Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He persists in seeking to compose the schism of the Corinthians, through subjection and union in Christ and God. Whence first, he teaches that Paul and Apollos are only ministers of Christ, and adds: I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. Secondly, in verse 10, he teaches that the foundation of the Church is Christ: let each one therefore see what he builds upon it: for if hay and stubble, he will be saved, yet so as by fire. Thirdly, in verse 16: You, he says, are the temple of God; see therefore that you do not split and violate it through schisms. And finally he concludes, verse 21: Let no one therefore glory in men: for all things are yours, but you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
Vulgate Text: 1 Corinthians 3:1-23
1. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. As unto little ones in Christ, 2. I gave you milk to drink, not meat: for you were not yet able; but neither indeed are you now able: for you are yet carnal. 3. For whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and walk according to man? 4. For while one says, I indeed am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not men? What then is Apollos, and what is Paul? 5. The ministers of him whom you have believed, and to each one as the Lord has given. 6. I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7. Therefore, neither he that plants is anything, nor he that waters; but God who gives the increase. 8. Now he that plants and he that waters are one. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9. For we are God's coadjutors: you are God's husbandry, you are God's building. 10. According to the grace of God that is given to me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation; and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereon. 11. For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. 12. Now if any man builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: 13. every man's work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. 14. If any man's work abides which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15. If any man's work burns, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. 16. Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17. But if any man violates the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are. 18. Let no man deceive himself: if any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: I will catch the wise in their own craftiness. 20. And again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 21. Let no man therefore glory in men. 22. For all things are yours, whether it be Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; for all are yours, 23. and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
Verse 1: As Unto Little Ones in Christ, I Gave You Milk to Drink
1 and 2. AS UNTO LITTLE ONES IN CHRIST, I GAVE YOU MILK TO DRINK, NOT MEAT. — The Apostle in the preceding chapter, in order to defend his authority and to remove from the minds of the Corinthians the opinion conceived of him as foolish and infantile in his speech, said that he spoke wisdom among the perfect — wisdom, I say, hidden, which neither eye has seen nor ear heard, but God has revealed: now, as it were meeting a tacit objection, he gives the reason why he did not display this wisdom among the Corinthians, and turns the blame from himself onto the Corinthians; namely, because they themselves, being as it were little ones and carnal, were not yet capable of so great wisdom, and therefore had to be nourished not with meat but with milk.
Note here: By "milk" the Apostle calls the easier, sweeter and simpler doctrine concerning Christ's humanity and grace and redemption, such as is suitable for recently converted catechumens still carnal; by "meat," that is solid food, he calls the more perfect, more robust doctrine of higher mysteries, such as concerning God, the Spirit of God and spiritual things, the wisdom, power, and love of the cross, of which in the preceding chapter. So Ambrose, Theophylact, St. Thomas, Anselm — see the latter for the moral sense: "The same Christ," he says, "is milk to man through the Incarnation; solid food to the angel through His divinity: the same Christ crucified, the same lesson, the same sermon is received by the carnal as milk, by the spiritual as solid food."
Here Paul, in his usual manner, alludes to Isaiah 28:9, where it is said: "Whom shall He teach knowledge, and whom shall He make to understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts;" and to Isaiah 55:1, where he says thus: "All you that thirst, come to the waters; and you that have no money, make haste, buy, and eat: come, buy wine and milk without any price," — as if to say, as the Chaldean translates: All you who wish to learn and to extinguish the thirst of desire, come to the waters of Christ's doctrine and grace: from Him receive, draw, and drink the evangelical spirit.
Note here: Isaiah calls "wine" what Paul here calls "meat," or solid food, which symbolically signifies spiritual and full wisdom of the perfect, just as "milk" signifies the discipline of the imperfect and little ones. Hence formerly to those recently baptized and clothed in white robes, wine and milk were given: which custom, says Jerome in the cited passage of Isaiah, is preserved to this day in the Churches of the West. Elsewhere milk and honey were given to the same, as Tertullian testifies, Book I Against Marcion, ch. 14, that it might first signify their infancy and innocence in Christ, for milk is the symbol of both. Whence Homer, as Clement testifies, Book I Paedagogus, ch. 6, calls innocent and just men γαλακτοφάγους, that is, milk-eating. Secondly, that they might be assimilated to Christ, of whom Isaiah 7:15 sang: "Butter and honey shall He eat." Thirdly, that the sweetness, humility and infantile gentleness of Christian life might be signified. Whence also at the first sacrifice of the Mass, which the baptized heard at Easter, namely on Low Sunday, was recited that epistle of Blessed Peter: "As newborn infants, desire the rational milk without guile." Hence Blessed Agnes used to say: "Milk and honey have I received from His mouth," as Ambrose testifies, sermon 90. Concerning this milk Clement discourses at length, Book I Paedagogus, ch. 6.
Verse 3: Since There Is Among You Envy and Contention
3. SINCE THERE IS AMONG YOU ENVY AND CONTENTION, ARE YOU NOT CARNAL? — Note: "Carnal" is here called the man who follows not only the natural judgment of sense and reason, but also the dictate and impulse of the flesh, that is, of sensuality and concupiscence. Therefore, as St. Thomas rightly observes, the carnal man, the animal man, the man walking according to man, is the same — namely one destitute of the Spirit of God, who follows the movements of concupiscence or of corrupted nature. Note secondly, here and in Galatians 5:19, "the works of the flesh," that is, of corrupted nature, are called not only gluttony and lust (which properly are in the flesh), but also envy, emulation, contentions, which are vices of the mind. See what is said in Romans 7:22 and Galatians 5:17. As if Paul said: You, O Corinthians, are carnal, that is contentious, because like boys you contend vainly about the dignity of your masters, while one prefers and vends his Paul, another his Apollos.
