Transcript Jesus, Lady Wisdom, & God - The Rev. Dr. Charles W. Allen

Jesus, Lady Wisdom, & God
1 Corinthians 1:30; 8:6
(ca. 55CE)
God is the source of
your life in Christ Jesus,
who became for us
wisdom from God, and
righteousness and
sanctification and
redemption.
For us there is one God,
the Father, from whom
are all things and for
whom we exist, and one
Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all
things and through
whom we exist.
Proverbs 8:22-31
[Lady Wisdom:] The Lord created me at the beginning of his
work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at
the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were
no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs
abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—when he had not yet
made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil. When he
established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle
on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep, when he
assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not
transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations
of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I
was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in
his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.
Wisdom 7:24,27 (from the Apocrypha)
Wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her
pureness she pervades and penetrates all things … 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.”
Galatians 2:19-20; 3:27-28; 4:4-7 (ca. 56CE)
Through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have
been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ
who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the
faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves
with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave
or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in
Christ Jesus.
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a
woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under
the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because
you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if
a child then also an heir, through God.
Philippians 2:5-11 (ca. 61CE)
Let the same mind be in you that
was in Christ Jesus, who, though
he was in the form of God, did
not regard equality with God as
something to be exploited, but
emptied himself, taking the form
of a slave, being born in human
likeness. And being found in
human form, he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point
of death—even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly
exalted him and gave him the
name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, in
heaven and on earth and under
the earth, and every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
Colossians 1:15-20 (ca. 61CE?
Authorship & date disputed)
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation; for in him
all things in heaven and on earth
were created, things visible and
invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or powers—all
things have been created through him
and for him. He himself is before all
things, and in him all things hold
together. He is the head of the body,
the church; he is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead, so that he
might come to have first place in
everything. For in him all the fullness
of God was pleased to dwell, and
through him God was pleased to
reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven, by
making peace through the blood of
his cross.
Matthew 11:27-30 (ca. 8085CE—but Q is earlier)
Sirach 6:25-30 (from the
Apocrypha)
[Q:] All things have been handed
over to me by my Father; and no
one knows the Son except the
Father, and no one knows the
Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son
chooses to reveal him.
[M:] Come to me, all you that are
weary and are carrying heavy
burdens, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and
learn from me; for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light.
Put your feet into [Wisdom’s]
fetters, and your neck under her
yoke. Stoop your shoulders and
carry her and be not irked at her
bonds. With all your soul draw
close to her; with all your strength
keep her ways. Search her out,
discover her; seek her and you
will find her. Then when you have
her, do not let her go; thus will
you afterward find rest in her, and
she will become your joy. Her
yoke is a golden ornament and
her bonds a purple cord.
John 1:1-5, 9-14, 16-18 (ca. 90-95CE)
In the beginning was the Word [Greek: logos], and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came
into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.
What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all
people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into
the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him;
yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own
people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his
name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of
blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the
Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the
glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we
have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen
God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has
made him known.
THE CREED OF NICAEA (325CE)
This was the original Nicene Creed. It was revised and finalized at the Council of
Constantinople in 381CE—the version now recited in many churches.
We believe in one God the Father All-sovereign, maker of all things.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, onlybegotten, that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God
of true God, begotten not made, of one essence [Greek: homoousion] with the
Father, through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on the
earth; who for us people and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and
became human, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens,
and is coming to judge living and dead.
And in the Holy Spirit.
And those that say 'There was when he was not,' and, 'Before he was begotten he
was not,' and that, 'He came into being from what-is-not,' or those that allege, that
the son of God is 'Of another substance or essence' or 'created,' or 'changeable' or
'alterable,' these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.
The Greek Text of the Nicene Creed (325CE)
Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, πάντων ὁρατῶν τε και ἀοράτων
ποιητήν.
Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, γεννηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ
πατρὸς μονογενῆ, τουτέστιν ἐκ τῆς ουσίας τοῦ πατρός, θεὸν εκ θεοῦ ἀληθινου,
γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῳ πατρί δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, τά τε ἐν
τῳ ούρανῳ καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν
σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα καὶ σαρκωθέντα και ενανθρωπήσαντα, παθόντα, καὶ
ἀναστάντα τῇ τριτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς, καὶ ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι
ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς.
Καὶ εἰς τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα.
Τοὺς δὲ λέγοντας, ὁτι ἦν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν, καὶ πρὶν γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ἦν, καὶ ὅτι ἐξ
ἑτέρας ὑποστάσεως ἢ οὐσίας φάσκοντας εἶναι, ἢ κτιστόν, τρεπτὸν ἢ ἀλλοιωτὸν
τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, τούτους ἀναθεματίζει ἡ καθολικὴ καὶ ἀποστολικὴ ἐκκλησία.