consequence of the commencement of the Christian era, it is now made known: hence, We speak–I and my fellow-apostles speak–publish, proclaim, the once hidden wisdom. His meaning is, that, compared with the revelation of it now made, all former revelations of it were imperfect. Though adapted to be spiritually and morally useful, yet every former revelation was not only partial, but oftentimes obscure. In this latter revelation, however, there was no darkness; it was clear, intelligible, satisfactory. But the apostle refers, not merely to the complete discovery now made of the plan of human salvation compared with the former partial and defective revelations of it, but also to its benevolent, its philanthropic character, when he says, We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom. The plan of human salvation was primarily revealed to the progenitor of the human race as their representative; but subsequently this revelation was made only to a portion of his descendants. The rest of mankind needed it, as well as these favoured ones; but from all without the pale of their privileged community it was withheld, and long withheld–so long, that to this latter class it seemed its revelation was never to be made. Until the commencement of this era the calling of the Gentiles to be partakers with the Jews of the blessings of salvation was a mystery, a secret; but no sooner did this era commence than the original benevolent and philanthropic character of the plan of human salvation was made manifest. Widely was the revelation of this plan spread during the apostolic age; widely has it been spread since; but still it is far, very far from being universally spread.

III. The source whence it originated, the antiquity of its device, and the grandeur of the object of its revelation.

1. Its source was God. We speak the wisdom of God; that in which the wisdom of God was illustriously displayed we publish–even the plan of human salvation which God ordained; that is, which God decreed, and having decreed, revealed as His own contrivance. And is not this what the plan of human salvation is? Could it have any other origin than that to which it is here traced? Does not that about it which exceeds all description and transcends all conception prove that its contrivance not only was, but must have been Divine?

2. The antiquity of its device. We speak the wisdom of God the plan of human salvation which God ordained before the world, that is, before the creation of the world; and if before the creation of the world, before the beginning of time; and if before the beginning of time, from eternity. And is not the plan of human salvation thus ancient? Known unto God, it is said, are all His works from the beginning f the world; language which, whilst it undeniably imports antecedent arrangement, as undeniably implies that that arrangement was, on the part of God, eternal. And if, in reference to all His other works, the date of Gods plans must be fixed in eternity, what other date can be reasonably assigned to His plan of human salvation? What admiration, what gratitude, what confidence is this fitted to excite in our breast!

3. The grandeur of the object of its revelation. We speak the wisdom of God, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory. In devising the plan of human salvation, God sought His own glory; and in the accomplishment of that plan His glory has been secured. But though in devising that plan God chiefly sought His own glory, yet He sought ours also; even our spiritual, moral, and eternal benefit, which constitutes our glory. Indeed, the device of that plan would have failed in its object had not its accomplishment combined, in this sense, our glory with the glory of God. And have we not every reason to be assured, from it adaption to our ease, of its fitness to promote our glory, by promoting our spiritual, moral, and eternal benefit? (A. Jack, D. D.)

The wisdom of God in mystery

Light and darkness are here mingled together. It is wisdom, but wisdom in a mystery. We may know from it enough to make us wise unto salvation, but the gospel never proposes to give answers to the catechism of curiosity. Consider–

I. The mystery which lies in the crucifixion of Christ. It is entirely a mystery to us–

1. How it could comport with the justice of God to lay the punishment of our sins on the head of an innocent Being. He has done it. There is no mystery about that. But we know no more.

2. How justice could be satisfied through such an infliction. We cannot tell. All we know is that Divine justice positively did receive there the very last item of her demands.

3. How Christ could render satisfaction to Divine justice, while, at the same time, He was the Being to whom satisfaction was rendered, and the very Being who rendered it.

4. How it came to pass that, while the Divine nature is utterly unsusceptible of pain and death, nevertheless the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ have all their value and efficacy from the Divine nature of the Victim. We know it is so, but we know nothing further.

5. How there could be, in the one person of Christ upon the Cross, such a wonderful union of grandeur and humiliation–of complaining and omnipotence–of immortal Deity and expiring humanity! They are truths, but they are mysteries–Divine mysteries of Divine truth.

6. How that Son on the Cross, in whom the Father was well pleased, could have been abandoned at such a moment, and left to wail, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?. How the love of God should ever have brought Jesus Christ to the Cross.

II. The demonstration that all this mysteriousness is no greater than we ought to expect on the subject-matter before us. It perfectly accords with all the facts and all the other arrangements of the plan of redemption. In this accordance beams out the wisdom of God.

1. Sin was the great evil which brought our Saviour into the world and took Him to the Cross. And the existence of sin is just as mysterious a matter to us as its expiation. If sin is a mystery, the expiation of it ought to be a mystery also. And so it is. Great is the mystery of godliness, &c.

2. Why did the Son of God select this world as the theatre of His redeeming wonders? Spirits as precious as ours had fallen. Why did God pass angels by when He rescued us? No answer comes, except, Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. There we must leave it. And if it be a mystery how God came to select this apostate world, it accords with God that that work itself should be a mystery also.

3. There is an entire correspondence between the doctrines of Christs expiation of sin and satisfaction of justice, and all the other information we have about the Saviour Himself. The incarnation of Jesus ,Christ is just as mysterious to us as His atonement. That Jesus Christ should be able to give strength to the poor cripples bones, and yet be Himself weary and wayworn–that He should feed thousands of men, and yet be a man of hunger–that He should please the Father, and yet the Father be pleased to bruise Rim, these are things before which faith and love may wonder and adore, but which reason can never explain!

4. There is something truly amazing in the mode of the redemption of sinners. If it were so, that Jesus Christ were coming into this world to ransom sinners, we should naturally have expected that He would come in the chariots of His omnipotence! But He was a poor man, and at the end of His work, instead of receiving any signals of triumph, He was mocked as an impostor and crucified as a malefactor. This is the mode in which God treated His Son! It corresponds with the mysteries of its design.

5. Through this Christ some sinners are brought into favour with God. They are believers. They are adopted into Gods family, and He loves them with an unequalled tenderness and strength. But how does He treat them? The very pathway by which they travel to heaven corresponds in wonders with all the rest of their redemption! (L S. Spencer, D. D.)

Christianity the wisdom of God in a mystery

I. Mystery primarily signifies a secret, and Christianity is the wisdom of God in a mystery, because of its having been long a secret. It was ordained before the foundation of the world it was a Divine plan formed in the mind of God, but, from eternity to the point of time when it was needed, it remained a secret there. But at the moment of mans fall then came the wisdom of God out of this long mystery. And whilst justice shut the gates of paradise, mercy opened the new and living way to reconciliation and friendship with God. But the apostle speaks of Gods purpose to call the Gentiles as a mystery. The wisdom of God had retired behind the impenetrable cloud for ages till our Saviour gave the charter of salvation to all nations–Go ye into all the world, &c.

II. A mystery is an emblem, and Christianity is the wisdom of God in a mystery, because it has delighted in all ages to array itself in emblem. The parables of our Lord were called mysteries for this reason, and the golden candlesticks and the stars in the Book of the Revelation. But the object of a mystery, in this respect, is not so much concealment as to test whether men love the truth sufficiently to investigate the figures under which it is presented. The wisdom of God chose the ancient types for the manifestation of itself. All nature is made use of in this respect. The sun is the established emblem of Christ, the light of the world. In the shadows of evening the voice of heavenly wisdom admonishes us that the night cometh in which no man can work. Dews and rains remind us of the great promise of the fertilising and life-giving Spirit. It was for this very reason that the sacraments were anciently called mysteries. Baptism teaches us the washing away of sin, and the Lords Supper that we live by His death.

III. A mystery is a deep and dark enigma, and Christianity is the wisdom of God in a mystery, because it is by the most perplexing circumstances that it has often accomplished its designs. Take–

1. The humiliation of our Lord. The great pretensions of all the prophets were that He was to save and redeem and reign. Well, this Saviour is seen in the form of an infant–is placed in entire obscurity for thirty years. He was despised and rejected by the people at large, and His character and designs often perplexed His immediate followers. By and by we see this universal sovereign and Saviour expiring on a Cross, and provoking the taunt, He saved others, but Himself He cannot save. Yet, however deep that mystery, there was wisdom behind it, and on the morning of the resurrection the wisdom of God came forth from the mystery. There seems to be an allusion to this in the words of St. Paul: Great, says he, is the mystery of godliness, &c.

2. The history of the Church. There have been so many manifestations of the wisdom of God in the mystery that certainly there is something for faith to rest upon with respect to the grand result as to the Church; and yet how deep and portentous are the clouds which arise before the mind of him who contemplates the apostasies of the Church, &c.

