153 pride, after the many and long cycles of his speech, after the many and untimely pieces of chatter, is unable to open his mouth or utter a word regarding these things; then you will know well how *God chose the foolish things of the world that He might put the wise to shame* (1 Cor. 1. 27). For the things which they, through arrogance and pride, were unable to find, because they had separated themselves from the instruction of the Spirit and ascribed everything to their own reasonings—these things the poor, the rejected, and the deprived of external education have learned with precision, having attached themselves to the instruction from the heavens. D He does not stand here merely accusing external wisdom, but he adds even more than these things, saying: *The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God* (1 Cor. 3. 19); and advising those who hear, he says again with all harshness and severity: *If any man thinks himself to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise* (1 Cor. 3. 18); and again: *It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will set aside the understanding of the prudent* (1 Cor. 1. 19); and again: *The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain* (1 Cor. 3. 20).
6. That the Corinthians had a share of wisdom is evident from these things; but that they were puffed up and proud is likewise manifest from this very Epistle. For having accused the one who had committed fornication, he added, saying: *And you are puffed up* (1 Cor. 5. 2). And that they were contending with one another out of arrogance, he also made clear, saying: *For when there is among you strife, and jealousy, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walking according to man?* (1 Cor. 3. 3). What, then, was the manner of their strife? They were cutting themselves into many leaders, and for this reason he says: *I say this, that each one of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas* (1 Cor. 1. 12). He was saying this, not because they were attaching themselves to Paul, Cephas, and Apollos, but because he wishes to hide those who had become the causes of the faction by means of these names, so that by not making them manifest, he might not make them more contentious and lead them into greater shamelessness. For that they were not attaching themselves to Paul, Peter, and Apollos, but to certain others, this also is evident from what follows. For after reproaching them for this division, he again added, saying: *These things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other* (1 Cor. 4. 6). For many of the unlearned, having no elevation of their own, nor even the ability to harm their neighbors, by setting up certain leaders for themselves, have used their advantages for arrogance against others; and the wisdom of those who taught them became to them a pretext for the arrogance of others—which was the height of vainglory: for those who have nothing of their own to boast of, to make use of the superiorities of others for contempt against their brethren. Since, therefore, they were lifted up into arrogance and were divided, and were cutting themselves into many parts, and were proud of their teaching, as if they had found it of themselves and from their own resources, and not as having received from above and from the grace of God the doctrines of truth, wishing to quell their swelling, immediately from the opening he called himself "called," saying as it were: "If I, the teacher, found nothing of myself, nor did I approach God first by myself, but, being called, then obeyed, how are you, the disciples, and having received the doctrines from me, able to be proud, as if you had become the inventors of these things?" For this reason he also says further on to them: *For who makes you different, and what do you have that you did not receive? And if you also received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?* (1 Cor. 4. 7). This "called," therefore, is nothing else but a lesson of humility, a destruction of pride, and the curbing of all arrogance; for there is nothing, nothing that can so hold us together and keep us, as humility, and being moderate, and being restrained, and never at any time imagining anything great about ourselves.
Christ, being aware of this, and beginning that spiritual teaching, began the exhortation first from humility, and opening His mouth, He introduced this law first, saying: *Blessed are the poor in spirit* (Matt. 5. 3). For just as someone who is about to build a great and magnificent house lays a foundation equivalent to it, so that it might be able to sustain the weight that is to be added afterward; so too did Christ, raising that great building of philosophy in their souls, lay down the exhortation of humility as a kind of foundation, keel, secure footing, and a stable, immovable base, knowing that this being rooted in the minds of the hearers, all other parts of virtue can be built with security. Just as, therefore, with this lacking, even if someone accomplishes all the rest of virtue, he has labored in vain and to no purpose, like that one who built his house upon the sand (Matt. 7. 26-27), who endured the labor but did not enjoy the profit, since he did not lay a secure foundation; so he who undertakes any good thing without humility, has lost and ruined everything. By humility, I do not mean that which is in gestures, nor that which is on the tongue, but that in the mind, that from the soul, that in the conscience, which God alone can see. This advantage is sufficient, and often appearing even by itself, to make God propitious. And this the publican showed; for having nothing good, nor being able to appear from accomplishments, by saying only, *Be merciful to me the sinner* (Luke 18. 13), he departed justified above the Pharisee; although those words were not of humility, but only of gratitude. For it is humility when someone, being conscious of great things in himself, imagines nothing great about himself; but gratitude is when, being a sinner, he confesses this very fact. If then he who acts with no conscience of anything good, because he confessed that which he was, thus drew God into favor, of what boldness will they partake who have many accomplishments of their own to speak of, but who forget all of those, and count themselves among the last?