Wisdom of Solomon 7:25
Deuterocanon
23 beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle. 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;
Date: 100-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Athanasius On the Opinion of Dionysius 1:15
De Sententia Dionysii
Patristic
But God is light eternal, never beginning nor ceasing. The brightness then lies before Him eternally, and is with Him without beginning and ever-begotten, shining in His Presence, being that Wisdom which said, I was that wherein he rejoiced, and daily I was glad in his presence at all times.' And again after a little he resumes the same subject with the words, 'The Father then being eternal, the Son is eternal, being Light of Light: for if there is a parent there is also a child. But if there were not a child, how and of whom can there be a parent? But there are both, and that eternally.' Then again he adds, 'God then being light, Christ is brightness; and being Spirit, for God is a Spirit — in like manner Christ is called the breath, for He is the breath of the power of God.' And again, to quote the second book, he says, 'But only the Son, who always is with the Father and is filled of Him that IS, Himself also IS from the Father.'
Date: 387-400 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Notes and References
"... Origen is clear that his understanding of eternity here is of that which is beyond time, completely outside of its constraints. In consideration of a passage from Wisdom of Solomon 7:25-26, which describes wisdom as an "emanation of the clear glory of the almighty.,” Origen says that God cannot be called almighty "if there are none over whom he can exercise his power. Accordingly, to prove that God is almighty [παντοκράτωρ] we must assume the existence of the universe ... With the abandonment of Origen’s doctrine of the pre-existence of souls / creation, and with the use of Methodius’s argument for the distinction between being / will and Creator / creature, the stage was now set for Athanasius (ca. 296-373) to respond to Arius and provide the first ever “explicit and systematic analysis” of the concept of God’s Fatherhood and his relation to the Son. ..."
Stevenson, Austin
The Eternal Generation of the Son: The Christological Significance for Origen and Nicaea
(pp. 13-22) CRUX: Fall 2015/Vol. 51/ No. 3, 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.
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