1 Corinthians 2:8 Commentary and Bible Study

By ‘princes’ the apostle has in mind the chief priests, the scribes and Pharisees, and of course the Roman authority represented in Pilate. They had no inkling of the substitutionary atonement of Christ. ‘For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.’ Had they known that God had come in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, even if they were inclined not to believe these things, they would have recoiled from executing him. There would have been caution, awe, and fear in their hearts, even if they had largely remained rejectors of him. They would not have been able to do it, if they had had the slightest inkling of what was really happening: that God had come, and this was the great historic moment of atonement. None of the princes of this world knew it. Paul isn't excusing them. ‘Oh, they didn't know therefore, they were not to blame.’ The sense of the verse is, they did not know because they willed not to know. The chief priest, scribes, and Pharisees, saw the healings close-up, and heard the preaching of repentance and faith, but they steeled their hearts and would not receive it. So they could not grasp gospel truth. This is the proof that their hearts were so rock hard that they could not know him; they were prevented by God from seeing the truth of Christ and salvation. It was the same with Pilate, for had the Romans known it, because their hearts have been opened, they would not have committed that most terrible crime and have crucified the Lord of glory.