Jeremiah 10:14

But haply for a time as the false gods. For because they can be called gods, but cannot be so, for a time they are even called so. For what saith the Prophet, or what warneth He to be said to them? This shall ye say to them, "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from those that are under the heavens." He is not such a god: for our God is above all gods. Above all what gods? "For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens." The same then is our God. "This is God, even our God."

He said, "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven." He said not, The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the heaven and from the earth; because they never were in heaven: but what did he say? "Let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven." As if, while the word earth was repeated, the repetition of the word heaven were wanting (because they never were in heaven): he repeateth the earth twice, since it is under heaven. "Let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven," from their temples. Consider if this be not now taking place; if in a great measure it hath not already happened: for what, or how much, hath remained? The idols remained rather in the hearts of the pagans, than in the niches of the temples.

"Every man was made foolish from knowledge." If every man was made foolish from knowledge, and Paul too is a man, Paul was made foolish from knowledge; for "knowing in part and prophesying in part," he was made foolish from knowledge; "seeing through a mirror," seeing in an enigma, seeing and grasping a small fraction, and, if one may say so, an infinitesimal fraction of things. But you will understand from the contrary "every man was made foolish from knowledge." There are sins of Jerusalem, and sins also of Sodom, but by comparison with the worse sins of Jerusalem, the sins of Sodom are righteousness; for it says, "Sodom was justified from you." As, then, the sins of Sodom are not righteousness but injustice, yet as compared with the greater injustice it is righteousness, so, from the contrary, knowledge—the knowledge that belongs to Paul—as compared with that knowledge which is in the heavens, as compared with the perfect knowledge, is foolishness. On this account "every man was made foolish from knowledge." Some such thing, I think, Ecclesiastes was grasping when he said: "I said, I will become wise; and it withdrew from me, far beyond what it was, and a deep depth—who will find it?" The discourse is about to venture something and to say that the one who came to sojourn in this life emptied himself, so that by his emptying the world might be filled. And if that one who came to sojourn in this life emptied himself, that very emptying was wisdom. "For the foolish thing of God is wiser than men." If I had said, "the foolish thing of God," how would the fault-finders have accused me? How would they have blamed me? How would I have been charged—while the other things said, which are reckoned even by them to be noble, were approved, but this, as they suppose, not being nobly said—because I said "the foolish thing of God"? […]

(Verse 14.) Every man has become foolish because of his knowledge; every artisan is put to shame by his idols. For what he has made is false and there is no spirit in them. All men have become fools because of knowledge. Though that Paul, though Peter, though Moses, and Abraham may be wise, in comparison to God, all their wisdom will be considered as nothing: hence, even the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Every artist who sculpted images without a heart is confused and what he created is false. But if every person is ignorant of knowledge, everything false that he made is foolish. And there is no spirit in them. It should be noted that in this chapter, wind and spirit are called by one name among the Hebrews, Rûaḥ (); but he calls it the Spirit of sanctification, which cannot be found in the minds of heretics.

The psalmist writes, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high; I cannot attain unto it." In another: "When I thought how I might know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God and considered their latter end." And later in the same psalm, "I was as a beast before you; nevertheless I am continually with you." And Jeremiah says, "Every person is become brutish and without knowledge."