The Book of Wisdom or The Wisdom of Solomon 9:17 Kommentar

We must think that in any case heretics are carnal and earthly and therefore incapable of spiritual things. The apostle says of them, “The animal person, however, does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they can be judged only through the Spirit.” Thus the apostle’s authority affirms that heretics are above all carnal and earthly. In fact, blessed Paul also numbers heresy among the works of the flesh. And the blessed apostle Jude also calls those who separate from the church earthly, saying, “These are those who provoke divisions, natural people, devoid of the Spirit.” This is precisely what we saw the apostle Paul say: “The animal person, however, does not understand the things of the Spirit of God.” We must not be surprised, then, that those who do not have the Spirit of God are incapable of comprehending divine things. In fact, it is written in the book of Wisdom, “Who has known your thoughts, if you have not granted him wisdom and sent him your holy spirit from on high?” Therefore the holy apostle further states that the things of God are revealed only by the Holy Spirit when he says, “But God revealed these to us by his Spirit.” And a little later he continues, “Now, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, to know all that God has given to us.”