#The Word of God: Jesus

#The Personification of a Divine Attribute

#Summary

The Word of God: Jesus

The Personification of a Divine Attribute

Summary

The first view was widely held by the church fathers and several centuries of Protestants. However, in the 20th century the second view became more popular and now dominates Evangelical scholarship.

The first view was widely held by the church fathers and several centuries of Protestants. However, in the 20th century the second view became more popular and now dominates Evangelical scholarship.

Barnes' Notes similarly say that there is no "ground for the thought of creation either in the meaning of the root, or in the general usage of the word." The notes continue to point out the logical difficulty of "create":

Others understand the text similarly.⁶ The Reformed Study Bible, though emphasizing Christ as the wisdom of God, still considers the personification of wisdom here to be a "poetic device":

Although it is premature to see personified wisdom (especially in vv. 22-31) as a direct portrayal of a divine being, there is no doubt that the revelation of Jesus Christ as the wisdom of God shows us the significance of a wisdom that is its own absolute authority.

This view was not entirely foreign to writers of the 19th century. Methodist Adam Clarke (1760-1832) critiques the church fathers as finding "allegorical meanings every where," though he too applies Wisdom in verse 3, "She crieth at the gates," to Christ, his apostles, and their successors.⁷

Each person's understanding of this passage will be influenced by the relative weights placed on the testimony of the church fathers and modern hermeneutics. Early Protestants leaned toward the former, but the latter has gained primacy among Protestants over the last two centuries. Either way, however, Protestants have argued forcefully that the text does not challenge the divinity of Christ.

Albert Barnes similarly says that there is no "ground for the thought of creation either in the meaning of the root, or in the general usage of the word." His Notes go on to point out the logical difficulty of "create":

Others understand the text similarly.⁶ The Reformation Study Bible, though emphasizing Christ as the wisdom of God, still considers the personification of wisdom here to be a "poetic device":

Although it is premature to see personified wisdom (especially in vv. 22–31) as a direct portrayal of a divine being, there is no doubt that the revelation of Jesus Christ as the wisdom of God shows us the significance of a wisdom that is its own absolute authority.

This view was not entirely foreign to writers of the 19th century. Methodist Adam Clarke (1760–1832) critiques the church fathers as finding "allegorical meanings every where," though he too applies Wisdom in verse 3, "She crieth at the gates," to Christ, his apostles, and their successors.⁷

Each person's understanding of this passage will be influenced by the relative weights placed on the testimony of the church fathers and modern hermeneutics. Early Protestants leaned toward the former, but the latter has gained primacy among Protestants over the last two centuries. Either way, however, Protestants have carefully argued that the text does not challenge the divinity of Christ.