Verse 5: Ministers of Him Whom You Have Believed
5. Ministers of him whom you have believed. — For "whom" the Greek now has δι' ὧν, "through whom you have believed." AND TO EACH ONE — of the ministers, namely — there belongs a ministry of such kind and such measure as the Lord has given to each. Therefore one must glory in the one God, not in the ministers Paul or Apollos: for these are not lords, or authors of your faith, O Corinthians, but only instruments through which God works. So Anselm, Ambrose, Theophylact.
Verse 6: I Planted, Apollos Watered; But God Gave the Increase
6. I PLANTED, APOLLOS WATERED; BUT GOD GAVE THE INCREASE. — As if to say: I first cast the seeds of faith at Corinth, I first evangelized, which afterwards Apollos coming on advanced, as appears in Acts 18:26. "But God gave the increase," that is, inwardly He gave life and the vigor of grace for growing and maturing in faith, virtue, and Christianity; for this belongs to God alone. See Augustine, treatise 5 on John.
Note: God gives increase to plants, not as if He alone supplied a special and daily augmentation to them, as the country folk understand; but because He has placed and conserves in the very nature of the seed or root the force and vigor for growing — that is, as it were continually He puts in and instills (for divine conservation is nothing other than the continuation of the first creation or divine action) and cooperates with it; and because by His arrangement He governs and tempers the rain, heat, winds, and other things suitable for crops, by whose better or worse tempering a better or worse fruit is born. In like manner the matter stands with the seed of the word of God, and its harvest, fruit, and progress in the minds of men. Hence it is clear first, that the external sermon, calling, examples, miracles do not suffice to begin or promote conversion and spiritual life. Secondly, hence Prosper, Book II On the Calling of the Gentiles, ch. 6 and 8, proves that, although all hear the same sermon equally, some however profit little from it, others much — namely those whom God affects by a peculiar internal motion, and whose hearts He touches, that they may change their life or seriously progress for the better. Whence both preachers and hearers in the sermon profit most who diligently pray to God for this motion.
Verse 7: Neither He Who Plants Is Anything, Nor He Who Waters
7. NEITHER HE WHO PLANTS IS ANYTHING, NOR HE WHO WATERS; BUT GOD WHO GIVES THE INCREASE. — As if to say: The farmer who plants and waters is little, brings little produces, and as it were nothing before God; for he only acts externally, and whatever he does, he receives from God and acts as God's instrument: but God, by Himself internally, as the principal agent, works, and supplies and suggests the force and vigor of growth: for an action is attributed to the principal agent, and especially to the first cause, see Canons 15 and 36: so St. Thomas, Theophylact, and beautifully St. Augustine, treatise 7 on the First Epistle of John: "External ministries," he says, "are aids and admonitions: yet He has His chair in heaven who teaches hearts; so these words which we speak externally are like the farmer to the tree. For the farmer works externally, because he applies water and the diligence of agriculture, yet he does not form the fruits;" but God forms them, concurring with the tree, and putting and suggesting to the tree the force of producing fruits. In like manner the preacher's voice does little: for it sounds only externally; but it is God who, concurring with it internally, by His grace illumines and converts the soul.
Verse 8: He Who Plants and He Who Waters Are One
8. HE WHO PLANTS AND HE WHO WATERS ARE ONE. — "Are one," namely in office and ministry, says St. Thomas, Anselm and others; that is, all are equally ministers. As if to say: Therefore one is not to be despised or exalted above another, for instance Paul over Apollos. Again, therefore you all ought to embrace one another with the same charity and union, and not on their account to make schisms: for although they are diverse in themselves, all however perform one and the same office, and are one in Christ — who hates schisms, loves union, and cherishes and protects His ministers, although weak, and wills them to be honored and esteemed by all not as men, but as His vicars.
BUT EACH ONE SHALL RECEIVE HIS OWN REWARD ACCORDING TO HIS LABOR. — This passage clearly teaches the merits of good works: for where there is a reward, there also is merit. For these are correlatives. Note: He does not say, each will receive a reward according to the fruit he has produced, but "will receive according to his labor;" because the fruit is not in our hand, but in God's, who gives the increase. And so you will have the entire essential reward of your labor from your sermon or instruction, even if no fruit follows, no heretic or sinner is converted; indeed often a greater reward, because it is more difficult and more arduous to preach where no or little fruit appears, than where many applaud the sermon, or profit from it.
Verse 9: For We Are God's Cooperators
9. FOR WE ARE GOD'S COOPERATORS. — "This is a vast, angelic, indeed divine dignity," says St. Dionysius, On the Celestial Hierarchy, ch. 3, "to become a cooperator with God in the conversion of souls, and to display the divine working in oneself openly to all." You are God's (and not Paul's or Apollos's, that you might glory in them) husbandry. — He persists in the metaphor of the farmer. The chief farmer is God, the laborers are Paul and Apollos: the field are the Corinthians; the seed is grace, the fruits are good works: God cultivates inwardly through the Spirit, Paul helps outwardly through the voice. So Anselm.
YOU ARE GOD'S BUILDING. — He says the same thing by another metaphor of a building and an architect: for the first architect is God; the second and minister is Paul; the building is the Church, and any Christian soul. So Anselm. Note: The Hebrews and Syrians delight in metaphors and parables, and mix and pile them together, and leap from one to another.
