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The Christian theologian Hilary of Poitiers authoritatively quotes Baruch’s declaration that no one can be compared to God. This passage was frequently cited by early Christian writers and often attributed to Jeremiah.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Baruch 3:35
Deuterocanon
30 Who has gone over the sea, found her, and will bring her for choice gold? 31 There is no one who knows her way, nor any who comprehend her path. 32 But he that knows all things knows her, he found her out with his understanding. He who prepared the earth for all time has filled it with four-footed beasts. 33 It is he who sends forth the light, and it goes. He called it, and it obeyed him with fear. 34 The stars shone in their watches, and were glad. When he called them, they said, “Here we are.” They shone with gladness to him who made them. 35 This is our God. No other can be compared to him. 36 He has found out all the way of knowledge, and has given it to Jacob his servant and to Israel who is loved by him. 37 Afterward she appeared upon earth, and lived with men.
Date: 200–50 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Early Christian
As you have already listened to Moses and Isaiah, listen now to Jeremiah teaching the same truth as they did: This is our God, and no other shall be compared to Him, Who has found out the whole way of knowledge and has given it to Jacob His servant and to Israel His beloved. Afterward He showed Himself on earth and lived among men. For earlier he had said, And He is Man, and Who shall know Him? So you have God seen on earth and living among men. Now I ask you what sense you would give to No one has seen God at any time, except the Only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, when Jeremiah proclaims God seen on earth and living among men? The Father admittedly cannot be seen except by the Son; Who then is This who was seen and lived among men? He must be our God, for He is God visible in human form, Whom men can touch.
Date: 355–360 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... A similar case of parallel thinking, but not necessarily direct influence, is the application of Moses’ famous saying about the Torah in Deuteronomy 30:12–14 to Wisdom in Baruch 3:29–30 and to Christ in Romans 10:5–8. Nevertheless, Baruch 3:37[38] is by far the most commonly cited verse of Baruch by patristic and medieval Christian exegetes, including Ambrose, Augustine, Cyprian, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, Hilary of Poitiers, Hippolytus, John Cassian, John Chrysostom, John of Damascus, Lactantius, Rufinus, and Theodoret, as well as Thomas Aquinas and John of the Cross. Most of these authors quote the full passage Baruch 3:36–38 (beginning with “This is our God”) to make a point about the relationship between the Father and the Son, usually that the Son is co-eternal with and equal to the Father. The quotation is often attributed to Jeremiah rather than Baruch, presumably because of Jeremiah’s greater authority. Augustine quotes Baruch 3:36–38 in a chapter of City of God about Jeremiah, although he acknowledges that “some attribute this testimony not to Jeremiah, but to his secretary, who was called Baruch; but it is more commonly attributed to Jeremiah.” ..."
Karina Martin Hogan, “Baruch,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha, ed. Gerbern S. Oegema (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021), 123–136.
* 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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