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| The Word Was in the Beginning, I.e., in Wisdom, Which Contained All Things in Idea, Before They Existed. Christ's Character as Wisdom is Prior to His Other Characters.
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22. The Word
Was in the Beginning, I.e., in Wisdom, Which Contained All Things in
Idea, Before They Existed. Christ’s Character as Wisdom is
Prior to His Other Characters.
So many meanings occur to us at once of the word
arche. We have now to ask which of them we should adopt for our
text, “In the beginning was the Word.” It is plain
that we may at once dismiss the meaning which connects it with
transition or with a road and its length. Nor, it is pretty
plain, will the meaning connected with an origin serve our
purpose. One might, however, think of the sense in which it
points to the author, to that which brings about the effect, if, as we
read,4544
“God commanded and they were
created.” For Christ is, in a manner, the demiurge, to whom
the Father says, “Let there be light,” and “Let there
be a firmament.” But Christ is demiurge as a beginning
(arche), inasmuch as He is wisdom. It is in virtue of His being
wisdom that He is called arche. For Wisdom says in
Solomon:4545
“God
created me the beginning of His ways, for His works,” so that the
Word might be in an arche, namely, in wisdom. Considered in
relation to the structure of contemplation and thoughts about the whole
of things, it is regarded as wisdom; but in relation to that side of
the objects of thought, in which reasonable beings apprehend them, it
is considered as the Word. And there is no wonder, since, as we
have said before, the Saviour is many good things, if He comprises in
Himself thoughts of the first order, and of the second, and of the
third. This is what John suggested when he said about the
Word:4546
“That which was made was life in
Him.” Life then came in the Word. And on the one side
the Word is no other than the Christ, the Word, He who was with the
Father, by whom all things were made; while, on the other side, the
Life is no other than the Son of God, who says:4547
“I am the way and the truth and
the life.” As, then, life came into being in the Word, so
the Word in the arche. Consider, however, if we are at liberty to
take this meaning of arche for our text: “In the beginning
was the Word,” so as to obtain the meaning that all things came
into being according to wisdom and according to the models of the
system which are present in his thoughts. For I consider that as
a house or a ship is built and fashioned in accordance with the
sketches of the builder or designer, the house or the ship having their beginning
(arche) in the sketches and reckonings in his mind, so all things came
into being in accordance with the designs of what was to be, clearly
laid down by God in wisdom. And we should add that having
created, so to speak, ensouled4548
wisdom, He left her
to hand over, from the types which were in her, to things existing and
to matter, the actual emergence of them, their moulding and their
forms.4549
| 4549 Mr. Brooke,
T. & S. I. iv. p. 15, discusses this corrupt passage and
suggests an improved text which would yield the sense, that wisdom was
to give to things and matter, “it might be rash to say bluntly
their essences, but their moulding and their forms.” | But I
consider, if it be permitted to say this, that the beginning (arche) of
real existence was the Son of God, saying:4550
“I am the beginning and the end,
the Α and the Ω, the first and the last.” We
must, however, remember that He is not the arche in respect of every
name which is applied to Him. For how can He be the beginning in
respect of His being life, when life came in the Word, and the Word is
manifestly the arche of life? It is also tolerably evident that
He cannot be the arche in respect of His being the first-born from the
dead. And if we go through all His titles carefully we find that
He is the arche only in respect of His being wisdom. Not even as
the Word is He the arche, for the Word was in the arche. And so
one might venture to say that wisdom is anterior to all the thoughts
that are expressed in the titles of the first-born of every
creature. Now God is altogether one and simple; but our Saviour,
for many reasons, since God4551
set Him forth a
propitiation and a first fruits of the whole creation, is made many
things, or perhaps all these things; the whole creation, so far as
capable of redemption, stands in need of Him.4552
| 4552 Passage obscure and
probably corrupt. | And, hence, He is made the light of
men, because men, being darkened by wickedness, need the light that
shines in darkness, and is not overtaken by the darkness; had not men
been in darkness, He would not have become the light of men. The
same thing may be observed in respect of His being the first-born of
the dead. For supposing the woman had not been deceived, and Adam
had not fallen, and man created for incorruption had obtained it, then
He would not have descended into the grave, nor would He have died,
there being no sin, nor would His love of men have required that He
should die, and if He had not died, He could not have been the
first-born of the dead. We may also ask whether He would ever
have become a shepherd, had man not been thrown together with the
beasts which are devoid of reason, and made like to them. For if
God saves man and beasts, He saves those beasts which He does save, by
giving them a shepherd, since they cannot have a king. Thus if we
collect the titles of Jesus, the question arises which of them were
conferred on Him later, and would never have assumed such importance if
the saints had begun and had also persevered in blessedness.
Perhaps Wisdom would be the only remaining one, or perhaps the Word
would remain too, or perhaps the Life, or perhaps the Truth, not the
others, which He took for our sake. And happy indeed are those
who in their need for the Son of God have yet become such persons as
not to need Him in His character as a physician healing the sick, nor
in that of a shepherd, nor in that of redemption, but only in His
characters as wisdom, as the word and righteousness, or if there be any
other title suitable for those who are so perfect as to receive Him in
His fairest characters. So much for the phrase “In the
beginning.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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