Divine wisdom, knowledge and faith
According to these passages, then, there is a divine wisdom and a human one. The human is what we call “the wisdom of the world,” which is “foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). But the divine, which differs from the human, if it is indeed divine, comes by the grace of God, who gives it to those who have made themselves fit to receive it, and above all to those who know how each wisdom differs from the other and therefore say in their prayers to God: “For even if one is perfect among the sons of men, yet if the wisdom that comes from you is absent, he will be counted as nothing” (Wisdom of Solomon 9:6).
We say that human wisdom is a training ground for the soul, and divine wisdom its goal. Divine wisdom is also called the “solid food” of the soul by the one who said: “But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).
This view is truly ancient, but its antiquity does not go back, as Celsus thinks, to Heraclitus and Plato. For before them the prophets drew the distinction between the two kinds of wisdom. For the present it is enough to quote from the words of David what is said of the man who is wise with divine wisdom: he “will not see corruption,” David says, “when he sees the wise dying” (Psalm 49:9–10).
Divine wisdom, then, which is different from faith, is the first of what are called the “gifts” of God (1 Corinthians 12:4). After it, second, for those who know how to be exact in such matters, comes what is called knowledge; and third, since the simpler people too, who come to godliness as best they can, must be saved, comes faith. That is why Paul says: “To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:8–9). So you would find that it is not ordinary people who have a share in divine wisdom, but those who rise above and excel all who hold to Christianity; nor does anyone expound the matters of divine wisdom to the most uneducated, or to slaves, or to the most ignorant.
Greek
Οὐκοῦν κατὰ ταῦτα ἡ μέν τις θεία σοφία ἐστὶν, ἡ δ᾿ ἀνθρωπίνη. καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀνθρωπίνη ἐστὶν ἡ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς λεγομένη „σοφία τοῦ κόσμου“. ἥτις ἐστὶ „μωρία παρὰ τῷ θεῷ“· ἡ δὲ θεία καὶ ἑτέρα παρὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην, εἴπερ ἐστὶ θεία, χάριτι θεοῦ δωρουμένου αὐτὴν τοῖς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιτηδείους πρὸς παραδοχὴν αὐτῆς κατασκευάσασι παραγίνεται, καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἐγνωκέναι τὴν διαφορὰν ἑκατέρας σοφίας πρὸς τὴν ἑτέραν ἐν ταῖς πρὸς θεὸν εὐχαῖς λέγουσι· „κἂν γάρ τις τέλειος ἐν υἱοῖς ἀνθρώπων, τῆς ἀπὸ σοῦ σοφίας ἀπούσης εἰς οὐδὲν λογισθήσεται.“ καὶ γυμνάσιον μέν φαμεν εἶναι τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην σοφίαν, τέλος δὲ τὴν θείαν· ἥτις καὶ „στερεὰ“ λέγεται τῆς ψυχῆς εἶναι „τροφὴ“ παρὰ τῷ φήσαντι· „τελείων δέ ἐστιν ἡ στερεὰ τροφὴ, τῶν διὰ τὴν ἕξιν τὰ αἰσθητήρια γεγυμνασμένα ἐχόντων πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ.“ καὶ ἀρχαία μὲν ἀληθῶς ἐστιν ἥδε ἡ δόξα. οὐχ, ὡς οἴεται δὲ Κέλσος, τῆς περὶ αὐτῶν ἀρχαιότητος εἰς Ἡράκλειτον καὶ Πλάτωνα ἀναφερομένης. ἀνωτέρω γὰρ τούτων οἱ προφῆται διέστειλαν τὸ περὶ ἑκατέρας σοφίας· ἀρκεῖ δ᾿ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος εἰπεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων τοῦ Δαυῒδ τὸ περὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν θείαν σοφίαν σοφοῦ λεγόμενον, ὅστις „οὐκ ὄψεται καταφθορὰν,“ φησὶν, „ὅταν ἴδῃ σοφοὺς ἀποθνῄσκοντας.“ ἡ θεία τοίνυν σοφία, ἑτέρα οὖσα τῆς πίστεως, πρῶτόν ἐστι τῶν καλουμένων· „χαρισμάτων“ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ μετ᾿ ἐκείνην δεύτερον τοῖς ἀκριβοῦν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπισταμένοις ἡ καλουμένη γνῶσις, καὶ τρίτον, ἐπεὶ σῴζεσθαι χρὴ καὶ τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους προσιόντας κατὰ δύναμιν τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ, ἡ πίστις. διὸ λέγεται παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ· „ᾧ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος δίδοται λόγος σοφίας, ἄλλῳ δὲ λόγος γνώσεως κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα, ἑτέρῳ δὲ πίστις ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ πνεύματι.“ διόπερ οὐ τοὺς τυχόντας εὕροις ἂν μετειληφότας τῆς θείας σοφίας ἀλλὰ τοὺς ὑπερέχοντας καὶ διαφέροντας πάντων τῶν χριστιανισμῷ προσεχόντων, οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀπαιδευτοτάτοις ἢ ἀνδραπόδοις ἢ ἀμαθεστάτοις διέξεισί τις τὰ περὶ τῆς θείας σοφίας.