Verse 10: According to the Grace of God, as a Wise Architect I Have Laid the Foundation
10. ACCORDING TO (that is, through) THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN TO ME, AS A WISE ARCHITECT, I HAVE LAID THE FOUNDATION. — As if to say: This work is not mine, this Corinthian Church's labor is not mine; for although I as it were as an architect cast its first foundations by evangelizing, yet whatever I did and perfected in it, I accomplished not by my own strength, but by the strength of the grace of God: this entire fabric of your Church is not to be attributed to me, but to the grace of God.
Verse 11: For Other Foundation No Man Can Lay, Which Is Christ Jesus
11. FOR OTHER FOUNDATION NO MAN CAN LAY, BESIDES THAT WHICH HAS BEEN LAID, WHICH IS Christ Jesus. — The "for" gives the reason for what precedes, as if to say: I laid the foundation of your Church: let Apollos and others see what they build upon it, not what they should newly found. For there is nothing for them to be occupied with in laying the foundation: I laid that; and another cannot be laid by him, since this foundation is Christ Jesus Himself. The foundation therefore of the Church, and of every faithful soul in it, is Jesus Christ — that is, faith in Christ Jesus our Savior, and especially living faith working through charity, upon which I have built you. So Anselm and St. Gregory, Book VII, epistle 47. In this sense Christ alone is the foundation of the Church, namely the foundation of foundations, as St. Augustine says on Psalm 86, verse 1, namely because He subsists by Himself, sustains all things, including Peter. In another sense Peter is the foundation of the Church, and that secondarily, because he himself is firm in faith, so that he cannot publicly teach error, but always confirms and illumines others in it. So St. Thomas and Catholic Doctors throughout. In a similar sense not Peter alone, but all the Apostles are called foundations of the Church, Psalm 86:1, where it is said: "Her foundations (those of Zion, that is of the Church) are in the holy mountains;" and John, Apocalypse 21:19, gathers and names the twelve Apostles as the foundations of Jerusalem, or the heavenly Church.
Verse 12: Gold, Silver, Precious Stones, Wood, Hay, Stubble
12. IF ANY MAN BUILDS UPON THIS FOUNDATION, GOLD, SILVER, PRECIOUS STONES, WOOD, HAY, STUBBLE; 13. EACH ONE'S WORK SHALL BE MANIFEST: FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD SHALL DECLARE IT, BECAUSE IT SHALL BE REVEALED IN FIRE. — It is a metaphor from a house burning by fire, which, if it is constructed of gold and precious stones, is not damaged by the fire, but rather shines forth more brightly; but if of wood and stubble, it is consumed. Note here in passing, by "precious stones" here are meant marble, porphyry and similar, not diamonds and gems: for from these but from those, the houses of nobles and princes are usually built: just as Augustus Caesar boasted of Rome: "I received a city of brick, I leave one of marble." The sense of the Apostle therefore is, as if to say: If a fire arises, a house built of marble and gold will not be damaged by it, but will shine more brightly: but a neighboring house of wood and stubble will burn down, and the one who inhabits it will indeed escape, but scorched; thus if any of Christians, especially of the Doctors and Preachers of the Gospel (for of these he has dealt up to now from verse 4, and that he is dealing with these chiefly here is clear from comparing verses 6 and 10: so Ambrose and Anselm), build upon the faith of Christ gold and silver, that is holy works (so Theodoret and Theophylact), and especially sound, profitable, and holy doctrine: this man will receive a reward. So Ambrose, Anselm, and St. Thomas, whom see: "Gold," he himself says, "is charity; silver, wisdom and contemplation; precious stones, are other virtues;" on the contrary, wood, hay, stubble are sins — not those grave and mortal, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Turrianus, Book IV Against the Magdeburgers, ch. 13, hold (for these are bronze and lead, as St. Augustine notes in Enchiridion ch. 68, and Anselm and St. Thomas; nor are they built upon, but they overwhelm and destroy the building, namely living faith, which merits reward from Christ); but light and venial, by which namely the mind clings to vain things — e.g. to the comforts of the flesh, trifles, vainglory. Properly however to the mind and scope of the Apostle, wood, hay, stubble is uncertain, frivolous, pompous, ornamented, curious, useless doctrine. So Ambrose, St. Thomas, Theodoret, Anselm. For he who builds these things upon the foundation of the faith of Christ, this man will be saved; yet so as by fire, as Paul says, verse 15.
Note: In this verse and verse 10 the Apostle digresses, and passes from the Corinthians to their teachers, and tacitly admonishes Apollos and other heralds of the Gospel, especially the eloquent — for whom there is danger from vanity — to beware of it and to be teachers of pure truth, lest, if they do otherwise, they have to be expiated by this fire; for that some such had been at Corinth, and were the cause or occasion of contention and schism, the Apostle sufficiently insinuates both here and elsewhere; in which places he exhorts the faithful to pray for the faithful departed existing in Purgatory: for one is not to pray for those who are in hell, where there is no redemption.
Verse 13: For the Day of the Lord Shall Be Revealed in Fire
13. For the day of the Lord. — In Greek there is only ἡ ἡμέρα, "that day," namely a day to be marked with a white or black pebble, that is, the day of judgment, especially the universal one; because this will be revealed in fire. For that day of the Lord is now our day, says Anselm, Theodoret, Ambrose, St. Thomas. And it is clear from 2 Timothy 4:8, where he says: "Which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day;" 2 Timothy 1:12: "He is able to keep my deposit until that day;" this epistle, ch. 5, verse 5: "That the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." In these and other passages by "that day" he understands by antonomasia the most famous day of universal judgment.
Note, under this day of universal judgment, the day of particular judgment also is to be understood. For the judgment of both is one and the same, and the sentence of both is the same.
