Proverbs 8:22-36

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 121:1-8
• Hymn — O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (#164)
• Prayer of Adoration
• Hymn — There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood (#253)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Proverbs 8:22-36
• Sermon
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Wisdom Personified and Incarnate

Scripture: Proverbs 8:22-36

I. Lady Wisdom's Origins (vv. 22–26)

A. Wisdom is presented as the first of God's acts, set up before the creation of the earth

• Solomon is not giving a birth story of wisdom; he is declaring that wisdom is not part of creation but is bound up with the essential being of God
• No orthodox Hebrew would say there was ever a time when God did not possess wisdom

B. Anti-Trinitarian misuse of this passage

• Arius and modern Jehovah's Witnesses argue that "set up" and "first of his acts" imply the Son had a beginning
• To say the Son was not always is to say God was not always wise — an impossibility

C. Wisdom points forward to the Son, the mystery now revealed

• Colossians 2:2-3: all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ
• The word mystery (Gk. mysterion) denotes something once hidden but now revealed; on this side of the incarnation we can look back and see the Son hidden in Proverbs 8

D. The eternal generation of the Son

• "First of his acts of old" is best understood as "from everlasting," as in Psalm 93:2: Your throne is from of old; you are from everlasting
• John 1:1-2: the Word was with God and was God — equal to yet distinct from the Father
• John 1:18: the only God who is at the Father's side has made him known
• The Son is eternally begotten — there was never a time when the Son was not

II. Lady Wisdom's Location (vv. 27–31)

A. Wisdom was present throughout all of God's creative acts — the heavens, the seas, the foundations of the earth

B. Wisdom is the instrument of creation, not a separate creator

• Wisdom delights in Yahweh's creative acts and rejoices with Him
• Colossians 1:15-16: all things were created through the Son and for the Son; God the Father creates through the Son, His Word

C. "I was there" (v. 27) contrasted with Job's absence

• Job 38:4: God asks Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" — Job was not there; wisdom was
• Job 9:32-33: Job laments there is no arbiter who can place his hand on both God and man
• 1 Timothy 2:5: there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus
• Because the Son was there in the beginning and has become man, He alone can place His hand on both God and humanity and answer to the Father on our behalf

III. Lady Wisdom's Life (vv. 32–36)

A. Wisdom presents herself as the agent of life

• Whoever finds wisdom finds life and obtains favor from the Lord
• Whoever hates wisdom loves death
• This goes beyond practical wisdom literature — wisdom here is identified with life itself

B. Parallel structure between Proverbs 8 and John 1

• John 1:1-5 follows the same pattern as Proverbs 8:22-36
  1. The Word in the beginning → Wisdom's origins (vv. 22–26)
  2. The world made through the Word → Wisdom present in creation (vv. 27–31)
  3. In the Word was life, the light of men → In wisdom is life; hatred of wisdom is love of death (vv. 32–36)

C. The incarnate Son is life

• John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
• Because the Son was in the beginning and was the instrument of creation, life is found in Him alone
• To turn from the instruction of the Son — who is wisdom personified and incarnate — is to love death