Texts in Conversation
The Christian theologian Athanasius quotes Baruch’s description of Israel forgetting the fountain of wisdom to resolve a theological argument, using it as an authoritative source to discuss theology and practice.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Baruch 3:12
Deuterocanon
10 How is it, O Israel, that you are in your enemies’ land, that you have become old in a strange country, that you are defiled with the dead, 11 that you are counted with those who are in Hades? 12 You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. 13 If you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelled in peace forever. 14 Learn where there is wisdom, where there is strength, and where there is understanding, that you may also know where there is length of days and life, where there is the light of the eyes and peace.
Early Christian
Therefore, when He made His promise to the saints, He spoke this way: 'I and the Father will come and make Our home with him'; and again, 'so that, as I and You are One, they too may be one in Us.' And the grace given is one, given from the Father in the Son, as Paul writes in every Epistle: 'Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.' For the light must be with the ray, and the radiance must be contemplated together with its own light. So the Jews, since they deny the Son just as these men do, do not have the Father either; for, having left the 'Fountain of Wisdom,' as Baruch reproaches them, they put away from themselves the Wisdom that springs from it, our Lord Jesus Christ (for 'Christ,' says the Apostle, is 'God's power and God's wisdom'), when they said, 'We have no king but Cæsar.' The Jews, then, have the penalty for their denial; for their city as well as their reasoning came to nothing. And these men too put at risk the fullness of the mystery, I mean Baptism. For if the consecration is given to us into the Name of Father and Son, and they do not confess a true Father, because they deny what is from Him and like His Essence, and also deny the true Son, naming another of their own making, created out of nothing, is not the rite they administer altogether empty and useless, making a show, but in reality no help toward religion? For the Arians do not baptize into Father and Son, but into Creator and creature, into Maker and work. And just as a creature is other than the Son, so the Baptism supposedly given by them is other than the truth, though they pretend to name the Name of the Father and the Son because of the words of Scripture. For it is not the one who simply says 'O Lord' who gives Baptism, but the one who has the right faith along with the Name. For this reason our Savior too did not simply command to baptize, but first says, 'Teach,' then this: 'Baptize into the Name of Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit,' so that the right faith might follow on learning, and the consecration of Baptism might come together with faith.
Date: 355-360 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... The figure of Baruch is associated with the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (2 Baruch), the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch), and the Paraleipomena Jeremiou (4 Baruch). Baruch is not mentioned in the New Testament or Apostolic Fathers, even with regard to the incarnate wisdom motif in 3.38 (compare John 1:14; Romans 8:3; Hebrews 2:14), although Baruch does appear in canon lists from the fourth century (Athanasius, Ep. Fest. 39; Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. 4.35; Epiphanius, Pan. 8.6.1-4). Early Jewish and Christian writings assign Baruch uncertain prophetic status. The Masoretes saw Baruch as Jeremiah’s scribe (e.g., Jeremiah 36:27, 32) and the Byzantine Vitae Prophetarum excludes Baruch. Yet the earliest quotation from Baruch (Athenagorus, Leg. 9) names Baruch as a prophet, and some authority is suggested where Optatus of Milevis appeals to Baruch in a church controversy (Against the Donatists 7.1). With regard to biblical theology, Baruch has received some attention as to the ethical system offered by its exegesis of sin, exile, and repentance (Harrington, Invitation, p. 93; see also Harlow, Greek, p. 168; Wright, Baruch, pp. 113–21) ..."
Ryan, Daniel
"Baruch" in Aitken, J. K. (ed.) T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint
(pp. 487-499) T&T Clark International, 2015
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,