WILL BE REVEALED IN FIRE. — You will ask, what is this fire? For the Apostle here says three things about it: first, that the day of the Lord will be revealed in fire; second, that it will prove each one's work; third, that those who build wood, hay, stubble will pass through it, and will be saved, "yet so as by fire."
Many of the ancients, like Origen, homily 14 on Luke; Ambrose, on Psalm 36; Lactantius, Book VII, ch. 21; Basil, on Isaiah IV; Rupert, Book II on Genesis, ch. 32, take it as a real fire, which they think all souls, even those of Peter and Paul, going to heaven must pass through, so that, if they are impure, they may be purged by it; whether it be the fire of the conflagration at the end of the world, or purgatorial under the earth, or another in the aether. For Bede, Book III of his History, ch. 19, says that St. Furseus saw on the way to heaven very great fires through which one had necessarily to pass. But this opinion, although it is not condemned, nor does Bellarmine in Book II On Purgatory, ch. 1 dare to reject it, nevertheless lacks foundation. For this passage of the Apostle, on which alone its authors rely, has another sense. That vision of Furseus was only a vision, which through the corporeal appearance of fire represented the spiritual judgment of God and the future punishments to carnal men, as I shall declare below.
Secondly, St. Chrysostom and Theophylact, whom the Greeks at the Council of Florence followed, answer that it is the fire of hell, in which the sinner will remain "saved," that is, living and incorrupt, that he may always be punished. But this is forced: for to be "saved" everywhere in Scripture signifies to be unharmed and happy, not to remain alive in punishments. So all the other interpreters and Latin Fathers at the beginning of the Council of Florence.
Note here: Although Chrysostom understands this passage of hell, he nevertheless does not deny that Purgatory exists, as Mark, Archbishop of Ephesus, falsely asserted at the Council of Florence; indeed he expressly confesses it in homily 32 on Matthew, and homily 3 on the epistle to the Philippians, and homily 4 on the epistle to the Hebrews, and in the following chapter, verses 6, 10, 15, 18, 19, as I shall say there.
Thirdly, the heretics answer that this fire is the fire of tribulation of this life (which Anselm also insinuates, and Gregory, Dialogues IV, ch. 39, and St. Augustine on Psalm 37, who however also take it of Purgatory), or of confusion, which they themselves invent the Holy Spirit injects upon the Saints, in life or in death, by His illumination — by which, for example, as they themselves say, He demonstrated to Sts. Bernard, Francis, and Dominic at death their errors about monasticism, the Mass, and confession, that they might acknowledge and retract them.
But this is feigned gratuitously, nor does any such retraction of these or other Saints in death exist; rather, on the contrary, a constant exhortation to their followers to persist and progress in the monastic life. Add: many have died suddenly, and even now some die in sleep and while sleeping, who depart stained with venial sins: where are these purged? Not in heaven certainly, because nothing defiled shall enter it, Apocalypse 21:27; not in hell, because this is the place of the damned: therefore in purgatory. For after this life there is no place for the customary mercy and condonation, but for justice and just satisfaction — or rather sufficient suffering; lest anyone say that God thus remits sins gratis to the dead, that is every guilt and punishment. Finally, the day of death is not called the day of the Lord, but the day of judgment: nor does "fire" signify that confusion, but a true fire.
Calvin objects: wood, hay, stubble are taken metaphorically; therefore so also is fire. I answer by denying the consequence; for it is clear that the day of the Lord must be revealed in fire properly so called, as I shall presently demonstrate at greater length.
Fourthly, Sedulius, Lyranus, Cajetan, Theodoret, Ambrose hold this fire to be the strict and sharp examination of the divine judgment, punishing sins after death by fire; or, as Bellarmine, to be a fire partly of Purgatory, partly of judgment — as if to say: Just as the works of sinners will have their fire of examination, so too those who act badly will themselves have their fire — but of vengeance in Purgatory. For figuratively and analogically the very examination and judgment is called fire, because it will be most pure, most sincere, most swift, most efficacious like fire, Malachi 3:2; Hebrews 12:29. But the words of the Apostle, since they sound nothing but "fire," and repeat it a second and third time, plainly and properly seem to signify a true and univocal fire — one and the same, not metaphorical, equivocal, and various.
I say therefore, first: it is certain that this passage is to be understood of the fire of Purgatory. So the Council of Florence, Ambrose, Theodoret, St. Thomas, Anselm here, and Greek and Latin Fathers throughout — whom Bellarmine and Salmeron cite at length here, at the end of disp. 6. And this is the tradition and common sense of the Church and the Doctors, although in particulars they explain the words variously, and adapt them to Purgatory.
You will say: If the Council of Florence understands this passage of the fire of Purgatory, therefore it is of faith that it must be so understood, and consequently it is of faith not only that Purgatory exists, but also that souls are purged in it by fire. I answer: I deny the consequence; because although the Latin Fathers at the Council of Florence so understand it, and consequently it is certain that there is a purgatorial fire, they nevertheless did not wish to define as if of faith that there is fire, but only that Purgatory exists; and this lest they offend the Greeks, who indeed conceded Purgatory, but denied that there is fire in it, but said it was an obscure place, and full of labors.
