Proverbs 8 · a question people ask
"The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his work" (8:22). Who is the Wisdom who speaks here? Is she Jesus?
The chapter says who speaks. It opens, "Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?" (8:1), and from 8:4 to 8:36 the words are hers, in the first person: "I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling" (8:12). In 8:22-31 she speaks of the beginning: "The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old" (8:22), "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed" (8:23), "When he established the heavens, I was there" (8:27), and "then I was the craftsman by his side" (8:30) (tap possessed, set up, born, craftsman). No New Testament verse quotes or names Proverbs 8, or says that the Wisdom who speaks there is Jesus. The New Testament does speak of Christ as God's wisdom. Paul (1 Corinthians 1:1) writes, "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24), and of "Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30). Christians read Proverbs 8:22-31 in two main ways, and these notes choose neither. Both readings hold what John says of the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1), and "All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:3). Both agree that 1 Corinthians 1:24 and 1:30 speak of Christ as God's wisdom. Neither rests on a claim that the New Testament quotes Proverbs 8, and neither takes possessed or I was born (Proverbs 8:22-25) to mean that the Word was one of the things that were made (John 1:3).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
God's own wisdom, pictured as a person
Those who read it this way hear Proverbs 8:22-31 as the book speaks of wisdom elsewhere: as a woman who calls in the street (Proverbs 1:20) and builds her house (Proverbs 9:1). In the chapter's first verse understanding, too, raises "her voice" (Proverbs 8:1). They set Proverbs 8:22-31 beside the book's own lines, "By wisdom the LORD founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens" (Proverbs 3:19), and "By his knowledge, the depths were broken up" (Proverbs 3:20). There wisdom, understanding and "his knowledge" are what the LORD works by, and established the heavens is the Hebrew of Proverbs 8:27. On this reading the wisdom the LORD works by is the one who speaks in chapter 8, and the New Testament shows where God's wisdom is found: "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24), "Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30), and "the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden" (Colossians 2:2-3). No New Testament verse quotes Proverbs 8, and they read its possessed and I was born (Proverbs 8:22-25) as part of the picture: the LORD's wisdom was with him "from everlasting" (Proverbs 8:23).
Proverbs 1:20 · Proverbs 9:1 · Proverbs 8:1 · Proverbs 3:19-20 · Proverbs 8:22-27 · 1 Corinthians 1:24 · 1 Corinthians 1:30 · Colossians 2:2-3
The Son himself speaking
Those who read it this way hear the Son himself in Proverbs 8:22-31, with the Father before the world was made. They set Wisdom's words, "When he established the heavens, I was there" (Proverbs 8:27) and "then I was the craftsman by his side" (Proverbs 8:30), beside what the New Testament says of the Word, "The same was in the beginning with God" (John 1:2), and of the Son, "the Son of his love" (Colossians 1:13): "He is before all things" (Colossians 1:17), and "his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:2). They also hear the Son in Jesus' own words about wisdom: "Therefore also the wisdom of God said" (Luke 11:49), "I will send to them prophets and apostles" (Luke 11:49), and "But wisdom is justified by her children" (Matthew 11:19). On this reading possessed and I was born (Proverbs 8:22-25) speak of the Son with the Father "from everlasting" (Proverbs 8:23), not of his being made, for "Without him, nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:3).
Proverbs 8:22-30 · John 1:1-3 · Colossians 1:13-17 · Hebrews 1:2 · Luke 11:49 · Matthew 11:19
The verses
“Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?”
““I call to you men! I send my voice to the sons of mankind.”
““I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion.”
“Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,”