{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-297","native_reference":{"book_number":530,"chapter_from":2,"chapter_to":2,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":8,"verse_to":8},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ambrosiaster</b>: The rulers of this age are not only those who were great among the Jews and the Romans but also every spiritual power which sets itself up against God. The Jewish rulers cannot be called rulers of this age, because they were subject to the Romans. Nor did the Romans crucify Jesus, because Pilate himself said that he found no fault in him. The rulers who crucified him were the demons. They knew that Jesus was the Messiah but not that he was the Son of God, and so it can be said that they crucified him in ignorance.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: But if Christ had not been put to death, death would not have died. The devil was overcome by his own trophy, for the devil rejoiced when, by seducing the first man, he cast him into death. By seducing the first man, he killed him. By killing the last man, he lost the first from his snare.<br/><i>— THE ASCENSION 263</i></p><p><b>Hippolytus of Rome</b>: As John says these things to the multitude, and as the people watch in eager expectation of seeing some strange spectacle with their bodily eyes, and the devil is struck with amazement at such a testimony from John, lo, the Lord appears, plain, solitary, uncovered, without escort, having on Him the body of man like a garment, and hiding the dignity of the Divinity, that He may elude the snares of the dragon.<br/><i>— The Discourse on the Holy Theophany</i></p><p><b>Ignatius of Antioch</b>: These men are not the planting of the Father, but are an accursed brood. And says the Lord, \"Let every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted be rooted up.\" For if they had been branches of the Father, they would not have been \"enemies of the cross of Christ,\" but rather of those who \"killed the Lord of glory.\" But now, by denying the cross, and being ashamed of the passion, they cover the transgression of the Jews, those fighters against God, those murderers of the Lord; for it were too little to style them merely murderers of the prophets. But Christ invites you to [share in] His immortality, by His passion and resurrection, inasmuch as ye are His members.<br/><i>— Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians</i></p><p><b>Ignatius of Antioch</b>: Seeing these things, thou wast in utter perplexity. And thou wast ignorant that it was a virgin that should bring forth; but the angels' song of praise struck thee with astonishment, as well as the adoration of the Magi, and the appearance of the star. Thou didst revert to thy state of [wilful] ignorance, because all the circumstances seemed to thee trifling; for thou didst deem the swaddling-bands, the circumcision, and the nourishment by means of milk contemptible: these things appeared to thee unworthy of God. Again, thou didst behold a man who remained forty days and nights without tasting human food, along with ministering angels at whose presence thou didst shudder, when first of all thou hadst seen Him baptized as a common man, and knewest not the reason thereof. But after His [lengthened] fast thou didst again assume thy wonted audacity, and didst tempt Him when hungry, as if He had been an ordinary man, not knowing who He was. For thou saidst, \"If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.\" Now, this expression, \"If thou be the Son,\" is an indication of ignorance. For if thou hadst possessed real knowledge, thou wouldst have understood that the Creator can with equal ease both create what does not exist, and change that which already has a being. And thou temptedst by means of hunger Him who nourisheth all that require food. And thou temptedst the very \"Lord of glory,\" forgetting in thy malevolence that \"man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.\" For if thou hadst known that He was the Son of God, thou wouldst also have understood that He who had kept his body from feeling any want for forty days and as many nights, could have also done the same for ever. Why, then, does He suffer hunger? In order to prove that He had assumed a body subject to the same feelings as those of ordinary men. By the first fact He showed that He was God, and by the second that He was also man.<br/><i>— Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Philippians</i></p><p><b>Ignatius of Antioch</b>: For if the Lord were a mere man, possessed of a soul and body only, why dost thou mutilate and explain away His being born with the common nature of humanity? Why dost thou call the passion a mere appearance, as if it were any strange thing happening to a [mere] man? And why dost thou reckon the death of a mortal to be simply an imaginary death? But if, [on the other hand, ] He is both God and man, then why dost thou call it unlawful to style Him \"the Lord of glory,\" who is by nature unchangeable? Why dost thou say that it is unlawful to declare of the Lawgiver who possesses a human soul, \"The Word was made flesh,\" and was a perfect man, and not merely one dwelling in a man? But how came this magician into existence, who of old formed all nature that can be apprehended either by the senses or intellect, according to the will of the Father; and, when He became incarnate, healed every kind of disease and infirmity?<br/><i>— Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Philippians</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: \"Which none of the rulers of this world knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.\"</p><p>Now if they knew not, how said He unto them, \"Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am?