Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Wisdom 1:1-7
To Be Wise, a Person Must Avoid Sin
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[1] Love righteousness, you rulers of the earth, think of the Lord with uprightness, and seek him with sincerity of heart; [2] because he is found by those who do not put him to the test, and manifests himself to those who do not distrust him. [3] For perverse thoughts separate men from God, and when his power is tested, it convicts the foolish; [4] because wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin. [5] For a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit, and will rise and depart from foolish thoughts, and will be ashamed at the approach of unrighteousness.
Wisdom, Spirit and Word
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[6] For wisdom is a kindly spirit and will not free a blasphemer from the guilt of his words; because God is witness of his inmost feelings, and a true observer of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue. [7] Because the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and that which holds all things together knows what is said.
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Commentary:
1:1-6:21. These chapters form the first part of the book. The sacred writer begins by exhorting the rulers of the earth to love righteousness, for it bestows immortality (1:1-15). He goes on to expound the arguments used by the ungodly to justify their behavior (1:16—2:24). Then he takes issue with them by explaining what lies in store after death--the separate fates of the righteous and the ungodly (3:1-4:20). God will judge all and the ungodly will recognize their sins and be punished (5:1-23). People in positions of government have a heavy responsibility (6:1-11), so the author invites them to love wisdom (6:12-21). In this way, on the basis of belief in God, the book supplies answers to questions that arise from the fact that ungodly people are often successful in this world and the righteous seem to fail: many a just man dies prematurely, for example. It is an advance in Revelation to set retribution the context of the after-life--thereby opening up the way for the definitive Revelation of the New Testament.
1:1-15. The exhortation to seek righteousness is made specific here: it involves letting oneself be guided by Wisdom. Wisdom lets one see that God will judge every human being (vv. 8-11). Man, like everything else, was made to live: “God did not make death” v. 13), “for he created all things that they might exist, and the creatures of the world are wholesome” (v. 14). This is an optimistic view of the world and of man, and one that goes right back to the first creation account in the book of Genesis (cf. Gen 1:1-2:4). It connects death with divine punishment (v. 12), but, as already pointed out in the previous verse ( a lying mouth destroys the soul) physical death is not the sum total of death; it is, of course, always a sign of death, but vv. 1-12 see beyond the notion of mere physical death, opening the way to an eschatological scenario (not very well defined as yet; New Testament revelation will make it much plainer).
1:1—5. The sacred writer addresses “the rulers” of the earth in the first instance--literally, “those who judge” (cf. Ps 2:10). In the Bible, ‘judging” is one of the main prerogatives of the king, and often it means the same thing as “ruling”. By “righteousness” is meant, above all, faithfulness to the divine will, dutiful observance of the Covenant made between God and the chosen people--upright moral conduct. What we have here is a spiritual profile of the wise man. He must be well-disposed to the things of God, and not have a “deceitful soul” (v. 4), and he must be convinced that Good is the Supreme God and that everything that he does or allows to happen is for the best. Whereas (cf. v. 5) the worst thing is to be complicated and distrustful of God. So, from the very start we see this contrast that runs right through the book, between those who are wise, prudent and just, and who trust in God--and the ungodly and unbelievers who pay attention only to what they can see and touch.
“A holy...spirit” (v. 5): in the Old Testament sense, the Spirit of God. This Spirit is the teacher of the soul; that is why it is “ashamed at the approach of unrighteousness”: evildoers will curse the Spirit for teaching the righteous how to please God (cf. 2:12—20).
1:6—11. Wisdom is a divine attribute (cf. Job 28:23-24) which God communicates to man (cf. Prov 8:22-31)--to all mankind, although the underlying conviction is that it is given in a special way to the people of Israel (cf. Sir 24:3-47; Bar 3:9-38). In verses 6-7 Wisdom is identified with the Spirit of God, insofar as it is an expression of the creative and life-giving power of God. The text says that the Spirit holds all things together and is present everywhere in the universe and knows everything--even the hidden thoughts of man (cf. 1 Cor 2:10-11): in this sense Wisdom and the Spirit are the same thing. This is a subject that will be developed in 7:22-28. This notion of Wisdom, taking on the features of a person, prepares the way for the fullness of revelation in the New Testament, when the Divine Word will reveal himself as the Son, that is, as the Word and the mediator of the knowledge of God (cf. Jn 1:1; Col 1:15; Heb 1:1-3).
In v. 6 Wisdom is defined as being “kindly” (towards men). This has not been said before in the Old Testament, but it is consistent with what Genesis (1:3 1) says about God seeing that everything he made was “very good” and with what God says in Isaiah about his maternal love for Israel (Ct. Is 49: Is). Now it is said with reference not only to the chosen people but to all mankind, and therefore it is an announcement of God’s plan of salvation (cf. Rom 5:8—11; 1 Tim 2:4). These words (v.6) allow us to foresee, to glimpse, that God’s love for mankind will reveal itself fully in the Incarnation of the Son of God (cf. Tit 3:4).
Those who will be punished are depicted as complainers, slanderers and liars, The ungodly are deceiving themselves because they have a mistaken idea of God and his providence: they think that he does not interest himself in the doings of mankind and that he lets evil happen; therefore, they do not obey him or respect him. Deep down, every sin against God can be traced back to deceit, just as true faith is grounded on truth. Psalm 58:3 said as much: those who stray from God “err from birth, speaking lies’, in the New Testament, Jesus, who declares himself to be Truth, accuses those who do not believe in him of being liars and calls the devil a liar (cf. Jn 8:42—44); and St John calls a liar him who denies Jesus (cf. 1 Jn 2:21-23).