I was reminded today, while reading Proverbs, of the book of Colossians. Compare:
Colossians 1:14-21:
His Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are kings or lords, rulers or powers– everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything and holds everything together. He is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, the first to come back to life so that he would have first place in everything. God was pleased to have all of himself live in Christ. God was also pleased to bring everything on earth and in heaven back to himself through Christ. He did this by making peace through Christ’s blood sacrificed on the cross.
With:
Proverbs 8: 22-31, 35
The LORD already possessed me long ago, when his way began, before any of his works. I was appointed from everlasting from the first, before the earth began. I was born before there were oceans, before there were springs filled with water. I was born before the mountains were settled in their places and before the hills, when he had not yet made land or fields or the first dust of the world. “When he set up the heavens, I was there. When he traced the horizon on the surface of the ocean, when he established the skies above, when he determined the currents in the ocean, when he set a limit for the sea so the waters would not overstep his command, when he traced the foundations of the earth, I was beside him as a master craftsman. I made him happy day after day, I rejoiced in front of him all the time, found joy in his inhabited world, and delighted in the human race
Ben Witherington (who has a great blog), in his book “Paul’s Narrative Thought World,” argues that in the Colossians passage Paul is drawing heavily on the apocryphal book, Wisdom of Solomon. I think that the case Witherington makes for Paul drawing on the Wisdom of Solomon is strong, and more likely than claiming the Paul has this passage from Proverbs in mind.
I do think the idea is interesting, however: That Christ is the Wisdom of God, Wisdom personified, or even Lady Wisdom. Witherington concludes,
“Even when the subject matter does not suggest emulation is being called for, the implication of the fullness of diety dwelling in Christ, of Christ being God’s Wisdom, are that one should look nowhere else for life or enlightenment.”
{note: I am still somewhat baffled by the genre of Wisdom in the Bible, as well as the - it seems - complicated ways in which wisdom is viewed by biblical authors. Perhaps, if I can get my mind around my difficulty enough to at least articulate it, we will take up the Generic question tomorrow. But for you who are following along, I haven’t forgotten that there are lingering isssues with Wisdom Literature}
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