1 Corinthians 2:8

“which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

The idea of wisdom being that which dominates the entire passage, the pronoun ἥν, which, should not be made relative to the word δόξαν, glory, which expresses only a secondary idea, but to the phrase σοφίαν θεοῦ, wisdom of God. What proves this wisdom to be a conception superior to all human thought, is the fact that when it was realized in an individual person, the princes of human thought did not discern it; these princes are those spoken of in 1 Corinthians 2:6. They had no perception of the glorious destination which God has assigned to humanity, and hence they rejected and crucified Him, who first realized it in His person. The apostle characterizes Jesus Christ as the Lord of glory. This title is in keeping with the term δόξα, glory, by which he has defined the end of the Divine decree. Glory is the lustre shed by the Divine perfections. This lustre is one day to shine in man, and Jesus Christ, as the first, has realized in Himself that splendour which He is to communicate to all believers. If the representatives of Jewish wisdom and Roman power had understood the higher glory which Jesus was bringing to them, they would undoubtedly have sacrificed that which they possessed. But as they did not discern the former, they chose at any price to maintain their earthly power, and they sought to destroy Him at whose feet they should have abdicated; comp. the parable of the husbandman and the deliberation of the Sanhedrim, John 11:47. There is an intentional antithesis between the term crucified, which indicates the lowest degree of humiliation and suffering, and the title Lord of glory. To this proof from fact, the apostle adds the Scriptural demonstration, 1 Corinthians 2:9.