IV. A mystery is a proceeding which contradicts the notions which men ordinarily form of fitness; and Christianity is the wisdom of God in a mystery, because it employs, for the accomplishment of its proposes, means which contradict all the notions of men.

1. There was nothing agreeable to human wisdom in the agents appointed for the conversion of the world; but Paul tells us that the wisdom of God had proved stronger than the wisdom of men, and that God had chosen the weak things to confound the mighty, &c. The mystery was to the men of the world; the wisdom in the mystery was manifested in the end.

2. There is the soul of a man immersed in worldliness and sin to be made sensible of its sin and danger–to have produced within it a new train of emotions which shall lead to God. What is the instrumentality which the wisdom of God employs in producing this effect? Is it the work of an angel? Verily it were worthy of such an agency. But now the wisdom of God veils itself in mystery, and makes use of a fellow-man, and by the secret influence which God gives, the work is done.

3. A soul reconciled to God is to be matured in grace and to be qualified for glory. How often does the wisdom of God, in accomplishing this great end, wrap itself in mystery! One object is to cure the spirit of worldly care, and a load of additional care is laid upon it. Another object is to teach reflectiveness of spirit, and the subject is plunged in most perplexing circumstances. Another object is to increase the peace of the soul; and yet the soul is placed in the midst of the turbulent storm. Another object is to excite a higher love, and yet the heavier stroke of the Lord is laid upon him. Here is the mystery; but we know the wisdom notwithstanding this, for tribulation worketh patience, &c.

4. A nation sunk in ignorance and immorality is to be raised into a better state. How is it done? Never by means which are at all taken into the calculation of statesmen. God raises up His own instruments–they may be few in number–from the lower class of society, and the work goes on, principles are secretly spreading, and the scene changes. It is amusing to read the theories of the worldly wise on these changes, whereas the whole proves that the wisdom of God has been proceeding in a mystery to them.

5. And so it is with respect to foreign missions.

V. A mystery is as unfathomable subject, and Christianity is the wisdom of God in a mystery, because the subjects with which it is conversant are of this kind. There are many persons who object to our religion because of its mysteriousness. But what would a religion be that had no mysteries? What view could you have of God if you could comprehend Him? God is eternal–can the creature of a day take in the idea of eternal duration? Gods plans must be like Himself; must they, then, not be incomprehensible by the necessity of nature to creatures like ourselves? The subject is clear, but our minds are clouded by reason of darkness, We cannot perceive the beauty and the proportions of an extended landscape, not because the objects in themselves are indistinct, but because they are distant.

VI. Christianity is a mystery of love. Great has been the manifestation of the goodness of God to His people. Christ has come–the Holy Spirit has been poured out–the ordinances of Christianity instituted; but there is a period coming of still greater glory for the Church. They whom Christ has redeemed are to be with Him for ever and see His glory. (R. Watson.)

The mystery of the gospel

I. In its principles. It reveals reconciliation with God,

1. By sacrifice.

2. By the sacrifice of His own dear Son.

II. In its spirituality.

1. It is revealed by the Spirit of God.

2. To the spirit of man.

3. By faith.

III. In its design.

1. To manifest the glory of God.

2. Secure the glorification of man. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The mystery of the gospel

The gospel–

I. May well be mysterious–for it is the wisdom of God.

II. Must be acknowledged to be mysterious. For its doctrines–

1. Transcend human thought.

2. Are spiritual in their nature.

3. Are in opposition to our common modes of thinking,

III. Is wisely mysterious.

1. To command our reverence.

2. Humble our pride.

3. Provoke our inquiry.

4. Awaken anticipation of a brighter revelation in another life. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Mystery

The word has four meanings which may be arranged almost in chronological order.

I. That which it is forbidden to divulge except to the initiated. Such were the secrets of the political and religious festivals held in most cities of Greece. We have a trace of this meaning in Mat 13:2. In 2Pe 1:16 it is said that the apostles did not follow the false track of rationalised myths, but were eye-witnesses by initiation of Christs majesty (Col 2:3).

II. That which cannot be known except by revelation (cf. Rom 16:25; Eph 3:3-4; Col 1:26)

.

III. Sacred ceremonies that have a symbolical or spiritual significance; sometimes restricted to denote the Eucharist. After the time of Tertullian this is its prevailing signification, and its Latin equivalent is sacramentum.

IV. A truth that transcends the human intellect to comprehend, and this may be absolute impossibility or impossible till the Spirit of God gives an inward revelation. In the present passage the word includes somewhat of all these meanings except the third. The word perfect, while it signifies full-grown, contains an allusion to initiation into mysteries. (Principal Edwards.)

Mystery no obstacle to faith

Each human being at his birth has everything to learn. The child is apt to imagine that those who are older than himself, and whom he has found able to answer his first inquiries, know almost everything, and he is surprised and disappointed when he finds, in many instances, that no sufficient explanation of his difficulties can be given, and he is inclined to disbelieve whatever offers itself as a mystery to his mind. In this vulnerable point, scepticism in reference to subjects of a religious nature is wont to assail the mind. It would have it believed that mystery is something peculiar to religion, and then insists that what is so incomprehensible cannot rationally be believed. But neither is true. We purpose to show the contrary.

I. There is mystery in everything.

1. Of nothing can we feel a greater certainty than of our own being and personal identity. But what am I? I can no more understand the essence of my conscious self, than I can that of God the Infinite Spirit. The philosopher here is no wiser than the child.

2. Turn to nature in any of her various departments. Look, e.g., at–

(1) The facts presented in the animal kingdom. Explain the nature of instinct. Observe that spider, which has spread her gossamer across your window. How did she learn to construct that octagon as perfect as if drawn by the nicest geometrician? Or watch the robin; that nest is the first she ever built: yet see how perfect–the most practised of her kind has never formed a better. Where did she gain her skill in architecture?

(2) Animal life and the functions of the vital economy. What is it that prevents the decomposition of the flesh of animals so long as the vital principle is there, while decay commences the moment it is gone? Tell us how it is that the gross substances taken in the form of food are converted into the beautiful carnation of the human cheek, and the gorgeous and variegated dyes of birds and insects. Show what it is that keeps the heart for ever throbbing, and the lungs perpetually heaving, without any effort of the will.

(3) The vegetable world. There is the rose blushing crimson by your window. What elements have been concerned in its production? Light, heat, moisture, and the common earth. But by what means have the petal, the odour, and the hues been elaborated from such materials? How has the same sap been made to produce the hard stalk, the sharp thorn, the green leaf, and the admirable flower? There, too, is the lily by its side. It springs from the same soil, is warmed by the same sun, watered by the same showers, yet instead of having the same colour it is white as the virgin snow. Again, there is the grass and the violet that both spring from one common mould, and yet, one is a soft and lively green, and the other an imperial purple.

(4) Inorganic matter. You have here the laws of chemical affinity and repulsion. You find that certain substances when reduced to a fluid state and then placed in given conditions, return to solids by the process of crystallisation; and that in doing this one always takes the cubic form, another always that of an octahedron, another always that of a parallelopiped, and so on. But of these, and a multitude of other plain and unquestionable facts, you cannot by the nicest observation detect the cause, or the mode of its operation. Nature veils it in deep mystery.

(5) Those subtle yet efficient agents that produce the more general and grand phenomena of nature. Put an end to the conjectures of mankind, by telling us what light, and heat, and electricity, and magnetism are. That mighty universal force, to which, by way of concealing our ignorance, we give the name of gravity, which brings the pebble to the earth, and chains revolving worlds about their centres; search out the secret and instruct us in relation to its nature. You cannot answer our inquiries. You see, then, that mystery is written all over the universe of God.

II. That the truths of revealed religion are confessedly mysterious, is a confirmation of its Divinity.

1. A system of religion which professed to be from God, and yet claimed to have no mysteries, would prove it to be false. For such a system would be anomalous, and we should justly reason that if earthly things are found to be beyond our comprehension, much more ought heavenly things to be expected to be so. To the Omniscient only are there no dark and hidden things.

2. There may be many other reasons besides that of our want of capacity to comprehend Him, to render it fit that God should withhold from us many kinds and degrees of knowledge which might without difficulty be imparted. It might, for example, only perplex us to have our minds excited to yet higher inquiry by further disclosures as to things that have no immediate relation to our duty or our happiness for the present. Life is so short, so full of engrossing occupation, that very little time is allowed us for merely speculative thought. Then, further, it is no less obvious that this living in the midst of mysteries may prove a most salutary moral discipline. By contact with the as yet unopened secrets of the universe our pride receives a salutary check. Both as regards the ends of practical life and the development in our souls of sentiments of humility, of veneration, and of worship, there are great advantages to be derived from the present withholding of many parts of Divine knowledge which might possibly be revealed.

