Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He teaches that charity excels among all gifts and graces. First then he asserts that without charity no gift or virtue avails.
Second, in vers. 4, he enumerates the sixteen conditions of charity, or its offices toward neighbors.
Third, in vers. 8, he shows the excellence of charity from the fact that it even remains in heaven, while faith there must be changed into vision, and hope into fruition.
Vulgate Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
1. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2. And if I should have prophecy, and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge; and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. 4. Charity is patient, is kind: charity does not envy, does not act perversely, is not puffed up. 5. Is not ambitious, seeks not her own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, 6. rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth: 7. bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8. Charity never falls away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. 9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 11. When I was a little child, I spoke as a little child, I understood as a little child, I thought as a little child. But when I became a man, I put away the things of a little child. 12. We see now through a glass in a dark manner: but then face to face. Now I know in part: but then I shall know even as I am known. 13. And now there remain faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.
This whole chapter is a panegyric of charity. The Apostle treats of charity so extensively, both because charity is the queen of all the virtues, and because he wishes to heal the pride and schisms of the Corinthians by means of charity as the most efficacious medicine. For charity makes the superiors not despise the inferiors, and the inferiors not be indignant that their superiors are preferred to them. He most strongly commends charity to them as a most outstanding gift, that they may pursue it, and not the gift of tongues, of prophecy, or of miracles, which the Corinthians used to value most highly. And this is what, preparing his transition to charity, he said at the end of the preceding chapter: "Emulate the better charisms, and yet a more excellent way (of charity) I show you."
Verse 1: If I Speak with the Tongues of Men and of Angels
1. IF I SPEAK WITH THE TONGUES OF MEN AND OF ANGELS. — "The tongue of angels," some take as Hebrew, by which God, the angels, and Adam spoke in paradise, of which more in vers. 8. Second, the Gloss, Durandus, Gregory of Rimini in book II, dist. ix, Quaest. II, and Molina, part I, Quaest. CVI, art. 1, from this passage of the Apostle think that angels speak as men do, not only by species impressed upon the hearing angel, but also by nods and signs — yet spiritual ones (which would be as it were certain spiritual speeches and utterances) implanted in them at creation, just as the Hebrew tongue was implanted in Adam. Hence Franciscus Albertinus, I Corollariorum Theologic., corollary II, says that each angel has its own proper tongue, distinct from the tongue of any other angel, because the Apostle says: "If I speak with the tongues of angels," not "tongue." But from this it seems to follow that, if the angels exhibit these signs and speak their tongue to one, they could not conceal it from others; for they can hide nothing natural, but only what is free: these signs however are natural, and implanted in them along with their nature at their creation.
Hence others with D. Thomas think that angels speak in this way, that they direct their concepts to another, and wish them to be made known to him; for then by a congruous ordering and concurrence of God, the object becomes proportionate and is placed as it were within the sphere of cognition, and becomes intelligible to him to whom they wish to speak, and not to another: so that the latter sees and understands this object, as it were now placed before his eyes, while another does not. From this some conclude that angels by their nature cannot lie. But the contrary seems truer, namely that they can lie; because angels can form a false concept dissonant with their mind in their intellect, and direct it to another, to whom they speak in this way: as a man forms a speech that is false and dissonant from his mind when he lies. For angels do not exhibit the acts of their will themselves, that is, their very volitions and intentions, to be seen: but they form in the mind concepts of these acts, either true or false, as they wish, and represent them to him to whom they speak. But let us leave these matters to be more fully disputed and settled by the Scholastics.
Therefore here the tongues of angels are not sensible, as Cajetan would have it, but intelligible, namely these tongues are the angelic concepts themselves, most perfect and most beautiful. Or certainly it is prosopopoeia and hyperbole: "The tongue of angels," that is, the most elegant tongue. So we commonly say: He speaks divinely. By a similar hyperbole it is said: The face of an angel, or angelic, that is, most beautiful. Thus Theodoret and Theophylact; namely because angels in themselves are most beautiful, and they exhibit themselves as most beautiful both in sight and in voice when they assume a body. So therefore here, as elsewhere again and again, Paul speaks by hyperbole from a hypothesis, especially for the sake of emphasis, as if to say: If the tongues of angels were above the human ones — Hebrew, Greek, Latin — and I were skilled in them, but did not use them for the benefit of my neighbor, what else would it be than empty and clamorous loquacity? Thus the Greeks and Latins. So Galatians I, 8: "Although," he says, "an angel from heaven should preach the Gospel." So Romans viii, 39, when he had named all created things, the highest, lowest, middle, he adds by hyperbole: "Nor any other creature." Here Paul is rebuking the Corinthians, who admired the gift of tongues above all others.
A TINKLING CYMBAL, — emitting a confused and disordered sound, in Greek ἀλαλάζω. It is an onomatopoeia, as if to say: Sounding alala, alala. Thus Apion the Grammarian, on account of his garrulity, was called "the Cymbal of the World," as Suetonius testifies in his book On Famous Grammarians.
