Chapter 36

Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world...? know ye not that we shall judge angels...?

In both these cases it is, of course, possible that the similarity exists solely because in both sets of passages current Jewish ideas find expression; in the following one, however, it is difficult to believe that it did not influence St. Paul when he wrote the well-known words in Ephesians vi. 11-20, beginning: “Put on the whole armour of God”; the passage in Wisdom is v. 17-20:

He shall take His jealousy as complete armour,And shall make the whole creation His weapons for vengeance upon His enemies:He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate,And shall take judgement unfeigned as a helmet;He shall take holiness as an invincible shield,And shall sharpen stern wrath as a sword.

He shall take His jealousy as complete armour,

And shall make the whole creation His weapons for vengeance upon His enemies:

He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate,

And shall take judgement unfeigned as a helmet;

He shall take holiness as an invincible shield,

And shall sharpen stern wrath as a sword.

It is probable that the writer of this had in mind Isaiah lix. 17: “And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke”; but while this passage was no doubt the original inspiration of both Wisdom v. 17-20 and Ephesians vi. 11-20, one cannot read these two latter without feeling convinced that St. Paul knew and utilized the Book of Wisdom. On the other hand, regarding the somewhat intricate subject of “the elements of the world,” which is referred to more than once both in Wisdom and by St. Paul, while one would hesitate to assert definitely that the latter was influenced by the former it offers a good illustration of the need of studying St. Paul’s writings in the light of this book. To show what we mean it will suffice to put the respective passages in parallel columns, and the reader will at once see the connection:

Wisdom vii. 17: “For He hath given me unerring knowledge of the things that are, to know the constitution of the world, and the working of the elements.”Wisdom xix. 18-21: “For the elements changed their order one with another....”Wisdom xiii. 2, 3: “But whether fire, or wind, or swift air, or circling stars, or raging water, or luminaries of heaven, they thought (all) were gods that rule the world. And if through delight in their beauty they took them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Sovereign Lord....”

Wisdom vii. 17: “For He hath given me unerring knowledge of the things that are, to know the constitution of the world, and the working of the elements.”

Wisdom xix. 18-21: “For the elements changed their order one with another....”

Wisdom xiii. 2, 3: “But whether fire, or wind, or swift air, or circling stars, or raging water, or luminaries of heaven, they thought (all) were gods that rule the world. And if through delight in their beauty they took them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Sovereign Lord....”

Colossians ii. 8: “Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.”Colossians ii. 20: “If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world, seek the things that are above, where Christ is....”Galatians iv. 3: “So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elements of the world.”Galatians iv. 8, 9: “Howbeit at that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them which by nature are no gods;but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known of God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?” (cp. Heb. v. 12; 2 Pet. iii. 10, 12).

Colossians ii. 20: “If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world, seek the things that are above, where Christ is....”

Galatians iv. 3: “So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elements of the world.”

Galatians iv. 8, 9: “Howbeit at that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them which by nature are no gods;but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known of God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?” (cp. Heb. v. 12; 2 Pet. iii. 10, 12).

Whatever may be meant here by “the elements of the world,” it is clear that St. Paul is combating a false doctrine regarding belief in elemental spirits; and for the study of this subject recourse to the Book of Wisdom is imperative. An interesting parallel is that between Wisdom ix. 15:

For a corruptible body weigheth down the soul,And the earthly frame lieth heavy on the mind that is full of cares,

For a corruptible body weigheth down the soul,

And the earthly frame lieth heavy on the mind that is full of cares,

and 2 Corinthians v. 1: “For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from ...,” and verse 4: “For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened....”

And once more, in Wisdom xi. 23 it is said:

But Thou hast mercy on all men, because Thou hast power to do all things,And Thou overlookest the sins of men to the end that they may repent.

But Thou hast mercy on all men, because Thou hast power to do all things,

And Thou overlookest the sins of men to the end that they may repent.

We are at once reminded of St. Paul’s words in Romans ii. 4: “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (cp. Rom. xi. 32).

Still more striking is the following:

Wisdom xv. 7: “For a potter, kneading soft earth, laboriously mouldeth each vessel for our service: nay, out of the same clay doth he fashion both the vessels that minister to clean uses, and those of a contrary sort, all in like manner; but what shall be the use of either sort, the craftsman himself is the judge.”

Romans ix. 21-23: “Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known,endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy...?”

Space forbids us to do more than merely refer to other striking resemblances and parallel passages which further illustrate the influence of this book upon St. Paul, the three following subjects would, however, repay careful study: the qualities of Wisdom—with Wisdom vii. 22-viii. 1, ix. 6-17 compare 1 Corinthians ii. 6-16; the doctrine of Predestination—with Wisdom xii., xv. 7 compare Romans ix. 19-23; the question of heathen idolatry—with Wisdom xiii., xiv. compare Romans i. 18-32.

The number of parallels, in the words of Thackeray, “between St. Paul and Wisdom put it beyond doubt that the Apostle had at one time made a close study of the apocryphal book. It was a book which no doubt had a wide circulation at an early time, being the noblest product of the pre-Christian Judaism of Alexandria, and combining in the choicest language the broader views of Hellenism with the narrower national spirit of Judaism: a combination which would make it of special interest to the Apostle who sought to make himself all things to all men that he might by all means gain some. ‘A practical man with the sharp outlook for practical needs, Paul took what was good wherever it offered itself.’ The influence is rather formal than substantial. But in three, not unimportant points, the Apostle’s views on idolatry, on predestination and on eschatology, he has been to some extent affected by the matter, and not only the manner, of the Alexandrian work.”[492]

For the further study of this subject the excellent bookof Thackeray’s, just quoted, is invaluable, as is also Grafe’sDas Verhältniss der Paulinischen Schriften zur Sapientia Salomonis(1892); see also Sanday and Headlam’sRomans, passim, and Hausrath,Der Apostel Paulus, p. 23 (1872).

It is probable that the influence ofWisdomis to be discerned in other books of the New Testament; Gregg,Op. cit., pp. liv.-lvi., gives a long list of parallels between the book and St. John’s Gospel; and for parallels with the epistle of St. James, see the same author, pp. lix., lx. and Mayor’sSt. James, p. lxxv.

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