3. Instead, then, of suffering ourselves to be perplexed because we encounter mysteries in the Christian revelation, it is much wiser, as well as more becoming, that we cultivate a humble, docile spirit. How exceedingly limited, at best, is our horizon! What an infant, in a sober view, does the wisest man on earth appear on the scale of universal being!

4. We ought likewise to consider, for the enkindling of a heartfelt gratitude, that the mysteries of our being had been far deeper and darker than they are, but for the partial light which God has afforded in His Word. By the help of this, where the wisest heathen, in all ages, have groped their way, we are able to see distinctly; and though we are able to know so little comparatively, yet let us devotedly praise God that He has enabled us to know enough to enable us to discern and keep the path of duty and of life.

5. For the rest it may content us that we can confidently anticipate the future increase of our knowledge. (Ray Palmer, D. D.)

Christianity mysterious, and the wisdom of God in making it so

The reasons of this may be stated upon these two grounds.

I. The nature and quality of the things treated of.

1. Their surpassing greatness to the mind of man. God is an infinite being, a world in Himself, too high for our speculations and too great for our descriptions. Heaven enters into us, as we must into it, by a very narrow passage. But how shall the King of glory, whom the heavens themselves cannot contain, enter in by these doors? How shall these short faculties measure the lengths of His eternity, the breadths of His immensity, the heights of His prescience, and the depths of His decrees? and those mysteries of two natures united into one person and of one nature diffused into a triple personality?

2. Their spirituality. When we read that God is a Spirit, and that angels and the souls of men are spirits, we cannot frame any notion or resemblance of them. We can fetch in no information from our senses. Imagine a man born blind, able upon hearsay to conceive all the varieties of colour, to draw a map of France, &c. But as it would be extremely irrational for a blind man to deny that there are such things as colours, &c., because he cannot form any mental perception of them, so would it be superlatively more unreasonable for us to deny on the same grounds the great articles of our Christianity.

3. Their strangeness and unreducibleness to the common methods and observations of nature. Take, e.g.—

(1) Christs satisfaction for sin. That He who was the offended person should provide a satisfaction and concern Himself to solicit a needless reconciliation, that a Father should deliver up an innocent and infinitely beloved Son for the redemption of His enemies, are transactions such as we can find nothing analogous to in all the dealings of men.

(2) Regeneration, concerning which men wonder by what strange power it should come to pass that any one should be brought to conquer inveterate appetites and desires, and to have new ones absolutely contrary planted in their room. So that when our Saviour discoursed of these things to Nicodemus, he asked, How can these things be?

(3) The resurrection.

II. Some of its principal ends and designs. But may it not be objected that the grand design of religion is to engage men in the practice of its commands, and that the way to obey a law is to know it, and the way to know it is to have it plainly propounded? To this I answer, first, that it is as much the design of religion to oblige men to believe the credenda as to practise the agenda of it: and secondly, that there is as clear a reason for the belief of the one as for the practice of the other. They exceed indeed the human reason to comprehend them scientifically, and are therefore proposed, not to our knowledge, but to our belief; but since God has revealed them we may with the highest reason, upon His bare word, believe them. But then, as for those things that concern our practice, they indeed are of that clearness that being once proposed to us, need not our study, but only our acceptance. In sum, the articles of our faith are those depths in which the elephant may swim, and the rules of our practice those shallows in which the lamb may wade. But as both light and darkness make but one natural day, so both the clearness of the agenda and the mystery of the credenda of the gospel constitute but one entire religion. I come now to show that the mysteriousness of the credenda, or matters of our faith, is most subservient to the great ends of religion.

1. Because religion in its prime institution was designed to make impressions of awe and reverential fear upon mens minds. God, who designed man to a supernatural end, thought fit also to engage him to a way of living above the bare course of nature, and for that purpose to oblige him to a control of his mere natural desires. And this can never be done but by imprinting such apprehensions of dread as may stave off appetite from its desired satisfactions, which the infinite wisdom of God has thought fit to do, by nonplussing the world with certain new and unaccountable revelations. To protect which from the encroachments of bold minds, He has hedged it in with a sacred obscurity in some of the principal parts of it, inasmuch as familiarity breeds contempt.

2. Because religion is delivered by God to humble the pride of mans reason. Man fell by pride, founded upon an irregular desire of knowledge, and therefore Divine wisdom contrived mans recovery by such a method as should abase him in that very perfection, whereof the ambitious improvement first cast him down from that glorious condition.

3. Because He would engage us in a more diligent search into the articles of religion. No man studies things plain and evident. We are commanded by Christ to search the Scriptures, and whosoever shall apply himself to a thorough performance of this high command, shall find difficulty enough in the things searched into to perpetuate his search. For they are a rich mine which the greatest wit and diligence may dig in for ever and still find new matter to entertain the busiest contemplation with, even to the utmost period of the most extended life. Truth, we are told, dwells low, and in a bottom; and the most valued things of the creation are hidden from the common view, so that violence must be done to nature, before she will produce and bring them forth.

4. Because the full know]edge of it may be one principal part of our blessedness hereafter. All those heights and depths which confound the subtlest apprehension shall then be made clear to us. (R. South, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 7. The wisdom of God in a mystery] The GOSPEL of Jesus Christ, which had been comparatively hidden from the foundation of the world, (the settling of the Jewish economy, as this phrase often means,) though appointed from the beginning to be revealed in the fulness of time. For, though this Gospel was, in a certain sense, announced by the prophets, and prefigured by the law, yet it is certain that even the most intelligent of the Jewish rulers, their doctors, scribes, and Pharisees, had no adequate knowledge of it; therefore it was still a mystery to them and others, till it was so gloriously revealed by the preaching of the apostles.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery; we preach the gospel, where the righteousness in which alone men can another day appear, and be accepted before God, is revealed from faith to faith. It is indeed a sacred secret, a mystery to many men, but it is the wisdom of God, a doctrine directing the best means to the best end of man.

Even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: it is hidden wisdom: it was ordained of God before the world unto our glory, the way of salvation for man, which he had from all eternity ordained and decreed; but it lay hidden in the secret counsels of God till the latter ages of the world, when it pleased God to send forth his Son into the world to publish it, and after him to appoint us to be the preachers and publishers of it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. wisdom of Godemphaticallycontrasted with the wisdom of men and of this world(1Co 2:5; 1Co 2:6).

in a mysteryconnectedin construction with “we speak”: We speak as dealing with amystery; that is not something to be kept hidden, but whatheretofore was so, but is now revealed. Whereas the paganmysteries were revealed only to a chosen few, the Gospel mysterieswere made known to all who would obey the truth. “If our Gospelbe hid, it is hid to them that are lost” (2Co4:3), “whom the God of this world hath blinded.“Ordinarily we use “mystery” in reference to those from whomthe knowledge is withheld; the apostles, in reference to thoseto whom it is revealed [WHATELY].It is hidden before it is brought forward, and when it is broughtforward it still remains hidden to those that are imperfect [BENGEL].

ordainedliterally,”foreordained” (compare 1Co2:9), “prepared for them that love Him.”

before the worldrather,”before the ages” (of time), that is, from eternity.This infinitely antedates worldly wisdom in antiquity. It was beforenot only the wisdom of the world, but eternally before the worlditself and its ages.

to our gloryours bothnow and hereafter, from “the Lord of glory” (1Co2:8), who brings to naught “the princes of thisworld.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But we speak the wisdom of God,…. Not of men, not of the wise politicians, the learned philosophers and Rabbins; that which human wisdom has no hand in forming, nor in revealing, nor in propagating, and which is disliked and disapproved of by it: the Gospel is the sole produce of divine wisdom, and in which there is a glorious display of it; even in those doctrines which are the most charged with folly, as salvation by a crucified Christ, justification by his righteousness, pardon by his blood, satisfaction by his sacrifice, c.

in a mystery it is mysterious wisdom. The Gospel is full of mysteries; there is the mystery of God, of a trinity of persons in the divine essence; the mystery of Christ, of his person, as God manifest in the flesh, of his divine sonship, and incarnation in the womb of a virgin; the mystery of the Spirit’s grace in regeneration, of the saints’ union to Christ, and communion with him, the resurrection of the same body, the change of living saints at Christ’s coming, with many others:

even the hidden wisdom; the Gospel lay hid in God, in the thoughts of his heart, in the deep things of his mind, the counsels of his will, and purposes of his grace; it was hid in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; it was hid under the types and shadows of the ceremonial law; and is hid in the Scriptures, which must be diligently searched for it, as for hidden treasures. It was hid from angels, and from Adam, until revealed; it was in some measure hid from the Jews under the former dispensation, to whom it was made known; and in some sense from believers, under the present dispensation, who as yet know it but in part; and is entirely hid from natural men, even from the most wise and prudent among them. This epithet expresses the preciousness, secrecy, and also security of the Gospel; hidden things being commonly of value, and being kept secret, are also safe; hidden and secret wisdom has been always esteemed, both by Greeks and Jews: hence that saying u of the latter,

“he that would be rich in learning of the law,

“and that wisdom which is hidden”, in a hidden and secret place, should hide and secrete himself from the children of men.”

