Cosmas Indicopleustes

In his own words on 1 Corinthians

• 1 Corinthians 2:9

  Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which entered not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• 1 Corinthians 4:9

  for as this world consists of men and angels: We, saith the Apostle, are made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men, so also the higher place again has been prepared beforehand for angels and men.

  The Christian Topography, Book 6

• 1 Corinthians 4:20

  For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power; as if he said that the word of the kingdom of heaven surpasses all words, and that some are in vain puffed up while endeavouring to establish themselves by word. For that word only, which comes from the power of the Holy Spirit and from the signs which accompany it, merits belief.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 5:7

  He therefore calls the Law the shadow of these things while the image and its characteristics are the mysteries celebrated by the Christians, as for instance, the lamb offered in sacrifice—a type of the Passion of Christ, in accordance with what the Apostle Paul says: For Christ our Passover was sacrificed; and John the Baptist thus speaks: Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Then after this, for the Israelites of that time there was their deliverance from the destroying angel and from the bondage to Pharaoh; for us, our deliverance from the devil and from our bondage to the very burdensome law. Then for them, their passage through the sea and their sojourning in the wilderness, and the giving of the law and the setting up of the Tabernacle; for us, our passage through baptism and our sojourning in the Church, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. For them, a copious supply of water from the rock to sustain their life; for us, the life-giving mysteries; for them, the land of promise as a place of rest; for us, heaven not made with hands as our place of rest; for them, temporal life; for us, life eternal and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption and blessedness.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• 1 Corinthians 6:2-3

  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? And again; The saints shall judge the world.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• 1 Corinthians 7:31

  The fashion of this world passeth away; as if he said: the present order of things shall be changed, the succession of day and night shall cease, the stars shall no longer accomplish their courses and the air shall no longer be in motion, and neither the water nor the earth shall any more produce their harvests, but a new state of things shall be introduced suitable for immortal and incorruptible men and angels.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 10:4

  the Apostle says: For they drank of that spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was Christ; by which he meant that, just as the flood of water from the rock which followed them gave them without stint water to drink, so Christ supplies to us life-giving waters, through the mysteries of which the rock was a type.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• 1 Corinthians 10:21

  And though ye allow that the universe was created in six days, yet ye find no mention of the making of a third heaven, and far less of the eight or nine which ye venture to affirm. How great is your knowledge! how great your wisdom! how great your intelligence! how great your inconsistency! No man can serve two masters, as has well been said by the Lord, but if one will serve God, let him serve him, or if Mammon, then Mammon. And again he says, through Paul: Ye cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord, and of the table of devils. And again: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

  The Christian Topography, Book 4

• 1 Corinthians 11:7

  For a man ought not to cover his head, being the image and glory of God; thus expressly declaring that man was made for the glory of God, and, in accordance with this, calling him His image, as man alone is capable of knowing that there is one Creator of the universe, even God, who formed man as the only living creature in whose composition are found all the natural qualities.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• 1 Corinthians 13:9-10

  For we know in part and prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away; for we shall then know perfectly, as we ought to know, when we have all risen from the dead perfect.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:12-14

  Now, if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised? and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain and your faith also is vain; as if he said: Your faith in Christ is of no use to you, unless our resurrection also is believed by you. For if ye have believed of one that he was raised from the dead, how is it not to be believed that it is possible for all others besides to be raised? For he that can raise one can also raise all.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:15

  Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up, if so be the dead are not raised. But we, he says, who have testified unto you that God raised up Christ shall be found to be liars and impostors.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:16-17

  For if the dead rise not, neither hath Christ risen, but if Christ hath not risen, your faith is vain—-ye are yet in your sins; from that which was confessed and believed in by them, he confutes them and says: for if He, concerning whom you have believed, when He was dead rose again, why do you doubt the resurrection of the other dead, so that you make it appear that you have believed in vain about the resurrection of but one. For he, who is able to raise one of the dead, is able also to raise all the others that are dead. So that by not believing in the resurrection of the dead, you revert to your former superstition, and have fallen away, for this he means by saying: Ye are yet in your sins.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:21