I say secondly: the fire of which the Apostle here speaks is properly the fire of the conflagration of the world. This is clear, because it will be on the day of the Lord, that is the day of final judgment: but this day is everywhere in Scripture described by fire, by which the world will burn: as Psalm 96: "A fire shall go before Him;" 2 Thessalonians 1:8, Christ the judge is said to be revealed "in a flame of fire." The same says Joel 2:3; and St. Peter, 2 epistle, ch. 3, verse 12; and the Church when she sings: "Who is to come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire." For this fire will at the same time be the conflagration of the world, and at the same time the probatory and purgatorial fire of those who are then alive: so the Theologians throughout; and it will be the precursor, indeed the companion and lictor of Christ the judge; and if not for all (e.g. for those entirely pure: for this seems too harsh, as Francisco Suarez rightly observes), certainly to the impure it will bring death and punishment, sharper or less according to the merits of each: this fire will then sweep the damned with it into hell, and thus it is said that "the day of the Lord will be revealed in fire." And although Oecumenius refers it to "work," which follows — as if to say: It will be revealed, and the fire will prove each one's work — others refer it to "the Lord," as if to say: The Lord will be revealed in fire, because a day does not seem to be revealed so much as to reveal all other things: yet it is better said that the day itself will be revealed, that it is of the Lord — that is, by fire it will appear that it is the day of divine vengeance and judgment.
You will ask: How does this fire purge works which have already passed, and are not? I answer: Because Scripture speaks thus, that the works of the good and the bad follow them, as if they were still present and inhered in the man after death — because, namely, the guilt of them remains in the man, by which they oblige the man to punishment or reward.
You will ask secondly: How are works said to burn? I answer: In two ways; first, metaphorically, because they are compared to stubble, which properly burns; works burn metaphorically, that is, they are punished, reprobated, abolished, as wood which is consumed by fire. Secondly, by metonymy, because the worker himself burns and is consumed on account of his works. Note here: The Apostle uses this metaphor and metonymy in order to persist in the metaphor of building, which he began from verse 9 to here, and because he alludes to the fire of the conflagration, which will burn up all the buildings of the world. For man by his works builds for himself as it were a building, just as silkworms and caterpillars by the silk which they spin make for themselves cocoons, as it were houses, in which they wrap themselves — so that if you burn the cocoon, you burn the silkworms, and conversely: so here metaphorically the work, as a building, is burned, because the worker himself, the builder, to whom the works adhere and as it were inhere, is burned. Add that works are rather said to be burned than the worker, because the worker, secondly, because in Greek it is anakalyptetai, that is, it is revealed — namely, in the present, the day of the Lord — that is, in the present life when we die.
Thirdly, because each one's work shall be expiated by this fire of Purgatory, since by the fire of the conflagration only the works of those who shall then be living must be expiated.
Fourthly, because all the Catholic Fathers, and the Latin Doctors, and the Council of Florence at its beginning take this passage as referring to the fire of Purgatory; and it is the consensus and tradition of the Church.
Fifthly, because this is properly the work of Purgatory — namely to test and to purge — and it is most properly said of it that "he shall be saved, yet so as by fire." Thus formerly the trial of crime by red-hot iron was said and done (which was afterwards forbidden by the Canons, as a tempting of God): for it was offered to the accused to be handled with the bare hands or trodden with bare feet; and if he were truly guilty, he was burned; if innocent, he was not harmed — as happened to St. Cunegunda, wife of the Emperor Henry, and to the three children in the Babylonian furnace; for she proved her chastity by the red-hot iron over which she walked with bare soles, and they proved their innocence in the fiery furnace, remaining unharmed.
You will say: How does this fire test each one's work? For Paul, and all who are already dead, do not experience the fire of the world's conflagration.
I answer: Because Paul is wont so to speak, as if the last day of the world and this fire were imminent for himself and his own — namely, in order to spur all to prepare themselves for that day, as though uncertain and near.
Add: That fire shall be the purgatory of the whole world and of all things that are in it; so that, if anything in someone long since dead had not been sufficiently purged, it would be assailed by that fire and expiated; and thus this fire shall manifest the work of each one, even of one long since dead — for this shall be the last test and expiation of the whole world.
I say thirdly: Just as by the day of the Lord the Apostle understands the day of death, and by the final judgment he understands the particular judgment, as if one and the same; so likewise by the fire — which shall accompany Christ the judge unto the universal judgment, and shall purge whatever shall remain to be purged at that time — he wishes proportionally to be understood the fire by which souls are immediately purged after death. By this fire, therefore, he means the fire of Purgatory.
Nor is it any objection that the fire of conflagration comes before death, as many will have it, because it ought to come after death; for it shall expiate the sins of the whole life and of death; but it cannot exist after death so as to purge the dead, because the dead shall then rise immediately from death and be caught up to judgment.
Add: if anyone were not sufficiently purged before death, after death he shall be fully expiated by the same fire, as though it were purgatorial. This opinion is proved from the fact that the Apostle is speaking to those then present, who truly were not going to see the fire of conflagration, but were to have their purgatory here after death, just as those others would in death. For why should these be more immune from fire than those, if they have equally deserved it?
This is clear from 1 Thessalonians 4:15; Hebrews 11, last verse; 2 Corinthians 5:1, 3, 4. In like manner the Prophets often, and Christ Himself in Matthew 24, speak in mingled fashion of type and antitype — for instance, of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the destruction of the whole world — as though of one and the same destruction, and as though, after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, the destruction of the world should soon follow; so much so that the Apostles, when Christ was saying these things, thought it would really happen thus, although afterwards, being better instructed, they held and taught the contrary.
You will ask secondly: How can what the Apostle says, "because it shall be revealed in fire," be applied to the particular judgment? What fire shall stand by Christ the judge at the particular judgment, that He may test and declare each man's works?
I answer: At the particular judgment the fire of Purgatory stands by Christ, because it is at hand, ready for Christ the judge to test, punish, and purge each one's works.