The apostle adds,

which God ordained before the world. The Egyptians and Grecians boasted much of the “earliness” of their wisdom, but neither of them are to be mentioned with the Gospel for the antiquity of it; it is the birth of God’s counsels of old, the produce of his purposes, which he purposed in Christ before the world was; a scheme of things he drew in his eternal mind; it is a transcript of the council of peace and covenant of grace, which were from everlasting; what the Jews w say of the law, is much more true of the Gospel,

“that it was treasured up with God (they say two thousand years, and sometimes nine hundred and seventy four ages), before the world was created;”

and often speak of it as one of the seven things created before the world was x. Moreover, this was to our glory; under the present dispensation, which by reason of the Gospel has a glory in it surpassing the former; it is to the glory both of the ministers of it, whose honour it is to be employed in preaching it, and in being by it the instruments of converting such who will be their glory another day, and to the glory of all believers who are by it called to the obtaining of the glory of Christ Jesus.

u Caphtor, fol. 81. w T. Bab. Zebacbim, fol. 116. 1. Zohar. in Exod. fol. 20. 4. & 35. 1, 2. & 66. 3. & in Numb. fol. 66. 3. x T. Bab. Pesachim. fol. 54. 1. Nedarim, fol. 39. 2. Zohar. in Lev. fol. 14. 4. Targum Jon. ben Uzziel in Gen. iii. 24.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

God’s wisdom in a mystery ( ). Two points are here sharply made. It is God’s wisdom (note emphatic position of the genitive ) in contrast to the wisdom of this age. Every age of the world has a conceit of its own and it is particularly true of this twentieth century, but God’s wisdom is eternal and superior to the wisdom of any age or time. God’s wisdom is alone absolute. See on 2:1 for mystery. It is not certain whether

in a mystery is to be taken with

wisdom or

we speak . The result does not differ greatly, probably with

wisdom , so long a secret and now at last revealed (Col 1:26; 2Thess 2:7).

That hath been hidden ( ). See Rom 16:25; Col 1:26; Eph 3:5. Articular perfect passive participle of , more precisely defining the indefinite (wisdom).

Foreordained before the worlds ( ). This relative clause () defines still more closely God’s wisdom. Note with both verb and substantive (). Constative aorist of God’s elective purpose as shown in Christ crucified (1Co 1:18-24). “It was no afterthought or change of plan” (Robertson and Plummer).

Unto our glory ( ). “The glory of inward enlightenment as well as of outward exaltation” (Lightfoot).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

In a mystery. Connect with we speak. See on Mt 13:11; Rom 11:25. 80 The in [] has a kind of instrumental force : by means of a mystery; i e., by delivering a doctrine hidden from the human understanding and revealed to us by God.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.” At least Paul, Peter, and Luke, missionary helpers and companions of Paul, wrote, unveiled, and disclosed former mysteries to Christian brethren.

1) Paul, 1Co 15:51-53; Eph 3:3-10; 1Ti 3:16.

2) Peter, 1Pe 1:18-19; If Pe 3:16-18.

3) Luke, Act 2:16-24; Act 15:15-18,

2) “Even the hidden wisdom.” (Greek ten a ‘ pokekrumenen) (that is) “the having been hidden, concealed, or veiled” (Greek musterio) “mystery” 1) First, that the Redeemer should appear in the flesh and 2) Second, that He should establish the church from among the Gentiles, Dan 2:44-45; Eph 3:9-12.

3) “Which God ordained.” (Greek proorisen ho theos) “which (mystery) God set in order”. Peter tells of this, as well as Paul, 1Pe 1:18-19; 1Ti 3:16; Eph 1:4-14. True saints of God, members of His church, glory in His revealed mysteries in Christ and the Church, Mat 13:10-11; Mat 13:34-35; Mat 13:51.

4) “Before the world unto our glory.” (Greek pro ton aionon) “before the ages” (eis doksan hemon) “unto or with reference to the glory of us.” God in His wisdom provided for our salvation and service 1) Jesus as our redeemer, foretold in types and shadows in the Old Testament and 2) the Church also included in His plans to provide a program of worship and service for us in the Gentile age, though hidden or veiled to the masses to whom it did not belong, Mat 26:30-32; Zec 13:7; Mat 28:16-20; . Dan 2:44-45; Eph 3:4-11; Eph 5:23; Eph 5:32.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

7. The wisdom of God in a mystery He assigns the reason why the doctrine of the gospel is not held in high esteem by the princes of this world — because it is involved in mysteries, and is consequently hidden For the gospel so far transcends the perspicacity of human intellect, that to whatever height those who are accounted men of superior intellect may raise their view, they never can reach its elevated height, while in the meantime they despise its meanness, as if it were prostrate at their feet. The consequence is, that the more proudly they contemn it, they are the farther from acquaintance with it — nay more, they are removed to so great a distance as to be prevented from even seeing it.

Which God hath ordained. Paul having said that the gospel was a hidden thing, there was a danger lest believers should, on hearing this, be appalled by the difficulty, and retire in despair. Accordingly he meets this danger, and declares that it had notwithstanding been appointed to us, that we might enjoy it. Lest any one, I say, should reckon that he has nothing to do with the hidden wisdom, or should imagine it to be unlawful to direct his eyes towards it, as not being within the reach of human capacity, he teaches that it has been communicated to us in accordance with the eternal counsel of God. At the same time he has something still farther in view, for by an implied comparison he extols that grace which has been opened up by Christ’s advent, and distinguishes us above our fathers, who lived under the law. On this point I have spoken more at large in the end of the last chapter of the Romans. First of all then he argues from what God had ordained, for if God has appointed nothing in vain, it follows, that we will be no losers by listening to the gospel which he has appointed for us, for he accommodates himself to our capacity in addressing us. In accordance with this Isaiah (Isa 45:19) says —

“

I have not spoken in a lurking place, or in a dark corner. (114) I have not in vain said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me.”

Secondly, with the view of rendering the gospel attractive, and alluring us to a desire of acquaintance with it, he draws an argument still farther from the design that God had in view in giving it to us — “ for our glory. ” In this expression, too, he seems to draw a comparison between us and the fathers, our heavenly Father not having vouchsafed to them that honor which he reserved for the advent of his Son. (115)

(114) “In allusion, it is generally thought, to the deep and dark caverns from which the heathen oracles gave forth their responses. Such was the cave (antrum) of the Cumean Sibyl, described by Virgil, AEn. 6:42-44, and also the cavern in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, described by Strabo (lib. 9.) “ φασι δ ᾿ ειναι το μαντειον αντρον κοιλον μετα βαθους, ου μαλα ευροστομον;” — “They say that the oracle is a hollow cavern of considerable depth, but not at all wide in the opening.” — Ed

(115) Locke, in accordance with Calvin’s view, understands Paul as if he had said: “Why do you make divisions, by glorying, as you do, in your distinct teachers? The glory that God has ordained us (Christian teachers and professors) to, is to be expounders, preachers, and believers of those revealed truths and purposes of God, which, though contained in the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament, were not understood in former ages.” — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(7) In a mystery.The writer explains in these words the plan on which his speaking of Gods wisdom proceeded, that he dealt with it as the ancient mysteries were dealt with, explaining certain truths only to the initiated, and not to all (1Co. 4:1; Col. 1:26).

