A Peril Of Knowledge

Et si habuero omnem scientiam.... Nihil mihi prodest scientia, si charitas non sit. Denique Scribis et Pharisaeis nihil profuit, dicente Salvatore: Vos habetis clavem scientiae, et neque vos intratis, neque alios sinitis introire. Per invidiam enim charitatem corrumpentes, scientiam ejus ad nihilum deduxerunt. Nam et Tertullianus et Novatianus non parvae scientiae fuerunt; sed quia per zelum charitatis fodera perdiderunt, in schisma versi, ad perditionem sui haereses creaverunt. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis,In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Corinthios Primam, Cap XIII Source: Migne PL 17.252a-b

'And if I have all knowledge...' 1 Knowledge profits me not if there is no love. Thus it did not profit the Scribes and Pharisees, as the Lord says: 'You have the key of knowledge and neither do you enter, nor do allow others to enter.' 2 With envy corrupting love, they brought their knowledge to nothing. Both Tertullian and Novatian were not men of little knowledge, but because of their zeal they broke the bond of love, turning to schism, and created heresies for their own ruin. Ambrosiaster, from the Commentary On The First Epistle of Saint Paul To The Corinthians, Chapter 13 1 1 Cor 13.2 2 Lk 11.52