For a prosopopoeia must be noticed, which the Apostle here uses, in attributing this examination and trial to the fire of Purgatory; as though this fire were the assessor of Christ the judge, before whom all the dead must pass, as soldiers before their commander, that they may be reviewed by Him, so that, if He shall see any unfit and unclean, He may chastise and purge them. The Apostle does this, first, in order to persist in the metaphor of gold and the smelter, who tests and purifies all things by fire; secondly, that this purgatorial fire may correspond by apt proportion to the fire of the world's conflagration and purification, which (as I said) he chiefly has in view, when he says: "The day of the Lord shall be revealed in fire."
Where note: just as, when the Prophets and Christ mingle the type with the antitype and speak of them in mixed fashion — for example, of Solomon and Christ, of the destruction of the city and of the world — they recall some things which agree more with one (the type), and some which agree more with the other (the antitype); so likewise does Paul here. For when he says, "The day of the Lord shall be revealed in fire," this agrees more with the fire of the world's conflagration; but when he adds, "The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is, and he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire," this agrees more with the fire of Purgatory, as is plain from what has been said.
The fire of Purgatory, therefore, stands by and assists Christ the judge in the particular judgment, as scout, lictor, prison and avenger, that He may examine each one's works — namely, leaving untouched the golden works of the good, but seizing, burning, and punishing the wood, hay, and stubble of others, in proportion suited to each, in the manner I said in the second conclusion. And thus "he shall suffer loss" — in Greek zemiothesetai, that is, he shall be amerced with punishment — yet so that he, working, may be saved through fire; and thus on the day of death and of particular judgment this fire is revealed to each one. This is signified by the said vision of Furseus: for when, as if dead, he saw the fire approaching him, he said to his angel: "Lord, behold the fire approaches me." The angel answered: "What you have not kindled shall not burn you. For though the pyre seem terrible and great, yet according to the merits of works it examines individuals, because each one's concupiscence shall burn in this fire. For just as one burns in the body through unlawful concupiscence, so loosed from the body he shall burn through the due penalty."
The sense, therefore, of this whole passage is, as if Paul were saying: See, O Apollos, see, O teachers, see, O Corinthians, what you teach, what you learn — whether hay, or vain, or windy, or curious, or earthly things; because the fire of Purgatory, standing by Christ the judge as a scout, shall test each man's work and doctrine immediately after death, in the particular judgment; and consequently the fire of the world's conflagration, into which the fire of Purgatory shall pass over, shall declare in the universal judgment that each one's work has been tested and purged by the fire of Purgatory, so that in this judgment, before the whole world, it may appear what sort it was; so much so that, if any work has not yet been fully tested by the fire of Purgatory, it shall be tested and purged by the fire of the world's conflagration: for this shall be the world's last trial.
Verse 15: He Himself Shall Be Saved, Yet So as by Fire
HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED, YET SO AS BY FIRE. — Wrongly does Isidorus Clarius translate from the Greek, "itself, namely, the foundation, shall be saved." For although themelion, that is foundation, is masculine in gender, so that it could agree with autos (himself); yet it does not suit this passage and the Apostle's mind. For the Apostle wishes by this comparison to show that those teachers must be punished by fire, who build vain and curious things upon the faith of Christ.
Again, the phrase "shall receive a reward" must not be referred to the foundation, but to the doctrine, as is plain. Therefore also that which is opposed to it, namely, "he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire," must likewise be referred to the teacher, but one who builds and teaches vain things.
Note: The word "as" (quasi) is here a sign of truth, not of similitude — as also in John 1:14: "We saw His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father" — that is, we saw that glory of Christ which truly befitted the only-begotten of the Father; and often elsewhere.
Secondly, the word "as" can be a mark of similitude, as if to say: He shall be saved as one who escapes from a burning house and passes through the fire scorched, as I said on verse 12. Hence it is plain that there is a Purgatory, and that there is fire. Hence Chrysostom, homily 69 to the People: "The Apostles," he says, "appointed that prayer be made for the dead in the sacrifice of the Mass." And Dionysius the Areopagite, in chapter 7, part III of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, hands down these prayers, and says he received them from the Apostles. For, as St. Augustine says on Psalm 37: "Because it is said, He shall be saved, the fire is despised; but it shall be heavier than anything a man can suffer in this life." And St. Bernard, On the Death of Humbert: "What we have neglected here, we shall pay back a hundredfold there."
Hence many will have the fire of Purgatory to be the same as the fire of hell — to which Purgatory is adjacent, but differing from it in that this is eternal, that temporary. From which Anselm prudently concludes: "If, in order to avoid torments, we obey the king here and spare ourselves to the will of God, we may escape that fire which is sharper than all torments." And St. Chrysostom, homily 5 On Penance: "Now is the time of penance," he says; "let penance forestall punishment, let us forestall His face in confession; let us extinguish the pyre of sins, no longer with much water, but with a few tears." Truly it is better and sweeter to be cleansed by the fount than by fire: it is better to spend a whole life in the Purgatory of penance than to dwell a single year in the Purgatory of fire.
Tropologically: St. Bernard handles this whole passage aptly, in his sermon On Wood, Hay and Stubble: "The foundation," he says, "is Christ; wood is fragile, hay is soft, stubble is light. Wood are those who began bravely, but being broken are not knit together again. Hay are those who, made tepid by softness which ought to be fled, will not so much as touch arduous labors with the tip of a finger (as it is said). Stubble are those who, blown about by motions of levity, never remain in the same state. And indeed they are to be feared for, but not despaired of: because if they have Christ in the foundation, that is, if they have ended their life in this way, they shall be saved, yet so as by fire." Then he explains this fire not literally, but tropologically: "Fire," he says, "has three things: smoke, light, and burning. Smoke calls forth tears, the nearby light illumines, the burning scorches. So too he who is of this kind ought to have smoke — that is, bitterness in the mind — because he is tepid, because he is remiss, because he is light, because so far as in him lies he overthrows and disturbs order. But also light in his mouth, that he should both speak and bewail himself in confession just as he is in mind; that conscience may sharpen the tongue, and the tongue may rebuke conscience. It is also necessary that he feel burning in the body, that is, the tribulation of penance — and if not in many ways, yet in some. Do you think He will cast away those thus contrite in heart, confessed in mouth, fatigued in body — He who wills all men to be saved, and wills none to perish?" Finally of others he adds: "There are also others who build upon this foundation gold, silver, and precious stones, who begin vehemently, advance more vehemently, complete most vehemently, attending not to what the flesh can do, but to what the spirit wills."