Hidden.Heretofore unrevealed, but now made manifest in Christ and by His teachers (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:10). And this has been in accordance with what God ordained before the beginning of time, to our glory, as distinct from the humiliation of the worlds teaching, which is coming to nought.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

7. Wisdom of God Note on 1Co 1:17.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Co 2:7. We speak the wisdom of God The wisdom of God is used here for the doctrine of the Gospel, coming immediately from God by the revelation of his Spirit; and in this chapter it is set in opposition to all knowledge, discoveries, and improvements whatsoever, attainable by human industry, parts, and study, all which he calls the wisdom of the world, and man’s wisdom;thus distinguishing the knowledge of the Gospel, which was derived wholly from revelation, and could be had no other way, from all other knowledge whatsoever. What the Spirit of God had revealed of the Gospel during the times of the law, was so little understood by the Jews, in whose sacred writings it was contained, that it might well be called the wisdom of God in a mystery, that is to say, declared in obscure prophesies, and mysterious expressions and types. Though this be undoubtedly so, as appears by what the Jews both thought and did, when Jesus the Messiah, exactly answering what was foretold of him, came among them, yet by the wisdom of God in a mystery, wherein it was hid, though proposed by God before the settling of the Jewish oeconomy, St. Paul seems more particularly to mean what the Gentiles, and consequently the Corinthians, were more peculiarly concerned in; viz. God’s purpose of calling the Gentiles to be his people under the Messiah; which, though revealed in the Old Testament, yet was not in the least understood till the times of the Gospel, and the preaching of St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, which therefore he so frequently calls a mystery. The reading and comparing Rom 16:25-26, Eph 3:3-9, Eph 6:19-20, Col 1:26-27, Col 2:1-8 and Col 4:3-4 will give light to this. To which give me leave to observe upon the use of the word wisdom here, that St. Paul, speaking of God’s calling the Gentiles, cannot, in mentioning it, forbear expressions of his admiration of the great and incomprehensible wisdom of God therein. See Eph 3:8; Eph 3:10, Rom 11:33. The term , signifies properly, before the ages; and I think it may be doubted whether these words, before the world, do exactly render the sense of the place. That , or , should not be translated the world, as in many places they are, I shall give one convincing instance, among many that might be brought, viz. Eph 3:9 compared with Col 1:26. The words in Colossians are, , thus rendered in the English translation, which hath been hidden from ages; but in Eph 3:9 a parallel place, the same words , are translated, The mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid; whereas it is plain from Col 1:26 that , does not signify the epoch or commencement of the concealment, but those from whom it was concealed. It is plain that the Apostle, in the verse immediately preceding, and that following this which we have before us, speaks of the Jews; and therefore the phrase here, may be well understood to mean before the ages of the Jews; and so , from the ages of the Jews, in the other two mentioned texts. Why the word , in these and other places, (as Luk 1:70, Act 3:21 and elsewhere,) should be appropriated to the ages of the Jews, may be owing to their counting by ages, or jubilees. See Mr. Locke, and Dr. Burthogge’s judicious treatise, “Christianity a revealed Mystery,” 100. 2. p. 17.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Co 2:7 . ] God’s philosophy , of which God is the possessor, who has made it known to those who proclaim it, 1Co 2:10 . This is with great emphasis prefixed; the repetition of , too, carries with it a certain solemnity, comp Rom 8:15 ; Phi 4:17 .

] does not belong to . (with which it was connected expressly as early as Theodoret; comp Grotius: “quae diu in arcano recondita fuit”), but to (Erasmus, Estius, Rckert, Schrader, de Wette, Osiander, Hofmann), not, however, in the sense: “ secreto et apud pauciores ” (Estius, Cornelius a Lapide), since there is no mention of a disciplina arcani (see on 1Co 2:6 ), but rather: by means of a secret , i.e. by our delivering what has been secret (a doctrine hidden from the human understanding, and revealed to us by God, see on Rom 11:25 ). To this is to be referred also the rendering of Rckert and Neander: as a mystery. Most interpreters, however, join with , sc [362] : God’s secret wisdom (unknown but for revelation). So also Pott, Heydenreich, Billroth, Tittmann, Usteri, Ewald. But the article, although after the anarthrous not in itself absolutely necessary, would be omitted here at the expense of clearness. Paul would have expressed himself with ambiguity, while he might easily have avoided it by . On the other hand, if he joined . to , he could not, seeing that he wished to prefix . for the sake of emphasis, write otherwise.

.] as respects its nature , by virtue of which it not only had been hidden from all preceding generations, but remained unknown apart from divine revelation. Comp 1Co 2:9-10 ; Rom 16:25 . The word, which in itself might be dispensed with, is added in order to introduce the following statement with completeness and solemnity.

. . . [364] ] There is no ground here for supplying (with the majority of expositors, including Pott and Heydenreich) , , or the like, or (with Olshausen) a dative of the person; or yet for assuming, as do Billroth and Rckert, that Paul meant by the object of the wisdom, the salvation obtained through Christ. For . has its complete and logically correct reference in . (comp Eph 1:5 ), so that the thought is: “ to which wisdom God has, before the beginning of the ages of this world (in eternity), given the predestination that by it we should attain to glory .” This . . corresponds significantly to the . of 1Co 2:6 , and denotes the Messianic glory of the Christians which is to begin with the Parousia (Rom 8:17 ; Rom 8:29 f.; 1Th 2:12 ). That wisdom of God is destined in the eternal divine plan of salvation not to become (Hofmann) this glory, but to establish and to realize it. This destination it attains in virtue of the faith of the subjects (1Co 1:21 ); but the reference to the spiritual glorification on earth is not even to be assumed as included with the other (in opposition to de Wette, Osiander, Neander, and many older expositors), as also the correlative in 1Co 2:8 applies purely to the heavenly glory. Bengel says well: “olim revelandam, tum cum principes mundi destruentur.” It reveals itself then as the wisdom that makes blessed , having attained in the of believers the end designed for it by God before the beginning of the world.

[362] c. scilicet .

[364] . . . .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1937
MYSTERIOUSNESS OF THE GOSPEL

1Co 2:7. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.

AMONGST persons of intelligence, nothing is so highly esteemed as wisdom. And well may it be preferred to every other attainment; because it elevates its possessor in the scale of being, and assimilates him to the highest order of finite intelligences. Even the wisdom that is merely human is deservedly ranked far above all the riches or honours of the world: and much more does divine wisdom merit this place in the estimation of mankind. It is of this latter wisdom in particular that we are now to speak. But, in truth, it far exceeds all human comprehension: for it is the wisdom of God himself; and that wisdom, too, in a mystery, that from all eternity was hid in the bosom of the Most High. Yet is it sufficiently intelligible to answer all the purposes for which it has been revealed, and to enrich the souls of all to whom the attainment of it is vouchsafed. That which contains it all is the Gospel: and it is my intention, at this time, to shew what there is in the Gospel which entitles it to this high character. There are four things, which I will specify:

I.

The profundity of its principles

The great principle of the Gospel is precisely that which was typified under the LawReconciliation with God through the sacrifice of his Son. Contemplate this:

Reconciliation with God!
[What a mystery! Consider the greatness of the Divine Majesty: consider the meanness and worthlessness of the human race, who, whether they were annihilated, or consumed in the regions of eternal misery, would not be missed from the creation of God; who needs them not, nor can receive any thing from them; and who could, if he pleased, by a mere act of volition, create millions of holy beings to supply their place. Why are they not left to their fate? Why does the Most High God concern himself about them? Why, when they have sinned like the fallen angels, are they not left, like them, to reap the bitter fruit of their wickedness? How can we conceive that God should ever think of being reconciled to such rebellious creatures? Even if a proposal to this effect had first come from man, we could not conceive that God should ever accede to it: how much less then can we imagine, that when no such desire was evinced by man, the proposal should ever originate with our offended God?
But contemplate further,]
Reconciliation by sacrifice!
[What can there be in sacrifice that should answer any such end as this? How can that which is innocent be substituted in the place of the guilty? If such a proposal were made, how could a holy God acquiesce in it? And where could a victim be found? Shall the blood of bulls and of goats take away sin? Impossible. Should the highest archangel offer himself for us? What could he effect, either by doing or suffering, for us? What could he do, beyond what he is by the very law of his creation bound to do? or what could any sufferings of his avail for expiating the guilt of a fallen world? But contemplate yet further,]
Reconciliation by the sacrifice of Gods only dear Son!
[Impossible! The co-equal, co-eternal Son of God be given for such an end! The eternal God become a man! The Creator of all things substitute himself in the place of his creatures! The Lord of Life and Glory die, and bear the curse due to sin, yea, and expiate thereby the guilt of the very persons who nailed him to the cross! Truly, if God has revealed all this in his Gospel, it must be true: but nothing less than the most unquestionable evidence of such a revelation having actually proceeded from God can warrant us to entertain the thought of a reconciliation effected by such means as these.]
But, to get a clearer insight into the mystery of the Gospel, let us notice,

II.

The comprehensiveness of its provisions

Nothing in it is wanting that can contribute to,

1.

