Wisdom

A little question for you this morning regarding the Trinity: what is Wisdom?

Now, you might be thinking that's not a question about the Trinity. The Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and while all have wisdom, there's not really anything to talk about directly with wisdom and the Trinity. And maybe there's not. 

But maybe...

Because Wisdom is often personified in the Scriptures, especially in the Proverbs. She's talked about as a woman. And we're also told, in the Proverbs, that Wisdom was present at the creation of the universe. In other words, In the beginning, there was Wisdom. Capital-W. The person of Wisdom. 

This could raise a bit of a sticky situation if Wisdom is not Trinitarian as a person because it would imply that there is another being that is co-eternal with God, that was present before she was created, that simply...exists. It would make Wisdom a rival of God if we could say that in the beginning, there were two distinct persons - God and Wisdom. 

But we can't discount what the Scriptures say and try to declare either that Wisdom is not a person - the Scriptures clearly give her that kind of presence - or that Wisdom as a person wasn't really present at Creation - the Scriptures tell us this, too. 

Which means...Wisdom must be part of the Trinity. How, then, do we reconcile this? 

Let's start by saying that Wisdom cannot just be a characteristic of God; it's not that simple. There is no other characteristic of God that is personified in Scripture the way that Wisdom is, except for those words that are tied directly to the person of Jesus - Love, Light, Word. But when we talk about God's goodness, we never talk about Goodness; when we talk about His power, we never talk about Power. So we can't say that we're just talking about God's wisdom; we're talking about Wisdom. It's fundamentally different. It's up there with Love and Light and Word. 

If these are words we associate with Jesus, then it makes sense that there may be words we associate with other members of the Trinity. And there are. When we talk about God, we talk about Him as Father. There we are again - capital-F. God is not just like a father; it's not some characteristic He has. He is Father. 

This leaves us still with Wisdom, and I think maybe we then say that the way that God is Father and Jesus is Light (and Love and Word), perhaps the Holy Spirit is Wisdom. Jesus has already given a couple of other names to the Spirit - Helper, Comforter. Why not Wisdom? 

Honestly, if the Holy Spirit comes upon someone and they suddenly know without a doubt that Jesus Christ is Lord and God is Father, doesn't that seem like Wisdom? If the power of the Holy Spirit is to live the holy life, doesn't that require Wisdom? If the Holy Spirit is a friend closer than a brother, that guiding voice to help and guide you, isn't that Wisdom? 

The Holy Spirit is crying out in the streets....

I'm not presenting this as fact, just something to think about. It resolves the tension of how Wisdom could be present at the creation of the universe without rivaling God for eternity - if she is part of the Trinity of God. It gives us a place for this person that God clearly wants us to know and love - how could He lead us to something good that is not Him? He can't. Again, just something I'm thinking about, so thought I would share. Do with it what you will. But maybe the question is not, what is Wisdom, but Who?