Verse 2: If I Should Have All Faith, So That I Could Remove Mountains
2. IF I SHOULD HAVE ALL FAITH, SO THAT I COULD REMOVE MOUNTAINS, AND HAVE NOT CHARITY.
I AM NOTHING. — Erasmus would have it be a hyperbolic fiction, as if to say: Charity far surpasses faith: just as it is said, Nobility alone is the one true virtue. But this is too cold: for concerning almsgiving and martyrdom, if charity is absent, he says in the following verse: "It profits me nothing." Therefore "I am nothing," that is, I am of no worth or favor before God, and in truth; because the just person is something before God, while the rest of men, the unjust, are in the sight and estimation of God as if nothing, as if to say: Without charity nothing profits, nothing makes friendship with God, nothing reconciles man to justice and salvation — not even the greatest and most excellent faith, which moves mountains, such as was in Gregory Thaumaturgus, who by his faith moved a mountain from its place, to make room for a church to be built, as Eusebius narrates in book VII of his History, chap. xxv.
Moreover, St. Ambrose explains this passage differently in book IV, epistle 44 to Horontianus: "I think," he says, "the Apostle said this for the sake of a hypothesis; for it does not seem to me that one who has all faith so as to remove mountains lacks charity: just as in the other case, if anyone has all mysteries and all knowledge, how should he lack charity, since John says in his first epistle, chap. v: Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." Here St. Ambrose holds that the Apostle said this for the sake of a hypothesis, that is, by proposing a hypothesis, or a condition otherwise impossible, and by "all faith" he understands perfect faith, namely living and formed by charity, as Ambrose himself there explains, which it is certain cannot be separated from charity. The sense therefore is, as if to say: If by an impossibility all faith, that is, full, perfect and living faith (namely formed by charity), could be separated from charity, that faith would profit nothing toward justice and salvation. Thus the Apostle throughout in the Epistle to the Romans says that the law does not justify, but faith — namely faith formed by charity; and St. John says that he who believes — namely with faith formed by charity — is born of God, as St. Augustine explains there; see what is said in Canon 3 of the things on St. Paul. And indeed, although that faith which moves mountains can metaphysically and as to possibility be separated from charity, nevertheless morally and in fact it is scarcely ever separated from charity. For we never read of a faithful person lacking charity — that is, one existing in mortal sin — having moved mountains: for God does not do this except through friends very dear to Himself. In a similar way, what follows — "If I should deliver my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing" — St. Chrysostom expounds hypothetically of martyrdom, as I shall say presently.
Hence it is clear that faith alone does not justify. Beza answers that here only the faith of miracles is meant. "For justifying faith," he says, "namely that which apprehends God's mercy in Christ, can indeed be distinguished from charity in thought, but never in reality, no more than light from fire." But against this — because the faith of miracles includes and presupposes faith properly so-called, which is the principle of justification; indeed the faith of miracles is the most excellent faith, as the Apostle here signifies when he says: "If I should have faith, so as to remove mountains;" therefore if the faith of miracles can exist without charity, justifying faith can also. Second, because the Apostle says "all faith," which Beza fraudulently translates "the whole of faith": if all, therefore also justifying. Third, because in vers. 8 and the last verse the Apostle teaches that faith, as also hope — namely Theological and justifying faith — remains only in this life, while charity remains also in the future life: therefore faith is separated from charity. Thus Chrysostom, Anselm, Theophylact and others, and especially St. Augustine, in book XV On the Trinity, chap. xviii: "Faith," he says, "according to the Apostle, can exist without charity, but cannot profit." And in his sermon on the three virtues, faith, hope and charity, vol. X, of charity alone he says: "that it distinguishes between the sons of God and the sons of the devil; between the sons of the kingdom and the sons of perdition;" and again, in his book On Nature and Grace, last chap.: "Charity that is begun," he says, "is justice begun; great charity is great justice; perfect charity is perfect justice." See Bellarmine, book I On Justification, chap. xv. What the faith of miracles is, I said in the preceding chapter, vers. 8. By what reason the working of miracles is to be attributed to faith, D. Thomas teaches, in De Potentia, Quaest. VI, art. 9.
You will say: Therefore if a penitent exercises himself in good works before reconciliation, they profit him nothing. Some answer that they do profit, because the penitent, they say, has charity — not the infused charity that makes one just, but charity, that is, an affection of sincere love toward God, by which he aspires to reconciliation. But this affection is not, nor can be called, charity: for charity here and elsewhere Sacred Scripture calls the most eminent virtue, greater than faith and hope, which makes us God's friends. Second, because the affections of fear, hope and faith dispose to justice; therefore they are something, even without that affection of love.
I say therefore: Good works profit the penitent sinner nothing, unless charity follows: for thus he says that almsgiving does not profit, as will be clear in vers. 3. For a disposition, as a disposition, is in vain and nothing, unless the form to which it disposes follows: therefore works without charity are nothing, that is, they confer no justice or salvation; and man without charity "is nothing," namely according to the spiritual being by which through supernatural regeneration he receives a supernatural and divine being, and becomes a new creature of God, a son and heir of God.
