Texts in Conversation
Wisdom of Solomon describes wisdom as a breath of God’s power and a reflection of eternal light. The Christian theologian Augustine quotes this passage in On the Trinity to argue that the Son is fully equal to the Father, like light coming from light.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 7:25
Deuterocanon
24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. 25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. 26 For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. 27 Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
Augustine On the Trinity 4.20
De Trinitate Book 4
Early Christian
The Son is the Word of the Father, which is also called His wisdom. What wonder, therefore, if He is sent, not because He is unequal with the Father, but because He is “a pure emanation issuing from the glory of the Almighty God”? For there, that which issues, and that from which it issues, is of one and the same substance. For it does not issue as water issues from an aperture of earth or of stone, but as light issues from light. For the words, “For she is the brightness of the everlasting light,” what else are they than, she is light of everlasting light? For what is the brightness of light, except light itself? And so co-eternal, with the light, from which the light is.
Date: 400-416 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“… Patristic writers cited the work frequently, especially in formulating Christological and trinitarian doctrine. Thus Ignatius applied to Christ language from 7:29–30 about Wisdom, and from 18:14–15 about the logos (Ephesians 18.2–3; Magnesians 8.2). Origen cited Wisdom’s attributes in 7:22–8:1 to support the eternal generation of the Son by the Father and the sharing of the Father and Son in the same essence (On First Principles 1.2.5, 9; Against Celsus 5.10; 8.14). Augustine used the same passage to argue for the full equality of the persons of the trinity (On the Gospel of John 21.2; 22.10; 111.2; On the Trinity 2.5, 8; 4.20). …”
Chesnutt, Randall D.
"Wisdom of Solomon" in Adams, Samuel L., and Matthew J. Goff (eds.) Wiley Blackwell Companion to Wisdom Literature
(p. 118) Wiley-Blackwell, 2020
* 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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