Texts in Conversation
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul describes believers being transformed as they reflect the glory of God, an idea that echoes Wisdom of Solomon 7 where wisdom is called a reflection of eternal light and an image of God’s goodness.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 7:26
Deuterocanon
24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion. Yes, she pervades and penetrates all things by reason of her purity. 25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty. Therefore nothing defiled can find entrance into her. 26 For she is a reflection of everlasting light, an unspotted mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. 27 Although she is one, she has power to do all things. Remaining in herself, she renews all things. From generation to generation passing into holy souls, she makes friends of God and prophets. 28 For God loves nothing except one who dwells with wisdom.
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
2 Corinthians 3:18
New Testament
15 But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, 16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Date: 55–57 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Christ is further described as "the image of God." To be an image is to be a true representation. We say today that a child is the "spitting image" of his father or mother. Wisdom is similarly described as "a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God and an image of his goodness" (Wisdom of Solomon 7:26). Paul states that Christ is, not was, God's image, for he alone brings to visible expression the nature of an invisible God (Col 1:15). So, to see Christ is to see God and to not see Christ is to not see God ..."
Linda L. Belleville, 2 Corinthians, IVPNTC (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011), 79.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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