Verse 3: And If I Should Distribute
3. AND IF I SHOULD DISTRIBUTE. — The Greek ψωμίζω means to put bread or food, as it were cut into morsels, into the mouths of children or the sick, as I said on Romans xii, 20; here however it means to spend all one's substance in such a use.
IF I SHOULD DELIVER MY BODY TO BE BURNED, BUT HAVE NOT CHARITY, IT PROFITS ME NOTHING, — Some Greek manuscripts read καυχήσωμαι, that is "that I may glory," instead of ἵνα καυθῶμαι, that is "that I may burn," and Jerome reads thus at the end of chap. v on Galatians: but the common reading of the Greeks, Latins, and the Syriac is ἵνα καυθήσωμαι, "that I may burn."
You will say: Therefore martyrdom can exist without grace and charity, with sin and damnation.
Note first: Just as one can give alms, so one can deliver one's body in various manners and motives, e.g. for one's country, for a neighbor, for chastisement of the body, out of vainglory; again for faith, for the love of Christ and God, and then it is martyrdom. Second, martyrdom is an act elicited from the virtue of fortitude, often commanded by charity; yet it can be commanded not by charity, but by another virtue, such as religion or obedience; for example, if someone offers himself to martyrdom in order to honor God or to obey Him: which however also flow from a certain general love of God.
Third, martyrdom undertaken from any virtue confers justifying grace, even the first, as it were by the work performed (ex opere operato), as the Theologians teach, and consequently confers charity, and cannot be separated from it as from its term.
I say therefore first, that the Apostle is speaking in general of any delivering of the body to be burned, whether one does it for one's country, as Mutius Scaevola did, who, wishing to kill King Porsenna besieging Rome, when he had erred and was already in the power of the enemies, in order to show how he despised death for his country, burned his hand: "That you may know (he said to Porsenna himself) how cheap our body is to us who look to glory." Or whether one does it out of vainglory, as Peregrinus did, who, in order to acquire an immortal name for himself, threw himself onto a pyre to be burned at the Olympic games, as the eyewitness Lucian testifies in Peregrinus. Or even if one delivers oneself to fire for the faith of Christ, while at the same time keeping hatred of one's neighbor, or the will to sin mortally: this martyrdom is material, not formal; for then it is without charity and profits nothing. Thus D. Thomas, Anselm, Theodoret.
Hence I say second, the Apostle speaks also of the delivering of the body in material martyrdom and also formal; but conditionally, as if to say: If martyrdom could exist without charity, it would profit nothing. Thus St. Chrysostom and Theophylact. Whence Theodoret and St. Basil, epist. 73 to the Neocaesareans, note that here is a hyperbole, if you would have the Apostle speak not only conditionally but also absolutely.
I say third, martyrdom antecedently, or from the work of the doer (ex opere operantis) — that is, insofar as one looks only at the work itself in itself, or the merit of him who suffers martyrdom — can exist without charity. As if one existing in mortal sin should wish to die for the faith of Christ, not yet having charity; and thus martyrdom profits nothing: consequently, however, ex opere operato, at its term, martyrdom always brings charity; for by the very fact that someone, even a sinner, is killed for the faith, charity and justice are infused into him as it were ex opere operato; and thus martyrdom profits very greatly. In this way then the sense of the Apostle here will be: martyrdom profits him nothing, unless either it precede, or follow, or be present — charity, either as principle or as term and effect of martyrdom. Thus D. Thomas, Cajetan and Franciscus Suarez, III part., Quaest. LXIX, disp. xxix, sect. 2, as if to say, says Anselm: Without charity nothing, however excellent, profits; but with charity all things, however lowly, profit, and become golden and divine.
IT PROFITS ME NOTHING, — οὐκ ὠφελοῦμαι, I am not helped, I gain no benefit (namely so as to be justified and saved). Thus the Syriac. "So great is charity, that if it is lacking, the rest are had in vain; if it is present, all things are had," says St. Augustine, Sentence 326, at the end of vol. III.
Verse 4: Charity Is Patient, Is Kind
4. CHARITY IS PATIENT, IS KIND. — Ambrose reads, "charity is magnanimous (so too often St. Cyprian and Tertullian read, in his book On Patience, chap. xii), is joyous." In Greek, instead of "is patient," it has μακροθυμεῖ, "is long-suffering." So also the Syriac.
Note: "Charity is patient," not formally, but causally, because it begets patience and kindness: for patience, just as kindness, is not an elicited act, but commanded by charity. Beautifully Tertullian, in his book On Patience, chap. xi, teaches that no virtue is perfect which does not have patience as its companion, and therefore in all the beatitudes which Christ enumerates in Matt. v, patience too is to be understood. And in chap. xii he teaches that the treasure of charity is contained in the discipline of patience, and that charity itself is instructed by patience as by a teacher. For weighing these words of the Apostle: "Charity is patient," he speaks thus: "Love is the highest sacrament of faith, the treasure of the Christian name, which unless it be instructed by the disciplines of patience? Love," he says, "is magnanimous, so it takes patience; it is beneficent, by patience it does no evil; it does not envy, that indeed is proper to patience; nor does it taste of insolence, it has drawn modesty from patience; it is not puffed up, it is not insolent, for that does not pertain to patience. What else has it left to impatience? Therefore," he says, "love bears all things, endures all things — surely because it is patient."