The honour of God

[Were the Gospel at all deficient in this view, it would be impossible for God to approve of it. But there is not a perfection of the Deity which is not honoured by it. The justice of God has all its demands satisfied: the holiness of God is displayed in the brightest colours: his truth is kept inviolate: yea, all the perfections of God are more glorified in this way of exercising mercy, than they would have been if man had never fallen, or never been redeemed. In truth, it is this which gives to the Gospel its chief value: it is valuable, doubtless, as saving man; but it is infinitely more valuable as displaying and magnifying the glory of God.]

2.

The salvation of man

[Needs fallen man the removal of his guilt? it is removed from him, as far as the east is from the west, by virtue of this sacrifice. Be it so: the debt we had contracted was infinite: but infinite also was the value of that blood which was shed to expiate our guilt; so that justice itself, being satisfied by our Surety, has nothing to demand at our hands. Does man need also the renovation of his nature? For this also is ample provision made, seeing that by virtue of the blood of Christ the gift of the Holy Spirit is purchased for us; by whose Almighty agency every child of man may be renewed and sanctified, yea, and transformed also into the very image of his God. Does he need yet further a perfect righteousness wherein to stand before God? This, too, is secured to him by Christs obedience unto death: for by that a righteousness is formed perfectly commensurate with all the requirements of the law; and it is imputed to every believing soul; so that, clothed in it, he stands perfect and complete before God, without spot or blemish. Nothing that can in any way contribute to a mans peace of conscience, or holiness of life, or meetness for glory, is wanting in this stupendous mystery: all is provided for; all is secured: and in every part of it the wisdom of God is incomprehensibly and unsearchably displayed.]

The mysteriousness of the Gospel will yet further appear, if we notice,

III.

Its remoteness altogether from human apprehension

Supposing man to be informed that God had designs of mercy towards him, in what way would he expect it to be exercised? He would look for it,

1.

In a way of mere gratuitous forgiveness

[He would never once have the remotest idea of an atonement. It would appear in his eyes a perfect absurdity. In fact, it did so appear both to the Jews and Gentiles; being to the one a stumbling-block, and to the others foolishness. In this light it does appear to the wise and prudent of the present day. For, though the general notion of an atonement may be admitted, and even contended for, by many, as a sentiment in opposition to Socinians and Deists, it is really approved by those only who are taught of God the truth as it is in Jesus. The minds of all by nature lean to the side of uncovenanted mercy, as being less humiliating than that plan of forgiveness which the Gospel prescribes. The imputation of our sin to Christ, and the imputation of his righteousness to us, are doctrines at which the natural man revolts: nor is any man brought cordially to acquiesce in them, till he has been made to feel the extent of his own demerit, and his utter incapacity to do any thing which is good.

Yet, whilst we thus incline to uncovenanted mercy in preference to an atonement, we still expect that mercy,]

2.

In a way of self-righteous dependence

[To renounce all dependence on our own works appears absurd in the extreme: for, if we are not to be saved by our works, what need is there for us to perform them? To set them aside in point of merit, seems to supersede all occasion for the performance of them. Man cannot endure to discard all boasting before God. If he cannot purchase heaven altogether, he will do it in part: and if he be constrained to accept of heaven as a free gift, still he will look to himself for something which shall be a ground of preference in the sight of God, or at least a warrant for him to look to God for the communications of his grace. A free salvation, without money and without price, and apprehended solely by faith, is, to the great mass of Christians, an object of offence, rather than of desire and love.]

3.

In a way of self-confident exertion

[The doing of something to merit salvation, is always associated with the doing of it in our own strength. The natural man has no conception but that, as he is responsible for all that he does, he must of necessity have a sufficiency for all that he needs to do. The attempting of any thing in the simple exercise of faith, and in expectation of strength communicated from above, appears to him to be an enthusiastic conceit, unworthy of a sober mind. In short, every part of the Gospel salvation, whether as bringing us to God or fitting us for the enjoyment of him, is the very reverse of what the natural man would either suggest or approve. It cannot even he understood by any who possess not a spiritual discernment, nor ever is received but through the teaching of the Holy Spirit.]

Distant, however, as it is, from human apprehensions, we cannot but acknowledge,

IV.

Its suitableness to the end proposed

Does God propose to humble the sinner?

[Nothing effects that work like the Gospel: for in the death of Christ he sees the awful desert of sin, and the impossibility of obtaining mercy without an adequate atonement for it. In the requirement of a life of faith on the Son of God, he sees his own utter incapacity for any thing that is good: and, in the imputation of Christs righteousness, he is constrained to acknowledge, that even his best works are full of imperfection; and that salvation, from first to last, is, and must be, by grace alone.]
Does he desire to exalt the Saviour?

[The honour of salvation is altogether reserved to Christ, as the Author and Finisher of it: and to him alone, both in heaven and earth, must all the glory of it be ascribed. Not a hope enters the sinners mind, but through his atoning sacrifice: not a prayer is offered, but through his mediation and intercession: nor to all eternity will a blessing be enjoyed, without being traced to his merit as the procuring cause, and to the influence of his grace as the efficient cause: so entirely will the glory of it all be given to him alone.]
Does he determine to secure holiness?

[Here it is secured, beyond a possibility of failure: nor is it found in any creature under heaven, but in him who receives the Gospel of Christ. Semblances of holiness we may find in self-righteous formalists; but real holiness in none but those who are penetrated with redeeming love. In confirmation of this truth, we appeal to the records of the Church in every age of the world. Even at the present hour, we shrink not from a comparison with all other people under heaven: and we are free to acknowledge, that the professor of religion who soars not in holiness above all the unbelievers upon earth, is unworthy of the name of Christian, and will have no part with Christ in his kingdom and glory.
Thus we trust that the Gospel, however despised by an ungodly world, is justly entitled to the appellation given it in our text, The wisdom of God in a mystery.]

See, then, from hence,
1.

What is the office of a minister

[It is to proclaim the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. We are to speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. We are appointed for this very end, even as stewards of the mysteries of God. We are not to be bringing forth notions out of our own minds; but simply to declare what God has done for the salvation of mankind, and how a guilty world may be reconciled to him. This is the ministry of reconciliation, committed unto us; and in the execution of our office, we beseech you, Be ye reconciled to God ]

2.

What is the duty of those to whom he ministers

[Is that which he brings to their ears a mystery? It becomes them to receive it into their hearts, with docility, submission, and gratitude. We expect little children to learn from us, without questioning the solidity of our judgment, or the truth of our assertions. That he cannot altogether comprehend the lessons we teach him, is no reason why we do not expect his assent to them. On the contrary, it is by their first receiving our testimony with implicit faith, that they afterwards come to see both the truth and excellence of our instructions. And it is in this way that we also must acquire the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ But we must also submit to the plan proposed by God, and seek remission altogether in the way pointed out by him And finally, we must feel our obligations to the Most High God, who has done such wonders for the salvation of our souls. Whilst on earth, we must, to a certain degree, be penetrated with the zeal and love which we shall feel in heaven; and both here and in eternity glorify him with our bodies and our spirits, which are his.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom , which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Ver. 7. Wisdom of God in a mystery ] While God did not divide himself into a merciful Father and a just Judge (as Valerius speaketh of Zaleucus), but declared himself to be both a perfectly merciful Father, and withal a perfectly just Judge; which was such an act of wisdom as the world never heard of. This is that great mystery of godliness, 1Ti 3:16 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

7. ] But we speak GOD’S wisdom (emphasis on : the wisdom which God possesses and has revealed) in a mystery ( . does not belong to ., as Theodoret and Grot., which must be . ., nor to , as Beza, Bengel, which though not absolutely, yet certainly here, seeing . immediately follows, would require the art., ., but to , ‘we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery ,’ i.e. as handling a mystery, dealing with a mystery. So . . , Eph 3:4 .

