For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
Ver. 22. For the Jews require, &c.] The reason of their rejecting the gospel is, they are prepossessed against it; they look for that which it affordeth not. A prejudicate opinion bars up the understanding. Intus existens prohibet alienum, like muddy water in a vessel, that causeth the most precious liquor to run over.
And the Greeks seek after wisdom] Which yet they attained not. For Sapiens est cui res sapiunt prout sunt, saith Bernard, he is a wise man who conceiveth of things as they are; and all the wisdom of man is only in this, that he rightly know and worship God, saith Lactantius. But this these Greeks could never skill of; no, not these Corinthians (till called and sanctified), who yet were famous for their wisdom (Periander, one of the seven wise men, was a Corinthian), and their city be called by the orator (Cicero) lumen Graeciae, the light of Greece. But whereto tended their light but to light them into utter darkness? And what was all their wisdom without Christ, but earthly, sensual, devilish? James 3:15. Earthly, managing the lusts of the eyes unto the ends of gain; sensual, managing the lusts of the flesh unto ends of pleasure; and devilish, managing the pride of life unto ends of power.