Hence St. Augustine, in his book On the Morals of the Church, XV, defines fortitude thus: "Fortitude is love bearing all things easily for the sake of God." In a similar way he defines the other three cardinal virtues through love, namely that they are various affections of love: "Thus temperance," he says, "we may call love preserving itself whole and uncorrupt for God. Justice is love serving God alone, and on this account ruling well the other things which are subject to man. Prudence is love well discerning the things by which it is helped toward God from those by which it can be hindered." In the same place, chap. XXII: "That love," he says, "which must be inflamed with all holiness toward God, in not desiring these things is called temperate, and in losing them is called strong." And after a few things interposed: "Nothing is so hard and so iron-like that is not overcome by the fire of love. By which when the soul carries itself to God, above every workshop of the flesh, it will fly free and wondrous on most beautiful and undamaged wings, on which chaste love rests for the embrace of God." Every virtue therefore is love and charity, namely an act of charity, not elicited, but commanded: because by charity it is commanded, directed, formed and perfected. Add, virtue in itself is love of the honorable. Such was the charity of Christ on the cross toward His crucifiers, of which St. Bernard, in his sermon On the Passion of the Lord, says: "He was beaten with scourges, crowned with thorns, pierced with nails, fixed to the gibbet, sated with insults: yet forgetful of all His pains, 'Forgive them,' He says, 'for they know not what they do.' O how much You are ready to forgive! O how great the abundance of Your sweetness, O Lord! O how far Your thoughts from our thoughts! O how confirmed is Your mercy upon the impious! Wonderful thing! He cries out: Forgive; the Jews: Crucify. His words are smoother than oil, and theirs are darts. O patient, yet compassionate charity! Charity is patient — that is enough. Charity is kind — that is the crowning: because kind charity even loves those whom it tolerates, and loves so ardently." And a little below: "O Jews, you are stones, but you strike a softer stone, from which there resounds the tinkling of piety and the oil of charity gushes forth. How shall You give to drink, O Lord, those who desire You from the torrent of Your delight, You who so pour upon those crucifying You the oil of Your mercy?"
DOES NOT ENVY, — does not envy. For, as St. Gregory says in homily 5 on the Gospels: "Good will (which charity begets) is, to fear the adversities of another as our own; to rejoice in the prosperity of one's neighbor as in our own progress; to believe another's losses are ours, to consider another's gains as ours." The reason is, because charity does not regard mine and yours, but the things that are God's; for, as St. Gregory says in the same place: "Whatever we covet in this world, we envy in our neighbor." For it seems to us that what accrues to another is taken from us. For this cause charity grows cold where covetousness flourishes: on the contrary, when fraternal charity reigns, then covetousness is banished; for, as St. Augustine says in book III On Christian Doctrine, chap. x: "The more the kingdom of covetousness is destroyed, the more charity is increased."
DOES NOT ACT PERVERSELY, — perversely, insolently, maliciously: in Greek οὐ περπερεύεται, which others translate, "is not chattering"; second, Vatablus translates, "does not flatter"; third, Clement, in book III of the Paedagogus, chap. ii, "is not painted, or too made-up." "For perversely (perperam)," says Clement, "is said to act adornment which openly indicates superfluity and uselessness. For too much zeal for adornment is foreign to God, reason and charity." Fourth, Cajetan translates, "is not inconstant"; fifth, Theophylact, "is not headlong, light, rash, foolish"; sixth, the Syriac, "is not tumultuous"; seventh, Theophylact again, "does not lift itself up," as if to say οὐ περίπτερος ἐστι. So also St. Basil seems to expound it, in Rule 49 among the shorter rules: "What is περπερεύεται?" — which the Latin interpreter of Basil translates, "what is to glory powerlessly and to boast oneself?" He answers: "That which is assumed not from necessity, but for the sake of superfluous adornment, has an accusation of perversity." But from these words it is clear enough that the interpreter has not grasped the mind of St. Basil, nor did Basil understand by περπερεύεται boasting and powerless glorying, but paint and too much adornment, as Clement of Alexandria understood it in the place already cited. Eighth, Chrysostom translates best of all: charity is not impudent or insolent, "as is the carnal love of suitors, mistresses, and harlots." Whence Tertullian, in his book On Patience, chap. xii, reads, "charity does not act insolently." The Greek word περπερεύεται, and the Latin "perperam," is taken, says Erasmus, from the Perperi brothers — who are also called Cecropes — whose insolence and wickedness is celebrated in the fables of the Poets.
