Unit 3 rem early

all things have been put together—or that pleasure is the end of goods—and saying the rest of what outward, seeming wisdom chatters and pratesch a person is truly a fool, and those doctrines are folly. And when you examine all Greek and barbarian philosophy simply, you will say that wherever it disagrees with Christ’s teaching it is folly. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

I say it is no great thing if God, as God, catches the wise in their craftiness—but rather in Paul, who says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful with God for the tearing down of strongholds, tearing down reasonings and every height raised against the knowledge of God.” To understand this more clearly, picture Paul arriving in Athens and seeking opportunity among those he meets, so that some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers even clash with him; then by Christ’s grace he was catching hold of them and exposing their sophisms. Here I take “the wise” to mean the sophists—whoever spins entangled sophisms and does not teach truth.

And again: “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are futile.” It is no wonder if the Lord, by himself, knows that the reasonings of the wise are futile. But I want the Lord, come to be in me, to know that the reasonings of the wise are futile. For if Christ comes to be in me, he can set beside me how the reasonings of this world’s wise are futile, and how God’s wisdom alone shines, conquering and trampling every seeming wisdom.

1 Cor. 3:21–23: “So let no one boast in human beings. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” Origen says: The one who can renounce all human beings and become wholly worthy of the boast that is in Christ does not boast in a human being. How, then, is death mine? So that I may die to sin; so that I may say, “If we died with him, we will also live with him.” For the other death—by which the sinning soul itself will die—is not mine. Present things too are ours: that we gather in the present age, hear the holy Scriptures, pray. And the future: when the perfect comes, then what is in part will be done away. And it is not possible to come to the future unless the present first becomes mine.

“All things are yours.” Among the Greeks a saying of this sort is admired: “All things belong to the wise, and nothing to the worthless.” But the word of God first taught that all things belong to the holy. Of the faithful, then, he says, the whole world of goods; of the unfaithful, not even an obol. For the unfaithful holds what he holds as a robber: not knowing how to use these things, nor knowing the God who made them, nor hearing the one who says, “Mine is the silver and mine the gold,” he does not hold them as his own. But we see that all things are ours; and of the faithful the whole world of goods, of the unfaithful not even an obol.

1 Cor. 4:1–5: “This is how one should regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by a human day. I do not even examine myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby justified. It is the Lord who examines me. So do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will also bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will disclose the purposes of the hearts. Then each one will receive his praise from God.”

Origen says: The one who has not crossed over in the word to the grasp of the mysteries hidden in Scripture can be a servant of Christ, but cannot be a steward of God’s mysteries. For the steward has what is administered and knows the mysteries of God. Perhaps, then, the servant of Christ is understood according to the more common ministry, while the steward of God’s mysteries is understood according to the management that concerns the mysteries once known—so that he does not toss them about at random, nor hand them over unexamined, but first cleanses, prepares, and draws away from the world the one who is about to hear supra-worldly lessons, and only then speaks them.

“We,” he says, “are servants of Christ.” And for the most part the Apostle served the service of Christ more than the stewardship of the mysteries