Texts in Conversation
Colossians describes Jesus holding creation together, similar to the Wisdom of Solomon’s portrayal of the divine spirit that fills the world and sustains creation. Both connect cosmic order to a unifying and governing divine presence.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 1:7
Deuterocanon
3 for crooked thoughts separate from God. His Power convicts when it is tested, and exposes the foolish; 4 because wisdom will not enter into a soul that devises evil, nor dwell in a body that is enslaved by sin. 5 For a holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and will depart from thoughts that are without understanding, and will be ashamed when unrighteousness has come in. 6 For wisdom is a spirit who loves man, and she will not hold a blasphemer guiltless for his lips, because God is witness of his inmost self, and is a true overseer of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue. 7 Because the spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and that which holds all things together knows what is said. 8 Therefore no one who utters unrighteous things will be unseen; neither will Justice, when it convicts, pass him by.
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Colossians 1:17
New Testament
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, 16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and all things are held together in him. 18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Date: 80–85 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Compare 'In him all things hold together' (Colossians 1:17) with 'And that which holds all things together knows all that is said' (Wisdom of Solomon 1:7). The parallels between Paul and Wisdom prove that Paul had studied the book. Wisdom probably had a wide circulation, since it is the best product of pre-Christian Judaism in Alexandria and combined the best in Hellenism with the national spirit of Judaism. This combination would especially appeal to Paul since he tried to be all things to all men to gain some ..."
Phillip W. Berwick, The Way of Salvation in the Wisdom of Solomon (Boston University, 1958), 120.
* 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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