Verse 5: Is Not Ambitious
5. IS NOT AMBITIOUS. — In Greek ἀσχημονεῖ, which the Syriac translates, "does not perform what is shameful"; Clement, in book III of the Paedagogus, chap. i, translates, "does not bear itself unbecomingly"; our Interpreter, with Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, takes it thus, as if to say: Charity considers nothing a disgrace or unbecoming to itself, however lowly, however ignominious, or insulting that it may suffer or do. Or more briefly: Charity is not put to shame, because it desires nothing, no honor at all. Our [translator] therefore understood the cause from its effect, and translated; for the reason why anyone is not put to shame is because he aspires to no honor or distinction. Whence Chrysostom and Theophylact think this is said by Paul against the proud: "What disgrace and dishonor is, charity does not know," says Chrysostom; "with golden wings it covers the vices of all whom it embraces." Thus the charity of Christ did not despise harlots, nor spittle, nor scourges, nor the washing of feet. St. Basil in his shorter Rules, Rule 246, translates: charity does not depart from its disposition and form; Oecumenius however: charity does not bitterly accuse him who is its enemy.
THINKS NO EVIL. — That is, if charity is provoked by anyone, it does not reckon the injury, nor seek revenge, but dissembles, excuses, forgives. For in Greek it is, οὐ λογίζεται, that is, as Vatablus and the Greeks translate, "does not impute evil to anyone."
Verse 6: But Rejoices with the Truth
6. BUT REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH. — "With the truth," not so much of the mouth or mind, as of life, that is, of justice, as if to say: When charity sees her neighbors living justly and rightly, and making progress, she does not envy, but as it were rejoices and is glad as at the increase of her own profit, says Anselm from St. Gregory. For here truth is opposed to iniquity; for he says: "Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth." Truth hopes, for the consolation of the rejected and despairing; bears all things, and never fails, against those who for trivial cause foster seditions. These offices of charity St. Gregory describes thus, Moral., book X, chapter viii: "Charity is patient, because it bears with equanimity the evils inflicted upon it. It is kind, because it generously dispenses good things in return for evils. It does not envy, because, since it desires nothing in the present world, it knows not how to envy earthly successes. It is not puffed up, because while it anxiously desires the reward of internal retribution, it does not exalt itself over outward goods. It does not act perversely, because what extends itself solely to the love of God and neighbor knows nothing of whatever differs from rectitude. It is not ambitious, because what burns inwardly for its own concerns in no way covets what belongs to others outwardly. It seeks not its own, because it neglects as belonging to others all things which it possesses transitorily here, since it acknowledges that nothing is its own except what remains with it. It is not provoked, because even when assailed by injuries, it stirs not itself to any motions of its own vengeance, since it expects greater rewards after great labors. It thinks no evil, because consolidating the mind in the love of purity, while it uproots all hatred from the root, it knows not how to ponder in the soul what would defile. It does not rejoice over iniquity, because that which longs only for love toward all does not exult over the perdition of adversaries. But it rejoices with the truth, because, loving others as itself, by what it perceives as right in others, it grows joyful as at the increase of its own progress."
Therefore the soul aflame with charity is like heaven. For just as the most ample heaven embraces the whole earth, warms and makes it fruitful by the sun, and by rains waters even the places bristling with thorns: so such a soul embraces with charity the inhabitants of the whole earth, even barbarians, even enemies, and does good to those it can, and waters and warms with its sweetness those bristling with the thorns of hatred and vices.
Chrysostom notes, homily 34, at the beginning, that these are sixteen goods and fruits of charity, which he sets as remedies against the diseases of the Corinthians: "Charity, he says, is patient, marking out the contentious; kind, against the factious and clandestine; envies not, against those who bear superiors with difficulty; is not insolent, restraining the dissolute; is not puffed up, against the proud; is not fastidious, against those who refuse to humble themselves and serve their neighbor; seeks not its own, against those who despise others; is not provoked, thinks no evil, against the contumelious; rejoices not over iniquity, but rejoices with the truth, against the envious. Again, bears all things, for the consolation of the surrounded and oppressed; hopes all things, for the consolation of the rejected and despairing; therefore here is all equity, uprightness, justice." The Greeks explain otherwise, as if to say: Charity does not rejoice when it sees an enemy suffering anything iniquitously or unjustly, but grieves; and rejoices with the truth, if it sees that what is his be given to him.
Verse 7: Bears All Things
7. BEARS ALL THINGS, — like a beam which sustains the load placed upon it; or rather like a palm tree, which does not succumb to its burden, but is rather raised up like an arch. St. Cyprian, in the tract On the Simplicity of Prelates, reads, loves all things, στέργει for στέγει. Truly St. Augustine in the Sentences, no. 295: "Worldly cupidity, he says, makes the fortitude of the Gentiles, but the charity of God makes the fortitude of Christians, which is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us, not through the choice of will which is from ourselves."