  For just as he ordained to introduce death on account of the sin of the first man, so also, through the obedience of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, he ordained the resurrection and the renovation and the gathering together of the whole creation. For, as Paul says, as by man came death, so by man the resurrection from the dead has been brought into the world. This is the great salvation, and dispensation and wisdom of God, who has produced all things and has again restored them.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• 1 Corinthians 15:22

  For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection. And by way of showing who the first man was by whom death was introduced, he adds; For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:29

  Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead? Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour? As if he said: Since we are baptized mystically for our dead bodies, being submerged in the holy water and emerging therefrom, thus imitating death and resurrection, from the hope and promise of the resurrection from the dead, why, he says, do we perform these acts in vain by not walking in accordance with them? And why, besides, do we stand in jeopardy every hour, proclaiming these things to so great a multitude, and fighting against the prejudices which prevail in the world?

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:35-38

  But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what body do they come? To that he has, be sure, an answer: Thou fool! he says, that which thou sowest is not quickened, unless it die, and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other kind; but God giveth it a body even as it hath pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. What he says is this: Consider, O men, that the bare grain when sown in the earth, in the first place undergoes dissolution, for if this, he says, first dies, it then grows up by the power and providence of God, and reappears richly endowed, artfully contrived and exceeding beautiful; instead of one grain, a great number, instead of being bare, enfolded in a sheath, instead of being easily plucked up and trodden underfoot, firmly rooted and aided by having ears to keep it safe from all that could do it harm. This very body then which has been corrupted and changed into earth, and again sprouts up from the earth multiplied and of an admirable beauty, is a work full of wisdom and art, and most fair to see—a product of the providence of God by whom all things were made. Consider then that God gives it a body as it pleases Him, and gives to each of the seeds its own body, suitable for it; as if he said: When multiplying seeds God gives to each neither an alien nor a strange body, but a body similar and suitable to it.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:35-38

  But further, when they hear the resurrection preached to them, they pronounce this to be impossible, for how, say they, can one who has been used up to form countless bodies in succession, rise up? And, to be brief, they attack with sophistries the Giver of their speech in their endeavour to overthrow the doctrines of His Church.

  The Christian Topography, Book 12

• 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, and so forth. Then again he says: But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Having here recourse to arguments from analogies in the natural world, he endeavours to convince of this those conversant with the wisdom of the world, and from the example about grain turns to the resurrection of the dead, saying: Just as corn is sown and is dissolved, so also the bodies of men, when planted as corpses in the earth, are dissolved; and just as the grain sprouts up with large increase, stability and beauty, so also the bodies of men are raised up with great honour and glory and power and beauty unspeakable, being discriminated by the omnipotent wisdom and ineffable might of God, who made and who renovates all things.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:49

  And as we have borne, he says, the image of the earthly, that is, the mortality and infirmity and corruption of Adam, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly, that is, of Him who hath already gone before and ascended into heaven after the resurrection from the dead. I speak of Christ according to the flesh, who has become powerful and incorruptible and immortal and glorified, and we in like manner have, with Him, become heavenly.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:50

  For this the Apostle shows when he says: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; here by the word flesh meaning mortality, and by blood mutability. He declared therefore that it is impossible for one who is mortal or mutable to inherit the kingdom of heaven. He subjoins immediately: Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption—and he repeated this, by way of showing that nothing that is corrupt can go up and enter there, for harm rather than any advantage would result. For just as we, who are far away from the sun, have not the power, should we direct our eyes to his disc, to continue doing so, but would be injured and blinded rather than profited, so would it fare with any one if, while still mortal or mutable or corruptible, he should seek to overstep the boundaries, and approach the way which leads to the kingdom of heaven, while still far off therefrom.

  The Christian Topography, Book 9

• 1 Corinthians 15:50

  Do not think that, in examples, the things compared are in all points similar, for, this I say unto you, that it is impossible for us being mortal and mutable (for it is this he means by blood and flesh), to inherit the kingdom of heaven, unless we first rise from the dead incorruptible and immortal and immutable.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• 1 Corinthians 15:54-55

  But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in Victory. Where, O Death, is thy sting? As if he said: Death being swallowed up shall disappear, life in us having become more than victorious. Wherefore let us exclaim: Where, O Death, is thy overweening pride? And where, O Hades, thy strength?

  The Christian Topography, Book 7