Andrzej Wiszowaty (Latinized Andreas Wissowatius) was a
grandson of Faustus Socinus and
one of the most significant theologians of the Polish Brethren. After the
banishment of the Antitrinitarians from Poland and he lived in exile, finally
in Amsterdam. (Marcin Poholski, “Preface,” in Andrzej Wiszowaty, Rational
Religion: On the Use of the Judgment of Reason in Theological and Religious
Controversies [trans. Marcin Poholski; 2026], [i] n. 1)
His book Religio rationalis was published
posthumously in Amsterdam in 1685.
On 1 Cor 2:14:
The apostle Paul did indeed write
that the natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, 1 Cor.
2:14. But first, not every man is a natural man. By “natural” is signified
he who looks only to the sensual things of this earthly life, like a brute
beast, following the guidance of the lower soul or of brutish appetite. See the
like word at James 3:15 and Jude 19. But there are found among
men, even among those not yet enlightened by the light of the gospel, some who
are not of so abject and bestial a mind. Otherwise the gospel would be preached
in vain to men before they became spiritual, if they were in no way capable of
it.
Next, the apostle did not write
that the natural man cannot in any way grasp, that is, apprehend with the mind
or understand, the divine and spiritual things; rather he denies that he
receives them, that is, acknowledges them with approval to be true and good. In
the text stands the word dechetai, such as occurs also at Matt.
10:14, 40-42; 11:14; Luke 8:13; Acts 11:1; Gal 4:14 and elsewhere; in which
places it certainly does not mean to perceive by understanding, but to receive.
And although it is written immediately after in the same place, and he
cannot know them, yet this can be taken not of a natural but of a moral
inability, as it is often taken. And though he cannot know those things—that is,
acknowledge them with approval as good—so long as he remains natural, yet it is
not to be laid down that he cannot put off this natural disposition, and that
even before he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit: for this even before he
receives the gift of the Holy Spirit: for this is ordinarily wont to be given
only to those who have received in faith as true the gospel of Christ preached
and understood.
To the same effect is what the
same apostle wrote at Rom. 8:7: The wisdom—rather, the
inclination or striving—of the flesh is enmity against God. Here the use
of sound reason is not censured, but that which savours of carnal desires and
strives to satisfy them. It is said in like manner when the wisdom of this
world, 1 Cor. 1:20 and 3:19, and carnal wisdom, 2 Cor. 1:19,
are reproved. (Andrzej Wiszowaty, Rational Religion: On the Use of the
Judgment of Reason in Theological and Religious Controversies [trans.
Marcin Poholski; 2026], 65-67)
The Objection: Then Logic and
Philosophy Would Rule over the Word of God
Here, finally, some object: In
this way logic and philosophy and human reasoning would have to obtain the governance
and the dominion over the theological mysteries and over the word of God
itself. Answer: Far be it! Will anyone say that grammar obtains dominion not
only over philosophical, medical, and juridical writings, but also over theological
ones and over the very words of God—seeing that in these two the laws and rules
of grammar are to be observed, lest anything unsuited to them be said perversely
and ineptly? Prudent theologians too take care not to commit, in their discourses,
a solecism against the rules of grammar. But an error against the truth of
things, and above all of divine things, is far worse and more harmful than a
solecism committed against the syntax of little words. (Andrzej Wiszowaty, Rational
Religion: On the Use of the Judgment of Reason in Theological and Religious
Controversies [trans. Marcin Poholski; 2026], 83)