BELIEVES ALL THINGS, — that is, those things which it can prudently believe without danger of error; it readily assents to others; charity is not suspicious. Paul therefore says: "Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things," as if to say: Charity bears all evils and injuries, believes and persuades itself of all the better things concerning a neighbor, hopes all good things from a neighbor, and endures from him evil words and blows. So Chrysostom and the Greeks. Otherwise Anselm, St. Thomas, Lyranus explain, as if to say: Charity makes one believe all things to be believed, hope for all things to be hoped for, and endure through patience. For otherwise concerning any other matters that saying of Seneca, in De Moribus, is true: "It is equally a vice to believe everything, as it is a vice to believe nothing." Thus also expounds St. Augustine, who from these words of the Apostle makes a quadriga of charity, namely of four virtues of charity, that is, of faith, hope, patience and perseverance; whence in the sermon On the Four Virtues of Charity he says thus: "Everyone who piously bears rightly believes, and everyone who rightly believes hopes for something, and he who hopes endures, lest he fall from hope." But the former sense is the genuine one. For the Apostle in this whole passage is treating of the offices of charity, not toward God, but toward neighbor, and teaches what kind charity shows itself through all things to a neighbor.
CHARITY NEVER FAILS, — does not die out, will never cease, the other gifts will cease in heavenly glory. Heretics infer: if charity never fails, then he who has it cannot sin, and is certain of his salvation. I respond: I deny the consequence. For charity never fails, namely of itself; for of its own accord it never deserts a man, unless it is first deserted by him through sin. "Charity, says Cassian, Conf. III, ch. VII, is that which never allows its follower to fall by the supplanting of sin." As long, therefore, as you will be zealous for charity, and will to retain it, it will never fail, you will never sin: but if you sin, charity will not fail of itself, but you yourself will cast it out by force.
WHETHER PROPHECIES SHALL BE MADE VOID, OR TONGUES SHALL CEASE — not so much on account of obscurity, as because they have been given here on account of the imperfection of the hearers, namely so that the more uninstructed themselves might be educated through prophecy and tongues. Thus in heaven faith will cease, because on account of inevidence it is imperfect; and hope, because it too is imperfect on account of the absence of the thing hoped for; but charity has none of these, but is perfect in itself; whence it will remain in heaven.
OR TONGUES SHALL CEASE. — He does not say: Tongue shall cease, but, "Tongues shall cease," because in heaven the variety of tongues will cease, but not every tongue; for not only with the mind, but also with sensible tongue we shall praise God unanimously. One tongue therefore will remain, which all will use in heaven, and that this will be Hebrew, which Adam used in the state of innocence, and all the Patriarchs, Prophets and Saints before Christ, indeed the whole world before the division and confusion of tongues at Babel, is taught by Haymo, Remigius, Cajetan here, Galatinus, in De Arcan. fid. book XII, ch. IV, Viguerius in Institut., ch. IX, §. 1, vers. 8, where he treats of the gift of tongues. Whence in the Apocalypse written in Greek, it is said that the Saints in heaven shall sing in Hebrew Amen, Alleluia: for in heaven, sin being taken away, the confusion of tongues will also be taken away, and as we shall return to the primeval state of innocence, so also to its tongue, and to one and the first lip. Indeed if any tongue from those we use in this life remains in heaven, I would believe it to be Hebrew. But whether any will remain, is not certain. For the Apostle only says: "Tongues shall cease," which can be understood thus, that all those which are now in use among men will cease. With which it is nevertheless consistent that another new sensible tongue be infused into the Blessed in heaven, and that one far nobler than this of ours and heavenly, which befits a glorious mouth and body, by which they may praise God bodily: whether this is more true, happy experience will teach us. Our John Salas judges this to be more truly so, in I II, tom. I, Quaest. V, art. 5, tract. 2, disp. 14, no. 106, sect. 14. Because, he says, the Hebrew tongue lacks sweetness, abundance and perspicuity: therefore it is not the only one to be retained after the general resurrection. In heaven therefore there will be a chosen lip, as Zephaniah III, 9 says, that is, a certain special tongue supremely sweet, brief and perspicuous, common to all nations, to be taught by God. Whence St. Bernard, in Meditat., ch. IV: There will be, he says, one tongue of all in unwearied jubilation, etc.; in that peace there will not be diversity of tongues, namely for common use. But besides this, they will speak other tongues whenever they please; for all will have the gift of tongues, and will know all idioms by divine revelation. Our Salmeron and others add, that in heaven God is to be celebrated in all tongues; because this seems to pertain to the greater glory of God, that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. And thus every tongue will be one, because one and the same thing they will think and proclaim: as Martial, epigram 1, said in flattering Caesar:
Different sounds the voice of the peoples, yet it is one, While you are called the true father of the fatherland.
OR KNOWLEDGE SHALL BE DESTROYED. — "Knowledge," in Greek γνῶσις, that is cognition, namely as Chrysostom, Theodoret and Theophylact say, imperfect, obscure and enigmatic, as Paul says in verse 12, namely faith and whatever rests on faith, such as is the science of our Theology, which deduces conclusions from the principles of faith: all this will cease in heaven. For there will be there a Theology of another species, namely most evident from the vision of God and from most evident principles. Thus Cajetan, Molina, Vasquez and others, at the beginning of the First Part.
