Wisdom's likeness and image is created in God's works

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On Thursday the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to first read and reflect on a passage from the book of Wisdom (7:15-30) entitled “Wisdom is the image of God”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a discourse Against the Arians by Saint Athanasius, bishop.

Saint Athanasius was born at Alexandria in 295. He accompanied Alexander to the Council of Nicaea and succeeded him as Bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius was the 20th bishop of Alexandria. He fought courageously against the Arian heresy. His episcopate lasted 45 years (328-373), of which over 17 were spent in five exiles ordered by four different Roman emperors. He is considered to be a renowned Christian theologian, a Church Father, the chief defender of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian leader of the fourth century. His writings are outstanding in their explanation and defense of the true teachings of the faith. Saint Athanasius is a Doctor of the Church. He died in 373.

Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius (ca. AD 250–336), a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of God to the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth. Arius asserted that the Son of God was a subordinate entity to God the Father. The Arian heresy taught that Jesus was not divine.

The Book of Wisdom was written about fifty years before the coming of Christ. Its author, whose name is not known to us, was probably a member of the Jewish community at Alexandria, in Egypt. He wrote in Greek, in a style patterned on that of Hebrew verse. At times he speaks in the person of Solomon, placing his teachings on the lips of the wise king of Hebrew tradition in order to emphasize their value. His profound knowledge of the earlier Old Testament writings is reflected in almost every line of the book, and marks him, like Ben Sira, as an outstanding representative of religious devotion and learning among the sages of postexilic Judaism.

The primary purpose of the author was the edification of his co-religionists in a time when they had experienced suffering and oppression, in part at least at the hands of apostate fellow Jews. To convey his message he made use of the most popular religious themes of his time, namely the splendor and worth of divine wisdom, the glorious events of the exodus, God’s mercy, the folly of idolatry, and the manner in which God’s justice operates in rewarding or punishing the individual. The first ten chapters in particular provide background for the teaching of Jesus and for some New Testament theology about Jesus. Many passages from this section of the book are used by the church in the liturgy.