\" Indeed, concerning Pilate the Scripture saith, he knew not. It is likely also that neither did Herod know. These, one might say, are called rulers of this world: but if a man were to say that this is spoken concerning the Jews also and the Priests, he would not err. For to these also He saith, \"Ye know neither Me nor My Father.\" How then saith He a little before, \"Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am?\" However, the manner of this way of knowledge and of that hath already been declared in the Gospel; and, not to be continually handling the same topic, thither do we refer our readers.</p><p>What then? Was their sin in the matter of the Cross forgiven them? For He surely did say, \"Forgive them.\" If they repented, it was forgiven. For even he who set countless assailants on Stephen and persecuted the Church, even Paul, became the champion of the Church. Just so then, those others also who chose to repent, had forgiveness: and this indeed Paul himself meant, when he exclaims, \"I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid.\" \"I say then, hath God cast away His people whom He foreknew? God forbid.\" Then, to shew that their repentance was not precluded, he brought forward as a decisive proof his own conversion, saying, \"For I also am an Israelite.\"</p><p>As to the words, \"They knew not;\" they seem to me to be said here not concerning Christ's Person, but only concerning the dispensation hidden in that event: as if he had said, what meant \"the death,\" and the \"Cross,\" they knew not. For in that passage also He said not, \"They know not Me,\" but, \"They know not what they do;\" that is, the dispensation which is being accomplished, and the mystery, they are ignorant of. For they knew not that the Cross is to shine forth so brightly; that it is made the salvation of the world, and the reconciliation of God unto men; that their city should be taken; and that they should suffer the extreme of wretchedness.</p><p>By the name of \"wisdom,\" he calls both Christ, and the Cross and the Gospel. Opportunely also he called Him, \"The Lord of glory.\" For seeing that the Cross is counted a matter of ignominy, he signifies that the Cross was great glory: but that there was need of great wisdom in order not only to know God but also to learn this dispensation of God: and the wisdom which was without turned out an obstacle, not to the former only, but to the latter also.<br/><i>— Homily on 1 Corinthians 7</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: This applies to Herod and Pilate. It does not apply in the same way to the high priests and scribes, because they knew that Jesus was the Christ. They were more like the workers in the vineyard who said: \"This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the vineyard will be ours.\".<br/><i>— PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH</i></p><p><b>Pelagius</b>: Pilate, Caiaphas and the rest were condemned by their ignorance, because they should have known the truth. There are two kinds of heretics who misinterpret this passage. The first are the Apollinarians, and the second are the Arians. The Apollinarians are wrong because they do not accept that Christ's human nature was perfect. The Arians err because they claim that the Word of God can suffer. Arius did not believe that it was the Lord of glory who took on a human nature, and therefore he thought that the Word, being only human, could suffer.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 2</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: But because (the apostle) subjoins, on the subject of our glory, that \"none of the princes of this world knew it for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory,\" the heretic argues that the princes of this world crucified the Lord (that is, the Christ of the rival god) in order that this blow might even recoil on the Creator Himself.<br/><i>— Against Marcion Book V</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: According to Marcion, however, the apostle in the passage under consideration does not allow the imputation of ignorance, with respect to the Lord of glory, to the powers of the Creator; because, indeed, he will have it that these are not meant by \"the princes of this world.<br/><i>— Against Marcion Book V</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: For if it is a Christian who, after wandering far from his Father, squanders, by living heathenishly, the \"substance\" received from God his Father,-(the substance), of course, of baptism-(the substance), of course, of the Holy Spirit, and (in consequence) of eternal hope; if, stripped of his mental \"goods,\" he has even handed his service over to the prince of the world -who else but the devil?-and by him being appointed over the business of \"feeding swine\"-of tending unclean spirits, to wit-has recovered his senses so as to return to his Father,-the result will be, that, not adulterers and fornicators, but idolaters, and blasphemers, and renegades, and every class of apostates, will by this parable make satisfaction to the Father; and in this way (it may) rather (be said that) the whole \"substance\" of the sacrament is most truly wasted away.<br/><i>— On Modesty</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: God forgave Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas and the rest for their ignorance at the time of the crucifixion, but after Christ had risen and ascended into heaven, and the Holy Spirit had come, and the apostles had performed many miracles, he handed them over for punishment, because they persisted in their unbelief.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 176</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"70a2c4b5dab10fa1c0040fb1a7ab3f754f2750c7c586bb120757e56ded74fe13","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":297,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"00212a15a62547a50fce44586a854e1cc38af2facfa0f88f6feb945c6ad1ae02","translator":null,"work":null}