Estius and the Romanists, taking the connexion rightly, have wrested the meaning to support the disciplina arcani which they imagine to be here hinted at, explaining ., “non propalam et passim apud omnes, quia non omnes ea capiunt, sed secreto et apud pauciores, scilicet eos qui spirituales et perfecti sunt,” Est.), which has been (hitherto) hidden (see Rom 16:25 ; ref. Col.): which God foreordained (nothing need be supplied, as , or the like, after ) before the ages (of time) to ( in order to , the purpose of this preordination) our glory (our participation in the things which He has prepared for them that love Him, 1Co 2:9 ; , as contrasted with the bringing to nought of the ).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Co 2:7 . “(We speak a wisdom not of this world ) but ( , of diametrical opposition) a wisdom of God, in (shape of) a mystery.” qualifies , rather than (as Hn [340] , Ev [341] , Lt [342] read it “couched in mystery”), indicating how it is that the App. do not speak in terms of worldly wisdom, and express themselves fully to the alone: their message is a Divine secret, that the Spirit of God reveals (1Co 2:10 f.), while “the age” possesses only “the spirit of the world” (1Co 2:12 ). Hence to the age God’s wisdom is uttered “in a mystery” and remains “the hidden (wisdom)”; cf. 2Co 4:4 ; also Mat 13:13 ff. ( ), Luk 10:21 f.: = . ( cf. 1Co 15:51 ) has “its usual meaning in St. Paul’s Epp., something not comprehensible by unassisted human reason” (El [343] ; for a full account see Ed [344] , or Bt [345] , on the term). The Hellenic “mysteries,” which flourished at this time, were practised at night in an imposing dramatic form; and peculiar doctrines were taught in them, which the initiated were sworn to keep secret. This popular notion of “mystery,” as a sacred knowledge disclosed to fit persons, on their subjecting themselves to prescribed conditions, is appropriated and adapted in Bibl. Gr [346] to Divine revelation. The world at large does not perceive God’s wisdom in the cross, being wholly disqualified; the Cor [347] believers apprehend it but partially, since they have imperfectly received the revealing Spirit and are “babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1 ff.); to the App., and those like them (1Co 2:10 ff.), a full disclosure is made. When he “speaks wisdom among the ripe,” P. is not setting forth esoteric doctrines diff [348] from those preached to beginners, but the same “word of the cross” for he knows nothing greater or higher (Gal 6:14 ) in its recondite meaning and larger implications, as, e.g. , in 1Co 15:20-27 of this Ep. (where he relents from the implied threat of 1Co 3:1 ff.), in Rom 5:12-21 ; Rom 11:25 ff., or Col 1:15 ff., Eph 5:22-32 . expands the idea of (see parls.): P. utters, beneath his plain Gospel tale, the deepest truths “in a guise of mystery” “that (wisdom) hidden away ( . , Col 1:26 ), which God predetermined before the ages unto ( , aiming at ) our glory”. That the Gospel is a veiled mystery to many accords with past history and with God’s established purpose respecting it; “est occulta ante-quam expromitur: et quum expromitur, tamen occulta manet multis, imperfectis” (Bg [349] ). The “wisdom of God” now revealed, was destined eternally “for us” “the believers” (1Co 1:21 ), “the called” (1Co 1:24 ), “the elect” (1Co 1:27 ff.), “those that received the Spirit of God” (1Co 2:10 ff.), as men who fulfil the ethical conditions of the case and whom “it has been God’s good pleasure to save” (1Co 1:21 ); see the same thought in Eph 1:4 ff. This is not the heavenly glory of the saints; the entire “ministry of the Spirit” is and carries its subjects on (2Co 3:8-18 ); His effects a glorious transformation, by which the base things of the world put to shame its mighty (1Co 1:27 ff.), and “our glory” overthrows “the rulers of this world” (1Co 2:6 ), “increasing as theirs wanes” (Lt [350] ), cf. Rom 8:30 . This present (moral) glory is an “earnest” of “that which shall be revealed” (Rom 8:18 f.). For , marked out beforehand , see parls., and notes to Rom 8:29 f.

[340] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[341] T. S. Evans in Speaker’s Commentary .

[342] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[343] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

[344] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians .

[345] J. A. Beet’s St. Paul’s Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[346] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[347] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[348] difference, different, differently.

[349] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[350] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

mystery. App-193.

hidden. Same word as in Luk 10:21. Eph 3:9. Col 1:26.

ordained = preordained. Greek. proorizo. See Act 4:28.

before. App-104. Compare Rom 16:25. Eph 1:4. 2Ti 1:9.

world = ages, as in 1Co 2:6.

unto. App-104.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

7.] But we speak GODS wisdom (emphasis on :-the wisdom which God possesses and has revealed) in a mystery ( . does not belong to ., as Theodoret and Grot., which must be . .,-nor to , as Beza, Bengel, which though not absolutely, yet certainly here, seeing . immediately follows, would require the art., .,-but to ,-we speak Gods wisdom in a mystery, i.e. as handling a mystery, dealing with a mystery. So . . , Eph 3:4.

Estius and the Romanists, taking the connexion rightly, have wrested the meaning to support the disciplina arcani which they imagine to be here hinted at, explaining ., non propalam et passim apud omnes, quia non omnes ea capiunt, sed secreto et apud pauciores, scilicet eos qui spirituales et perfecti sunt, Est.), which has been (hitherto) hidden (see Rom 16:25; ref. Col.):-which God foreordained (nothing need be supplied, as , or the like, after ) before the ages (of time) to (in order to, the purpose of this preordination) our glory (our participation in the things which He has prepared for them that love Him, 1Co 2:9; , as contrasted with the bringing to nought of the ).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Co 2:7. , , in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom]) It is concealed before it is brought forward, and when it is brought forward, it still remains hidden to many, namely to those that are imperfect.-, ordained before) The allusion is to hath prepared, 1Co 2:9.-, before) therefore it does not come to nought, 1Co 2:6. This wisdom very far surpasses worldly wisdom in antiquity.-, the ages [of the world]) in the plural. The antithesis to it is, of this world, 1Co 2:6.-, unto) that it may be our glory; comp. the following verse, and glorying, 1Co 1:31.-) glory, from the Lord of glory; 1Co 2:8, afterwards to be revealed, at the time when the princes of the world shall come to nought. It is an antithesis to, mystery.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Co 2:7

1Co 2:7

but we speak Gods wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory:-The gospel is Gods wisdom for the salvation of man. It was provided before the world was -before man was created, it is generally interpreted-to bring man to glory. A mystery was not something that could not be explained or understood, but something unrevealed and unknown. The gospel before it was revealed in Christ was the mystery.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

mystery (See Scofield “Mat 13:11”).

ordained Predestination, trans. predestinated, Rom 8:29; Rom 8:30; Eph 1:5; Eph 1:11; Act 4:28.

world foreordained before the ages. Cf. See margin ref., Rom 16:25, (See Scofield “Rom 16:25”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

even: Psa 78:2, Isa 48:6, Isa 48:7, Mat 11:25, Mat 13:35, Rom 16:25, Rom 16:26, Eph 1:4, Eph 3:4-9, Col 1:26, Col 1:27, 2Ti 1:9, 1Pe 1:11, Rev 13:8

unto: 1Pe 5:1, 1Pe 5:10, 2Pe 1:3

Reciprocal: Jos 6:17 – accursed Job 28:21 – hid Job 32:9 – Great Pro 2:7 – layeth Pro 8:6 – for Jer 33:3 – mighty Mat 13:11 – mysteries Luk 8:10 – Unto Luk 10:21 – revealed Joh 3:12 – heavenly 1Co 4:1 – mysteries 1Co 14:2 – howbeit 1Co 15:51 – I show Eph 1:8 – in Eph 3:9 – beginning Eph 3:10 – manifold Eph 6:19 – the mystery 1Ti 3:16 – the mystery Heb 2:10 – glory Jam 3:15 – but Jam 3:17 – the wisdom

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Co 2:7. Mystery is from MUSTERION, which Thayer defines at this place, “a hidden purpose or counsel,” then explains it to mean, “In the N. T., God’s plan of providing salvation for men through Christ, which was once hidden but now is revealed.” The word does not necessarily mean something that is complicated and beyond the understanding of ordinary men. As long as anything is not known it is a mystery, regardless of its character. Hence a popular theory that the Gospel is today a mystery and cannot be understood by uninspired persons, is erroneous and calculated to hinder people from studying God’s word. Before the world denotes that God planned the salvation of man even before the age of human existence. Not that any certain man was ordained to be saved, but the scheme by which all men might be saved if they would.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Co 2:7. but we speak Gods wisdom in a mysteryi.e. (in the apostolic sense of the word mystery) a wisdom long hidden from view, but now disclosed (see Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:6; 1Ti 3:16). In the same sense our Lord uses the word (Mat 13:11; Mat 13:17).even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God fore-ordained before the worlds unto our glory (see 2Ti 2:10).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Vv. 7. But we speak the wisdom of God, which is a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God preordained before the ages, unto our glory;

This verse is the antithesis of the foregoing one (, but). The term , we speak, is repeated because of the remoteness of this verb in 1Co 2:6.

