Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Ver. 8. Which none of the princes] He calleth the Pharisees and philosophers princes, for their learning, as being himself a scholar. Only he might well have said of them, as Cicero of others in another case, Mihi quidem nulli satis eruditi videntur, quibus nostra sunt ignota, I cannot take them for scholars that partake not of our learning. (Cicero de Poetis Latinis.)
None of the princes of this world knew] Because their learning hung in their light. So it fared with Ulpian the chief lawyer, Galen the chief physician, Porphyry the chiefest Aristotelian, and Plotinus the chief Platonist, who were professed enemies to Christ and his truth. So were Libanius and Lucian, the chief scholars of their time. None miscarry oftener than men of greatest parts. None are so deep in hell as those that are most knowing. They see no more into the mystery of Christ than illiterate men do into the profound points of astronomy. As a man may look on a trade and never see the mystery of it; or he may look on the letter, and never understand the sense; so here.
For had they known it, &c.] It was ignorance then that crucified Christ, Acts 3:17. And St Paul thanks his ignorance for his persecuting and blaspheming, 1 Timothy 1:15; "The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty," Psalms 74:20. And they proceed from evil to evil, because they know not me, saith the Lord, Jeremiah 9:3. Surely as toads and serpents grow in dark and dirty cellars, so doth all sin and wickedness in an ignorant and blind soul. The Platonist held, that men sin only by ignorance. And Omnis peccans est ignorans, saith Aristotle. In blind ale houses is abundance of disorder, &c.