Wisdom of Solomon 6:18
12 Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. 13 She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. 14 One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for she will be found sitting at the gate. 15 To fix one's thought on her is perfect understanding, and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care, 16 because she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appears to them in their paths, and meets them in every thought. 17 The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction, and concern for instruction is love of her, 18 and love of her is the keeping of her laws, and giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality, 19 and immortality brings one near to God; 20 so the desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom.
John 14:15
15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. 16 Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept because it does not see him or know him. But you know him because he resides with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. 20 You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. 21 The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.” 22 “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. 24 The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
Notes and References
"... Continuing from his dialogue in John 14:1-14, in 15-21, Jesus opens with the phrase “if you love me, you will hold fast (or keep) my commandments.” The interesting aspect of this verse is that it shares echoes with Wisdom of Solomon 6:18. Jesus echoes the words of Lady Wisdom in 6:18. The writer of Wisdom of Solomon (which pre-dates the Gospel of John) states that loving Lady Wisdom is “the keeping of her laws.”1 Hearing these echoes in the Gospel of John is not unusual as scholars have also compared Wisdom 7:22-30 with John 1:1-14. The Johannine Jesus as described in 1:1-14 portrays many similarities to Lady Wisdom as outlined in Wisdom 7:22-30. Accordingly, one must ask: why do such strong echoes occur? I would argue that these echoes act as markers of binary crossings. As Hays discusses echoes, he argues that metalepsis occurs. Metalepsis is a literary device that shifts figures within a text from one narrative level to another, thereby marking some crossings of borders or binaries. Metalepsis is used as a valuable instrument that produces vividness of character. Readers begin to understand characters based on echoes of other characters. In the imagery of Jesus as Lady Wisdom, one could argue for a bit of “feminization” of Jesus as we compare him to Lady Wisdom ..."
Parker, Angela N. Commentary on John 14:15-21 (pp. 1-5) McAfee School of Theology, 2023