GCLI, Chesterton and God's Mirth

This blog post is not really about the GCLI materials, but it is a meditation on how Jesus is displayed in the Old Testament. There is an article in Book II of the GCLI materials called, Defending the Deity of Christ from the Teachings of Contemporary Cults by Pastor Kurt Jurgensmeier. On page 282, Point 5.2 raises the question, Does Proverbs 8:22-31 teach that Jesus was created by God? The author asserts that Jehovah Witnesses claim that Proverbs 8 proves that Jesus is a created being. Jurgensmeir argues the following:

Correcting the misinterpretation: The phrase, "The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works" (Proverbs 8:22, NIV) cannot be referring to the creation of Christ. Such a notion, again, contradicts all the other Scriptural truth regarding the deity of Christ. Solomon is simply personifying wisdom, just as he does in the first chapter of Proverbs, referring to wisdom as a woman who cries out in the streets.

However, in his Systematic Theology, Grudem argues convincingly that Proverbs 8:22-31 is talking about Christ and argues against the Jehovah Witness position in a different way. Grudem shows that the Hebrew word for "create" in verse 22 does not always mean create.

One of the most disputed Old Testament texts that could show distinct personality for more than one person is Proverbs 8:22–31. Although the earlier part of the chapter could be understood as merely a personification of “wisdom” for literary effect, showing wisdom calling to the simple and inviting them to learn, vv. 22–31, one could argue, say things about “wisdom” that seem to go far beyond mere personification. Speaking of the time when God created the earth, “wisdom” says, “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind” (Prov. 8:30–31 NIV). To work as a “craftsman” at God’s side in the creation suggests in itself the idea of distinct personhood, and the following phrases might seem even more convincing, for only real persons can be “filled with delight day after day” and can rejoice in the world and delight in mankind.

But if we decide that “wisdom” here really refers to the Son of God before he became man, there is a difficulty. Verses 22–25 (RSV) seem to speak of the creation of this person who is called “wisdom”:

The LORD created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth.

Does this not indicate that this “wisdom” was created?

In fact, it does not. The Hebrew word that commonly means “create” (bārā’) is not used in verse 22; rather the word is qānāh, which occurs eighty-four times in the Old Testament and almost always means “to get, acquire.” The NASB is most clear here: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way” (similarly KJV). (Note this sense of the word in Gen. 39:1; Ex. 21:2; Prov. 4:5, 7; 23:23; Eccl. 2:7; Isa. 1:3 [”owner”].) This is a legitimate sense and, if wisdom is understood as a real person, would mean only that God the Father began to direct and make use of the powerful creative work of God the Son at the time creation began: the Father summoned the Son to work with him in the activity of creation. The expression “brought forth” in verses 24 and 25 is a different term but could carry a similar meaning: the Father began to direct and make use of the powerful creative work of the Son in the creation of the universe.(Grudem, p. 228-229)

If Wisdom in Proverbs 8 is referring to Jesus Christ, it fits in well with Christ being the "Logos" in John 1. Furthermore, it makes the rest of the paragraph in Proverbs 8 even more poignant.

then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.
(Proverbs 8:30-31 ESV)

The idea that God enjoys His creation and people meshes with the rest of scripture. There is a beautiful cross-reference about God rejoicing in the sons of man in Zephaniah 3:17 (KJV):

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

In the gospels, we really do not see Jesus's mirth and joy. Isaiah's prophecy about Jesus in the Old Testament describes well Jesus who is reflected in the Gospels as a "man of sorrows, acquainted by grief" (Isaiah 53:3). G. K. Chesterton has a famous quote about Jesus's lack of joy in the Gospels:

G. K. Chesterton
"JOY, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian. And as I close this chaotic volume I open again the strange small book from which all Christianity came; and I am again haunted by a kind of confirmation. The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves tall. His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His tears; He showed them plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of His native city. Yet He concealed something. Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained His anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell. Yet He restrained something. I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth." (Orthodoxy)

An elder at Grace has been encouraging people to read the Gospels to get to know the man Jesus, especially in light of going to Haiti to share the Gospel. I agree that reading the Gospels is a good way to prepare for Haiti and evangelism. However, the whole Bible speaks out about Jesus Christ. The Old Testament reveals Christ in ways we don't see in the Gospels. In the Old Testament we see Christ's mirth and joy in His creation and His people.