The gen. , of God, is that of origin and possession. The workshop whence this plan has proceeded, where it remains shut up till its revelation, is the mind of God Himself. The , in mystery, or in the form of mystery, is naturally joined with the principal term , wisdom, which the apostle aims to distinguish positively, in opposition to the negative definitions of the former verse. The word mystery has taken in theological language a meaning which it has not in the New Testament, to wit, a truth which human reason cannot fathom. In Paul’s writings it simply signifies a truth or a fact which the human understanding cannot of itself discover, but which it apprehends as soon as God gives the revelation of it. Thus Jesus says, Luk 8:10 : It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom, and Paul applies the word mystery to things which we perfectly comprehend; for example, Rom 16:25, to the general plan of salvation; Eph 3:4, to the calling of the Gentiles; Rom 11:25, to the restoration of the Jews; in our Epistle, 1Co 15:51, to the transformation of the faithful at the moment of the Parousia. The term is here contrasted with a system having the spirit of man for its author (1Co 2:6), and which consequently does not need to be revealed. Many commentators, Erasmus, Rckert, de Wette, Osiander, Meyer, Hofmann, Edwards, Beet, make the adjunct depend on the verb : We speak of this wisdom in the form of a mystery; or, as Beet says, in words containing a secret of infinite value, and which only they understand to whom God reveals it, the . But this idea of a speaking on the part of the apostle taking place mysteriously, and, as it were, in secret, is foreign to all we know of his procedure. The sense equally contradicts the use of the term by Paul; for the word refers, not to the relation of one man to another, but to that of God to man. Meyer attempts to meet this last objection; he translates: We speak this wisdom as being a Divine mystery; but the phrase cannot have this meaning. Other commentators, such as Theodoret and Thomas Aquinas, connect with : the wisdom hidden in the form of a mystery. But what would this adjunct add to the idea of the participle? And besides, the article would have its natural place before the adjunct. The simplest connection is that which we have followed in beginning; it is that which the position of the words itself indicates. The absence of the article before has been objected; but when the adjunct is closely united in one and the same idea with the substantive on which it depends, the omission of the article is legitimate; comp. the phrase (Rom 5:15).

The epithet , the hidden, that is to say, which has remained hidden (perfect participle), is not a repetition. It adds to the idea of the mode, contained in , the notion of time. This plan, while a secret conceived by God and known to Him alone, might have been revealed much earlier, from the beginning of the existence of humanity; but it pleased Him to keep silence about it for long ages ( , Rom 16:25; which was not revealed to other generations as it is now, Eph 3:5). It might even be thought that by the article , the, this long-concealed wisdom is contrasted with another which God had unveiled long before, that of which Paul has spoken, 1Co 1:21, which was displayed from the creation of the world in the works of nature (Rom 1:20).

To these two features which distinguish the wisdom revealed in the gospel from all the products of the human understanding, its higher origin and its non-revelation up to that hour, the apostle adds a third: its saving end in behalf of man, the eternal object of Divine concern.

Some have thought that the term , to mark out by limit, to decree, did not suit the idea of wisdom, and have thought we should understand an infinitive like , to make known: which God had determined…to make known. If this wisdom were only a system or a theory, the verb might really be applied to it without difficulty. But it should be remembered that the subject in question is a plan to be realized in history, and to which consequently the term decree is perfectly suitable. The preposition , added to the verb, is afterwards developed in the words, before the ages. It is therefore an eternal decree. No doubt eternity is not a prius in relation to time; to hold this would be to bring it into time. The , before, therefore expresses in the inadequate form of temporal priority a superiority of dignity, in relation to the decree of creation. The universe exists with a view to man, and man exists with a view to glory. This object, , was the logical prius of all that is, of the existence of man himself. These words, for our glory, find their explanation in other sayings of the apostle, particularly Rom 8:29 : He hath predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren; Rom 8:17 : Heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; 1Co 15:28 : That God may be all in all. A society of intelligent and free beings, of men perfectly holy, made capable of reflecting God’s glory, and of serving as instruments for His holy action, in filial communion with the Father and in fraternal union with the Son: such was the end which God set before Him in creating the human race. All His particular plans are subordinate to this end. To understand all things from this viewpoint, is the wisdom of which Paul speaks; it is this Divine wisdom which, long kept hidden, is at length unveiled to mankind by the gospel of the cross.

In the two following verses St. Paul demonstrates the superhuman and consequently mysterious nature of this wisdom, such as he has just described it negatively and positively in 1Co 2:6-7. He gives two proofs of it: first, a known fact, 1Co 2:8; next, a prophetic saying, 1Co 2:9.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory [Paul often speaks of Christ and his gospel as a mystery (Rom 16:25; Eph 3:4-9; Col 1:26; 1Ti 3:6; 1Ti 3:17). God’s purpose to give his Son for the salvation of the world was a mystery long hidden, but now revealed, but still hidden from those who wickedly refused to receive it (Mat 11:25; Mat 13:10-13), to which class Paul proceeds to relegate the world-rulers]:

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

7. But we speak the wisdom of God which has been hidden in a mystery, which God before the ages predestined unto our glory. Of course the knowledge of God is absolutely illimitable.

Whom he did foreknow he did also predestinate (Rom 9:28).

Hence we see the predestination is a corollary of the foreknowledge. Our choice is perfectly free and untrammeled. Yet God foreknows our decision, and appoints our destiny accordingly. It is our prerogative to receive the Bible as it is, and our glorious privilege to believe it all, whether we can satisfactorily comprehend the deep things of God or not. It is the very climax of rationalistic infidelity for us to reject the plain revelation of God simply because our poor little gourd-heads can not comprehend it. Let us remember when we pass beyond the veil we will learn more in a week than we have ever known in all this probationary life. It is very beautiful and inspiring to contemplate and recognize the fact that God, before the ages began their flight, saw me, commended my choice of the good way, and predestinated unto me the glory of this wonderful salvation which has been the delight of my heart for forty-nine years, and is daily accumulating new brilliancy along my shortening journey to the probationary goal.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 7

In a mystery; in the gospel, which was kept a mystery, that is, which remained unknown for many ages.–Unto our glory; to our advantage and honor, who are permitted to enjoin its blessings.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

1Co 2:7-8. God’s wisdom: the eternal purpose of salvation, embracing the noblest ends and means, satisfying the intelligence of God and of those to whom it is revealed, the guide of God’s own action and the only worthy guide of human action. This purpose, announced in the Gospel, Paul and his colleagues speak in the form of a mystery, (see note below,) i.e. in words which contain (under a guise which the world calls foolishness) a secret of infinite worth known only to those to whom God reveals it, viz.

to mature Christians.

Hidden wisdom; keeps before us the chief thought of mystery, thus preparing the way for 1Co 2:11; 1Co 2:14. Cp. Eph 3:9, Col 1:26. The wisdom of God assumed concrete form in His purpose of salvation, which He marked-out-before-hand (or foreordained: see Rom 8:29) in His own mind before the ages of time began, with a view to our glory, i.e. to cover us with eternal splendor. Cp. Rom 8:30. That this purpose was earlier than the ages, proves it to be superior to the wisdom of this age.

Which not one etc.: stately contrast to which God etc.

For if etc.: proof that they did not know it.

The Lord of the glory: Jas 2:1; cp. Eph 1:17; Act 7:2 : the Master, of whom the well-known splendor is a marked characteristic. Before this glory, all the glitter of earthly rulers pales. And it is a pledge of our glory. That the rulers crucified Jesus, proves that they saw not the splendor of His rank, and knew not the purpose of eternal wisdom which He came to accomplish. Since the murderers of Christ acted on principles common to all who belong only to the present life, their action is given in proof that not one of the rulers of this age knows the wisdom of God.

Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament

2:7 {5} But we speak the wisdom of God in a {g} mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], {6} which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

(5) He shows the reason why this wisdom cannot be perceived by those excellent worldly intellects: that is, because it is indeed so deep that they cannot attain to it.

(g) Which men could not so much as dream of.

(6) He takes away an objection: if it is so hard, when and how is it known? God, he says, determined with himself from the beginning, that which his purpose was to bring forth at this time out of his secrets, for the salvation of men.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The wisdom Paul proclaimed was wisdom that God had not revealed previously. It was not a revelation in addition to the gospel. The message about Christ crucified embodies the wisdom of God. This message was unknown before Christ came. The message of the Cross is a further unfolding of God’s plan and purpose beyond what He had revealed and what people had known previously.

Paul expounded on the fact that God had decreed this mystery from before creation in Eph 3:2-12. The Ephesian church was more mature and better able to understand this revelation than was the Corinthian congregation.

The end purpose of this new revelation was the saints’ ultimate glorification by conformity to the image of God’s Son.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)