Note, that the Apostle speaks rather of the act of knowledge than of the habit. Whence he adds: "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part." And: "When I was a child, I understood as a child." And: "Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known." Yet from the act ceasing he leaves it to be inferred that the habit also will cease: for the habit would be in vain, of which there will be no use, because it will not issue in act. And this the word signifies, shall be made void, and shall be destroyed, namely so that knowledge, prophecy and tongues should perish utterly both as to act, and as to habit. Secondly, not badly does Photius explain thus: "Knowledge," in Greek γνῶσις, that is teaching and learning, shall be made void; for in heaven we shall neither teach, nor learn. Thirdly, others say: Knowledge, that is, the use of scientific discourse, by which here matters of faith are explained and illustrated by natural sciences, will cease in heaven.
Verse 9: For We Know in Part, and We Prophesy in Part
9. FOR WE KNOW IN PART, AND WE PROPHESY IN PART. — "In part," that is, imperfectly; the Syriac translates, we know a little out of much: for this little and imperfect, which we know partly through knowledge, partly through prophecy, he opposes to the perfect, in the following verse, that is, to the perfect vision and knowledge of God in Himself, and of all things in God; because in truth the whole that is of God, and all His attributes and perfections in this life we do not know, but the Blessed alone and all of them know those things, and he proves this by the example of a child, who as in age, so in knowledge grows up; for the Blessed are as men in knowledge, while in it we are children. Again, our Theological knowledge, though certain, is yet inevident and obscure, because it rests on faith, and therefore is only knowledge in part, or imperfect; but the Blessed clearly and evidently know all things, indeed see and behold them at hand.
Verse 11: When I Was a Child
11. WHEN I WAS A CHILD. — In Greek νήπιος; in Hebrew it is called עולל olel, that is, a boy, who now begins to speak, to think, to undertake, to attempt, to study, to play and to do something, as our little ones do. For this is what the Hebrew root עולל alal signifies. Whence Paul adds:
I SPOKE AS A CHILD, I UNDERSTOOD AS A CHILD, I THOUGHT AS A CHILD. — "I understood," in Greek ἐφρόνουν, that is I felt/perceived. So Vatablus. For little ones, or as in Greek, νήπιοι, that is infants, do not have wisdom, but sense, as if to say: As when I was a child I thought and understood and felt as a child; but having become a man I thought and understood as a man: so, "when that which is perfect shall come," that is perfect wisdom in heaven, the partial and imperfect knowledge which we have in this life will be made void; so that we who here are children in knowledge, may in heaven be men in the same: for Paul leaves the other part of the simile to be supplied thus from the preceding verse.
Verse 12: We See Now Through a Mirror in an Enigma
12. WE SEE (namely God and divine things, by which we are saved and made blessed, as is clear from the following) NOW THROUGH A MIRROR IN AN ENIGMA: BUT THEN FACE TO FACE. — You will say: If through a mirror here we see God, then we see Him clearly and not in an enigma; for a mirror does not exhibit the image of a thing, as the common opinion thinks, but the thing itself to the eyes. I respond: It is true that the mirror exhibits the thing itself to the eyes; yet it does this through a ray from the thing, not direct, but reflected, and therefore it does not represent the thing properly, clearly, distinctly, but as it were from afar, obscurely and confusedly; such, however, is our knowledge of God and divine things which we have in this life; because in heaven we shall see God in Himself directly, near at hand, and clearly, face to face.
Secondly, for "through a mirror," in Greek it is δι' ἐσόπτρου, that is, we see through an inspectorium: for ἔσοπτρον is that which we look through, as a medium for seeing some thing, such as the spectacles of the elderly, an ocular glass, or a green glass that is placed over writing, in order to comfort weak eyes in reading; yet it makes things appear green, blackish and obscure: and such a glass properly makes letters to be seen, and the thing seen not in itself immediately, but through an obscure medium, and through a shadowy likeness, or, as the Apostle says, in an enigma; such a mirror, therefore, can be taken here.
Thirdly, some translate δι' ἐσόπτρου as through lattices, through a screen. For as merchants display their wares from the house through wicker lattices to those passing by, not nearby and distinctly, but from afar, summarily and in a confused manner; so God shows Himself to us in this life.
You will ask: What is this mirror through which we here see God and divine things in an enigma? I respond: First, it is creatures, which as a mirror represent their Creator. Thus St. Thomas. Secondly, it is phantasms, which are mirrors of things. Thirdly, it is the humanity of Christ, and His mysteries, which veil and represent divinity. Again, it is the Sacraments and the other ceremonies and rites. Thus Theodoret. "In most holy baptism, says Theodoret, we see a figure of the resurrection, but then we shall see the resurrection itself; here we see symbols of the Lord's body, but there we shall see the Lord Himself; for that is what 'face to face' signifies. But we shall see, not the nature of His which does not fall under perception, which can be discerned by no one, but that which is taken from us." In these last words of Theodoret his error must be avoided: for he seems to say that in heaven we shall see only the humanity of Christ, because the divine nature, he says, cannot be seen. But he can be excused, since he speaks only of bodily vision, of which it is true to say that we shall see only the humanity of Christ with bodily eyes. But this is beside the mind of the Apostle; for the Apostle treats of the beatific vision of the divinity especially.