Verse 16: Know You Not That You Are the Temple of God?
16. KNOW YOU NOT THAT YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD? — The Apostle looks back and returns to verse 9: "You are God's building," as if to say: You are a building not of man, but of God, and consequently not profane but holy — namely, the temple of God, in which God dwells through faith, grace, charity, and His gifts. So Anselm and others everywhere. I shall say more of this temple at 2 Corinthians 6:16.
How the soul is dedicated as a temple to God, see St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Dedication of the Church, where he says: There are five things in dedication: aspersion, inscription, anointing, illumination, and benediction; these also take place spiritually in the soul — which he then expounds at length.
Note: Up to this point the Apostle has been treating of those Doctors and faithful who build upon the holy edifice, that is, the temple; now he treats of those who overthrow it; whence he adds:
Verse 17: But If Any Man Violate the Temple of God, Him Shall God Destroy
17. BUT IF ANY MAN VIOLATE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, HIM SHALL GOD DESTROY. — For "if any one violate," the Greek is phtheirei, that is, corrupts or defiles, as Tertullian reads — namely, by mortal pride of animal and human wisdom, by new, erroneous, and pestiferous doctrine; by schisms, as you do, O Corinthians, says Anselm; and whoever in any other way corrupts the Church, or a faithful soul (which is the temple of God), him God shall destroy. The Apostle speaks chiefly of corruption that is brought about by teaching and persuading false doctrine, by being proud, by envying others, by stirring up schisms. For as he began with doctors, so he ends this chapter. It is plain from what follows, as if to say: This corrupter shall not be saved through fire, but shall burn in eternal fire.
Verse 18: If Any Man Among You Seem to Be Wise, Let Him Become a Fool
18. IF ANY MAN AMONG YOU SEEM TO BE WISE IN THIS WORLD (with secular wisdom and eloquence — rhetorical, philosophical, worldly, earthly — and therefore is proud as if he were wise, and despises others out of arrogance), LET HIM BECOME A FOOL, THAT HE MAY BE WISE. — "A fool," namely, with the foolishness of humility and faith, and of the cross of Christ, of which I spoke at chapter 1, verses 21ff., before the world; which nevertheless before God is true and only wisdom, says Anselm. For since the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and conversely, it follows that we cannot be truly wise otherwise, unless we are foolish according to the world; so that, although we may seem great and wise to the world, we may yet, like children — nay, like fools — submit ourselves to the faith, discipline, cross, and obedience of Christ. "Thus the three magi," says St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Epiphany, "adoring the Child in the manger, were made fools that they might become wise; and the Spirit fully taught them what the Apostle afterwards preached: He who would be wise, let him become a fool, that he may be wise; they enter the stable, they find a little child wrapped in swaddling-clothes: the stable does not seem foul to them, they take no offense at the swaddling-clothes, they are not scandalized at the infancy of the suckling; they fall down, they reverence Him as king, they adore Him as God; but assuredly He who led them, He also instructed them; and He who admonished them outwardly by a star, He taught them inwardly in the secret of the heart." St. Basil asks in his Shorter Rules, question 274: "How does one become foolish in this world?" and answers: "If he shall fear the judgment of the Lord, who says: Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own sight; and if he shall imitate him who said: I am become as a beast before You; and casting away every empty opinion of his own prudence, shall, of those things which he shall have thought, never have approved anything before as right — nay, shall not have thought anything at all in the beginning, before he has learned from the very command of the Lord what is pleasing to God, whether in deed, or in word, or in thought."
Verse 19: The Wisdom of This World Is Foolishness With God
19. THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD IS FOOLISHNESS WITH GOD, — because God has reprobated secular wisdom and cast it aside as foolish: First, because it knows nothing salutary or divine, and contributes nothing to the business of salvation.
Secondly, God did not will to use it in preaching the Gospel, but rather chose unlettered Apostles.
Thirdly, because it is often contrary to faith — both in speculative matters (as the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Incarnation, of the death of the Son of God, which all the wise men of the world reject as impossible and incredible) and in practical and moral matters. For Christ commands us to love our enemies; worldly wisdom bids us pursue them with hatred. Christ commands us to overcome evil with good; worldly wisdom bids us overcome evil with evil. Christ pronounces blessed the poor, the meek, the mourning, the hungering, those who suffer persecution; but the world pronounces blessed the rich, the lofty, the laughing, the feasting, the dominating.
FOR IT IS WRITTEN: I WILL CATCH THE WISE IN THEIR OWN CRAFTINESS. — He cites Job 5:13. For "I will catch," the Hebrew is loched (לכד), the Greek drassomenos, that is, taking with hand laid on; the participle is put for the verb: "taking," that is, "I shall take, I shall catch." See Canon 29.
These are not Job's words but Eliphaz's, who falsely disputes against Job, wishing to prove that Job had sinned and through his sins had merited his calamities: whence he is rebuked by God in Job 42:7, and so these words of Eliphaz do not have the authority of Sacred Scripture, but of a wise man, as I said on Job 4. For Paul approves this saying of Eliphaz because in itself it is true and was wisely spoken by that wise man.
