The Lord of Glory Was Crucified

But let us look further into the subject. According to the apostle, then, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. What do you have to say to this? How can you get out of it? There is no place for you to escape to and hide. Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God. He, I say, whom the Jews attacked and the Gentiles mocked, whom you yourself are now persecuting along with them; he, I say, who is foolishness to the pagans and a stumbling block to the Jews, and both to you: he, I say, is the power of God and the wisdom of God. What can you do? Shut your ears, of course, so as not to hear? The Jews did that too when the apostle was preaching. Do what you like, Christ is in heaven, and in God, with him and in him, in the heavens above, as he also was in him here below. You can no longer persecute him with the Jews. But you do the one thing you can. You persecute him in the faith, you persecute him in the church, you persecute him with the weapons of a wicked belief, you persecute him with the sword of false doctrine. Perhaps you even do somewhat more than the Jews of old did. You persecute Christ now, after even those who did persecute him have come to believe. But perhaps you think the sin is less because you can no longer lay hands on him. No less grievous, I tell you, no less grievous to him is that persecution in which sinful men persecute him in the persons of his followers. [a]

But the mention of the Lord’s cross offends you. It always offended the Jews as well. You shudder to hear that God suffered; the Gentiles in their error mocked at this too. So I ask you, in what point do you differ from them, since you share this perversity with them? For my part, I not only do not water down this preaching of the holy cross, this preaching of the Lord’s passion, but, as far as my will and strength allow, I press it home. For I will declare that the one who was crucified is not only the power and wisdom of God, than which nothing is greater, but actually the Lord of full divinity and glory. I do so all the more because this claim of mine is God’s own teaching, as the apostle says: “We speak wisdom among those who are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. We speak the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God ordained before the world for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world knew; for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him.’”

You see how much the apostle’s words take in within how small a space. He says that he speaks wisdom, but a wisdom only the perfect can know, and which the clever of this world cannot know. For he says that this is the wisdom of God, hidden in a divine mystery and predestined before all ages for the glory of the saints; and that it is therefore known only to those who have a taste for the things of God, while the rulers of this world know nothing of it. Then he adds the reason, to establish both points he had made, saying: “For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him.’” So you see how the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery and predestined before all ages, was unknown to those who crucified the Lord of glory, and known to those who received it. And he does well to say that the wisdom of God was hidden in a mystery. For never yet could any man’s eye see, or ear hear, or heart imagine this: that the Lord of glory should be born of a virgin, come in the flesh, and suffer every kind of punishment and a shameful passion. But as for these gifts of God, just as no one could ever understand them by himself, since they were hidden in a mystery, so blessed is the one who has grasped them once they are revealed. All who have failed to grasp them, then, must be counted among the rulers of this world, and those who have grasped them among God’s wise ones.

The one who denies God born in the flesh does not grasp it; so you do not grasp it either, since you deny this. But do what you like, deny as godlessly as you please: we believe the apostle all the more. But why do I say the apostle? We believe God all the more. For through the apostle we believe him who, as we know, spoke by the apostle. The divine word says that the Lord of glory was crucified by the rulers of the world. You deny it. Those who crucified him also denied that it was God they were crucifying. So those who confess him have their portion with the apostle who confessed him. You are sure to have your lot with his persecutors. What answer, then, can be given to this? The apostle says that the Lord of glory was crucified. Change that if you can. Separate Jesus from God now, if you please. At least you cannot deny that Christ was crucified by the Jews. But it was the Lord of glory who was crucified. So you must either deny that Christ was nailed to the cross, or admit that God was nailed to it.