IN AN ENIGMA, — through an enigma, that is through obscure speech, thought, fantasy. Thus Anselm. For an enigma is a question, which is proposed with verbal wrappings.
BUT THEN FACE TO FACE. — He alludes to Moses, of whom it is said in Exodus XXXIII, 11: "He spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend." And Numbers ch. XII, 8: "Mouth to mouth I speak to him: and openly, and not through enigmas and figures (as the other Prophets) does he see the Lord."
NOW I KNOW IN PART (imperfectly, as I said in v. 9), BUT THEN I SHALL KNOW EVEN AS I AM KNOWN. — as if to say: Then in heaven I shall perfectly know and behold God as He is in His essence, and the remaining mysteries of God and of faith, as He Himself knows me, and beholds what I am through my essence. So Anselm, Theophylact, Cajetan, Ambrose and Theodoret: "I shall know, he says, even as I am known, that is, as one known and familiar, who clearly beholds the face of a friend." St. Augustine extends these words of the Apostle also to the knowledge of those things which take place here on earth, and which pertain to the state of some Saint. Whence from this passage he proves that the Saints understand our affairs more perfectly in heaven than they once understood them on earth, whence it follows that they also know our prayers, by which we invoke them. So he himself in De Civit. book XXII, ch. XXIX. Otherwise Chrysostom and Oecumenius: Then, they say, I shall know practically, and I shall run to Him through love and justice, as He Himself by His grace preceded me and ran ahead.
Thirdly, others explain thus: Then I shall know in that degree of perfection to which from eternity I have been known and predestined by God. But the first sense is the genuine one; for he opposes clear and full knowledge to knowledge in part, that is to imperfect and enigmatic knowledge.
Verse 13: And Now There Remain Faith, Hope, Charity
13. AND NOW THERE REMAIN FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY, THESE THREE: BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS CHARITY. — "Now," in Greek is νυνί, and in the preceding verse is ἄρτι, that is still, namely in the present life. For Paul clearly teaches in this chapter that faith, hope and charity remain here, but in the fatherland charity alone. So the Fathers. See Gregory of Valencia, disp. 1, Quaest. V, on the subject of faith, point 2.
You will say: Irenaeus, book II, ch. XLVII; Tertullian, De Patientia, ch. XII, understand 'now' as in heaven: therefore in heaven both hope as well as faith will exist and remain. I respond: These Fathers take 'faith' as every firm cognition, such as is the vision of God; and 'hope' as the firm adherence to God beloved, which is the fruition of God. For this is what Tertullian says: "There remain, he says, faith, hope, love: faith, which Christ's patience introduced; hope, which the patience of man awaits; love, which patience accompanies with God as master." But these things are not to the Apostle's mind here, as is clear.
GREATER (that is greatest) IS CHARITY. — Thus Catullus: Hesperus, who shinest in heaven, fire more pleasant than any other, that is, the most pleasant star.
Hence it is clear that faith is not the heretics' confidence about remitted sins, because that confidence is nothing other than strengthened hope; if there is anything more, namely faith properly so called, by which you believe most certainly that you are just, that you are to be saved, as you believe that God exists; then hope is superfluous. For what you believe with certainty, that you do not hope, nor can you hope: just as you do not hope that God exists, that Christ suffered for us. For hope which is truly hope, has joined to it fear and apprehension of the opposite, of which there is none in faith. Moreover the Apostle here distinguishes hope or confidence from faith, and requires both hope and faith in this life: therefore faith is not that confidence which the heretics boast of.
It is clear again, that charity is the greatest and most eminent of all the virtues. For as among the elements fire is eminent, among metals gold, among the heavens the empyrean, among the planets the sun, among the angels the Seraphim: so among the virtues, as it were a queen, charity stands eminent. For it is heavenly fire, which inflames the souls of all around it; it is most resplendent gold, with which we buy heavenly wares; it is the empyrean heaven, in which God and the Blessed dwell; it is the sun, which illumines, makes fruitful, vivifies all things; it is the seraphic virtue, which makes the Seraphim burn. See what is said at Deuteronomy VI, 5: "What the helmsman is in a ship, what the magistrate is in a city, what the sun is in the world, that is love among mortals. A ship without a helmsman totters, a city without a magistrate is endangered, the world without the sun is made dark; and the life of mortals without love is not vital. Take love from men, and you have taken the sun from the world." Elegantly the elder Plantinus calls love a God who makes things clean, that is, who makes all things clean and elegant, says Beroaldus.