Note: God catches the wise in their own craftiness when, by the very means whereby they cunningly sought to overturn God's counsel, God Himself fulfills it: as when the brothers of Joseph, wishing to overturn his dreams of his future leadership, cast him down and sold him as a slave into Egypt; God by this very means exalted him and made him prince of Egypt, and forced his brothers to adore him. In like manner God caught the wisdom of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, of Saul and Achitophel who sought to destroy David, and of Aman on the cross with which he plotted to destroy Mardochai. So St. Thomas.
Verse 20: The Lord Knows the Thoughts of the Wise, That They Are Vain
20. AND AGAIN (it is written in Ps. 93, v. 11): THE LORD KNOWS THE THOUGHTS OF THE WISE, THAT THEY ARE VAIN. — For "of the wise," Ps. 93:11 has "of men" — namely, not of the common, but of the wise; for these men, by their own wisdom, think and contrive many things. By all these sayings and arguments the Apostle teaches the Corinthians that secular wisdom and eloquence — in which they themselves gloried, and on account of which they preferred Apollos to Paul — are vain and empty; but the true wisdom is the faith and Christian doctrine, which he himself had preached to them in plain speech, yet with an ardent and effectual spirit.
Morally, St. Jerome on Psalm 93: "Do you wish to know," he says, "that the thoughts of men are vain? Father and mother nourish a son, promise themselves happiness from him, send him to studies, educate him, he comes to adolescence, they arrange that he should even serve as a soldier; when they have planned everything for thirty years, one little fever comes and takes away all thoughts. O cares of men! O how much emptiness there is in things! One thought is happy: to think of the Lord."
Verse 21: Let No Man Glory in Men; For All Things Are Yours
21. LET NO MAN GLORY IN MEN (the eloquent or the wise, such as Apollos, Paul, etc.). 22. FOR ALL THINGS ARE YOURS, WHETHER PAUL, OR APOLLOS, OR CEPHAS, OR THE WORLD, OR LIFE, OR DEATH, OR THINGS PRESENT, OR THINGS TO COME, — as if to say: Do not you glory in Paul, nor he in Apollos; because both Paul and Apollos and all other men, indeed all creatures, are common to every one of you, and serve you in common to procure your salvation.
Note, "all things are yours" — not as though all goods are to be common, as they were in the state of innocence; nor as though the just are properly lords of all things, as Hus, Wycliffe, and others rave; but "yours," not in possession, but in end and use — namely, because they are deputed and given to you for the ministry and aid of salvation: so Anselm, Ambrose, Theodoret, St. Thomas, Chrysostom; given, I say, for use either real or mental, which is in all creatures to acknowledge and praise the Creator. And this is what is commonly said: "To the faithful man the whole world is full of riches." See Theodoret, sermon 10 On Providence. Hence Chrysostom says: "By one reason we are Christ's, by another reason Christ is God's, by another the world is ours; for we are Christ's as His work; Christ is God's as His most beloved Son; the world is ours, not as a work, but because it was made for our sake." Therefore the world is yours, that is, all the creatures of the world serve your body and soul; life is yours, that in it you may gather merits; death is yours, because through death you pass to eternal life — or, death, that is, your martyrdom, is yours; things present are yours, both adverse and prosperous, because you use them for good; things to come are yours, the good things, because you shall enjoy them: hence already they are yours in hope, and in reality shall be yours in heaven. So St. Thomas and Anselm. Yours also are evils, hell, and the damned, that you may have dominion over them.
Verse 23: And You Are Christ's, and Christ Is God's
23. AND YOU ARE CHRIST'S, — as you are mystical members of Christ your head and Lord, and consequently you are the possession of Christ, bought with His blood. So Anselm and St. Thomas, as if to say: Therefore, O Corinthians, you must not glory in men, in Paul or Apollos, but in Christ.
AND CHRIST IS GOD'S, — supply "is"; and that, first, because as God He is the Son of God. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Anselm, Ambrose, who says: "Christ is the Son of God, doing His will, that we also may do His own will."
Secondly, and more aptly: Christ as man is God's — as it were, the creature and possession of His Lord and head, says St. Thomas and Cajetan.
From what has been said it is plain that the faithful saints, and most of all the elect, are the end for which God created all things; and the end of all these is Christ as man. For this glory was due to such a man in His own right — namely, that He should be the end of all creatures and of all men, that all should serve Him, that all should be ordered to His glory; but Christ is for the sake of God and the glory of God — as if the Apostle were saying: Therefore one must glory not in Paul, nor in Apollos, but in God alone, to whom all other things are referred.
Beautifully, in his moral homily 10, St. Chrysostom says: "All things," he says, "we have from Christ — both what we are, and life, and light, and spirit, and air, and earth; and if He shall take away any of these, we perish; for we are tenants and pilgrims. 'Mine' and 'thine' are only empty words; in reality they have no existence (understand: so that it is yours as it is God's, namely, that you have absolute, independent, and perpetual dominion of the thing. For God has granted you dominion only for a time; and this, if compared with God's dominion, is rather use than dominion). Even if you call the house yours, you speak emptily, since both the air and the earth and the material belong to the maker — and you yourself who shape it, and likewise all other things. And if it is for your use, that use is yet uncertain, not only because of death, but even before death because of the instability of things. For we belong to God in two ways, by creation and by faith; and if your soul is not your own, how shall money be yours? Since they are not yours but the Lord's, you must spend them upon your fellow-servants. Do not, therefore, say: I am consuming my own thing — it is not yours but another's; nay, it is common to you and to your fellow-servant, just as the sun and the air and all things are." Thus far Chrysostom.