The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. [Proverbs 8:22-23 NIV]
When you read through the 8th chapter of the book of Proverbs, you meet someone called "Wisdom" and you notice that she is a person. This is a figure of speech - over the years poets and writers have spoken about an abstract 'thing' as a person. It is known as personification. So the writer has turned wisdom from an invisible quality which we cannot see or hear or touch to a female person. In chapter 8 of Proverbs we find that 'Wisdom' is able to 'call out' and to 'raise her voice' (Proverbs 8:1,3-4). Wisdom has 'lips' and a 'mouth' (Proverbs 8: 6-8). We also have a description of the character - she is righteous and just (Proverbs 8:20). She possesses human attributes - 'strength' and insight' (Proverbs 8: 14).
In verse 22 -31, we discover that this Wisdom existed before the world began.
The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth [Proverbs 8: 22 -23 ESV].
When I first began to study my Bible and read the book of Proverbs, it struck me that these verses seemed to apply to our Lord Jesus Christ. I remember speaking about how Jesus was the embodiment of wisdom - I linked these verses in Proverbs chapter 8 to a passage which we find in Matthew's Gospel where Jesus compared himself to Solomon who was renowned for his wisdom.
The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here. [Matthew 12:42 NIV]
This refers to the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon who decided that she needed to visit this king because she had heard to many stories about his greatness. As well as seeing his great wealth, she tested him with searching questions. Here is her verdict.
She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. [1 Kings 10:6-7 NIV]
Indeed, the wisdom of Solomon cannot be compared to the wisdom of the Son of God. For all his wisdom Solomon was misguided in having so many wives and concubines and he left a legacy of oppression for his son who was his successor.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul also speaks of the wisdom of Jesus Christ and declared that in Jesus 'all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' are hidden (Colossians 2:3).
So it is not surprising that the verses in Proverbs relating to Wisdom make us think about Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we know that he existed before creation as can be seen from John's Gospel, for example.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. [John 1:1-3 NIV]
When the writer of the fourth Gospel speaks about the Word, he is referring to Jesus Christ, who clearly existed 'in the beginning' which is the same term as is used to describe the creation in Genesis 1:1. John makes it clear that the Word was eternal and existed already before the creation and in fact He was the agent of creation.
There has been some serious false teaching linked with a misunderstanding of the passage in Proverbs chapter 8. In the first 4 centuries AD there were those who taught that Jesus Christ was created and they based this error on their understanding of Proverbs 8:23. They used the Greek translation of the Old Testament which was known as the Septuagint. This stated that 'the LORD created me' [Proverbs 8:22] and a group known as Arians, who did not accept the deity of Christ, jumped on this verse to prove that Jesus Christ was a created being. A Bible scholar named Athanasius was concerned about this and he suggested that this statement referred to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Notice that the English Standard Version translates the phrase as, "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work." This is a more accurate translation and so this passage refers to the character of God which was in evidence at the creation of the world. The writer of this chapter of the book of Proverbs is stating in poetic language that this Wisdom was a characteristic of the divine Creator. This same wisdom is available to all those who will learn from the book of Proverbs or in New Testament language, will follow the Lord Jesus and make Him Lord of their lives. [Adapted from the ESV Study Bible.]
It must be said that the passage in Proverbs 8 does remind us of the wisdom of Jesus Christ. It seems likely that the writers of some passages in the New Testament had this same chapter in their minds as they wrote the following chapters relating to the wisdom of Christ. When Paul said about Jesus that He is 'before all things,' there is a strong resemblance to the passage in Proverbs chapter 8 verses 23 - 26 where the word 'before' is used repeatedly - four times. If we read some passages from the New Testament it is clear that Jesus is the incarnation of the divine person - read John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:3, 10-12.
So we should avoid too glib a transfer of the passage in Proverbs chapter 8 to the person of Christ but there are clear parallels. This Wisdom personified existed before creation and was present at creation, so did Jesus the Son of God described as the WORD. Jesus was the very embodiment of Wisdom. Not only did He display Wisdom, he is Wisdom in a bodily form. However, we must be careful that we do not use this passage to deny the deity of Christ. The reverse is true. The writers of the New Testament passages I have referred to make it abundantly clear that Jesus is God in human form. He was God incarnate - i.e. God in human flesh. He displayed divine wisdom in every action which He performed and in every deed he did.
If we want wisdom (by which we are meaning the divine characteristic which is clearly demonstrated in the creation), we need to find Christ. We will not find this in a school or a university - not that I am condemning education. We will find divine wisdom in Christ, who is infinitely greater than the wisest king who ever lived.
Photo by Karren McPherson, photographer for Day Share
Good Robert. Pr 8 defo a type/prophecy of Christ as John understood the Greek 'logos' concept. Re Arian v. Athanasius, I had to do an exam on 451 Council of Chalcedon which addressed and resolved this whole issue