Homilies on First Corinthians

“If I speak with the tongues of men—”

What is, “of men?” Of all nations in every part of the world. And neither was he content with this amplification, but he likewise uses another much greater, adding the words, “and of angels—and have not love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.”

Do you see to what point he first exalted the gift, and to what afterwards he lowered and cast it down? For neither did he simply say, “I am nothing,” but, “I have become sounding brass,” a thing senseless and inanimate. But how “sounding brass?” Emitting a sound indeed, but at random and in vain, and for no good end. Since besides my profiting nothing, I am counted by most men as one giving impertinent trouble, an annoying and wearisome kind of person. Do you see how one void of love is like to things inanimate and senseless?

Now he here speaks of the “tongues of angels,” not investing angels with a body, but what he means is this: “should I even so speak as angels are wont to discourse unto each other, without this I am nothing, nay rather a burden and an annoyance.” Thus (to mention one other example) where he says, “To Him every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and things on earth, and things under the earth,” he does not say these things as if he attributed to angels knees and bones, far from it, but it is their intense adoration which he intends to shadow out by the fashion among us: so also here he calls it “a tongue” not meaning an instrument of flesh, but intending to indicate their converse with each other by the manner which is known among us.

7. Then, in order that his discourse may be acceptable, he stops not at the gift of tongues, but proceeds also to the remaining gifts; and having depreciated all in the absence of love, he then depicts her image. And because he preferred to conduct his argument by amplification, he begins from the less and ascends to the greater. For whereas, when he indicated their order, he placed the gift of tongues last, this he now numbers first; by degrees, as I said, ascending to the greater gifts. Thus having spoken of tongues, he proceeds immediately to prophecy; and says;