Wisdom the Woman

[cman]

Though some know this, I'll put it out here anyway.

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"Say that Wisdom is thy sister" (Proverbs 7:4)

"Wisdom has built a house for herself, and set up seven pillars" (Proverbs 9:1)

Proverbs chapters 8 and 9 are in fact an extended allegory of Wisdom depicted as a woman.

"Wisdom is known by her children" (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35)

"Therefore also said the Wisdom of God, I will also send them prophets and apostles . . ." (Luke 11:49). In this text our Lord is equating the "Wisdom of God" with the Holy Spirit who provided Divine inspiration to those who wrote the Scriptures (2 Peter 1:21). He refers to Wisdom in the feminine gender.

The Old Testament word for "wisdom" is chokmah which has the feminine ending.

The New Testament word - in the Greek - is sophia - also feminine. In fact "Sophia" is the name for a goddess of wisdom in the Greek pantheon. It should be obvious that the Early Church, when reading the Greek Septuagint - the translation of the Old Testament for the Greek-speaking Jew - would have made the connection between that goddess and the Holy Spirit. Of course, a Gentile Christian would have known that the Holy Spirit was not a Greek goddess. Rather, he would have confessed that the Holy Spirit was the true Sophia in contrast to the pagan imitation.

The connection between the Holy Spirit and Sophia is more pronounced in the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha are writings from the Intertestamental Period which was contained in the Septuagint but are not included in our modern Bibles. (They are regarded as deutero-canonical by the Anglican Church).

For Sophia is a loving spirit. . . For the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world.

- Wisdom of Solomon 1:5,7

For Sophia, which is the worker of all things, taught me: for in her is an understanding spirit, holy, one only. . . For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty . . . And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new: and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God and prophets. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Sophia.

- Wisdom chapter 7 (excerpts)

And thy counsel who hath known, except thou give Sophia, and send thy Holy Spirit from above?

- 9:7

In the writings of the Early Church, Wisdom (Sophia) is preserved as feminine (e.g. the Shepherd of Hermes)

Jesus associates the "spirit of truth" with the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). Sophia and the Holy Spirit share identical roles (1 Corinthians 2:7-11; Romans 5:5; 1 John 5:6-7 KJV). Were it not for the masculine bias of later theologians, the Church would likely have acknowledged the allegorical associations in the Old Testament as literal theophanies of the Holy Spirit.

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1Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? 2She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. 3She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. 4Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. 5O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. 6Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. 7For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. 9They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. 10Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. 11For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

Though the masculine will always be dominate, as the Godhead in the Kingdom within,

is the man masculine enough to let the feminine out and reveal what she has to offer.

To 'let your women keep silence in the church' is to allow the the Holy Spirit to speak when it sees fit, not when the husband says so. Control the tongue of the Spirit by the Spirit. The fruit of the spirit love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. No words can produce this, it flows from the heart.

A word fitly spoken... and more...

[Shifra]

Fascinating. Please elaborate on this sentence: "To let your women keep silence in the church is to allow the Holy Spirit to speak when it sees fit, not when the husband says so." I don't understand this interpretation ... but I like it.

[cman]

Shifra

To explain the Godhead would be quite the challenge.

The entire verse is not translated very well imo.

'ask their husbands at home'

The home is always with you, the temple of God.

If the woman is the Holy Spirit what is the husband?

There are 3 on 'earth' spirit, water, blood.

There are 3 in 'heaven' father, holy spirit, word.

both in us, heaven and earth to bring us to Christ

genesis is the beginning and the end as well as revelations

the first and the last the beginning and the end

yet we must get to freedom in Christ as your circle

so shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife

spoken to Adam the first time

Adams mother-Holy Spirit

the spirit gave Adam life

and continues to this day giving life

perhaps more or less of an answer

but as you are, i'm still learning.....

[year2027]

God first

Beloved cman

God loves you my dear friend

while I understood Sophia as Holy Spirit I had not connected wisdom into it with understanding like you have thanks

I see three Sophia's in the words of wisdom the words from God

Sophia the Giver, the Holy Spirit of God, the face of the waters which is the face of darkness, and the female side of God the hen of (Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34)

Sophia the gift, the holy spirit of Christ, the face of darkness, and the female side of Christ

Sophia us as Christ in us the hope of glory

Christ is the male that plants a seed from his spiritual side holy spirit in the womb of God which all things are in

if God be everywhere than everything must be in God

then there the word submit

a woman submits her self to one man and a man leads one women

our flesh is like a women that must be lead by the seed of Christ in us our spirit - so the two can become one making a new creature so all things can be past away

I do not understand it all but there is alot to male and female roles in the bible and other books

1 Cor 14:34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

this verse has many meaning

the worldly meaning is a old custom of the Jews

but there are allso many mysteries within this verse

let the bride keep silence in the church

the gathers of spirits of Christ like beings the church

the bride is the flesh and the husband is the spirit

the bride is to be obedience to the husband accounding to the law of love

a women is not your's until you marriage her

as truth is not your's until you receive it

this verse is used unfolding a mystery to teach us truth

truth can not be understood without faith and faith comes from listen with the inner heart within our image of spirit

the outer heart is our fleshly mind that which seems to be on the inside but is on the outside

space between space

thank you

with love and a holy kiss blowing your way Roy

ps I hope I did not write too long

[cman]

Thanks Roy, your perspective and knowing is needed as well as others so we can all be edified as the chapter elaborates on edification in 1 Corinthians 14.

And open up those dark sayings to see the light they hold for us.

[sirguessalot]

hmm

yeah

the devastating effects of preaching a spiritual birth while completely avoiding the feminine nature of spirit

no wonder there was/is so much sickness in christian thought

shrugs

[cman]

words hidden in words

that reveal themselves to an open ear

[Bramble]

Birth with out the female, a birth only through a father, no mother involved. After I left TWI, this became a source of questions to me.

Some think the feminine presence was deliberately wiped out of the Bible, that God either had a consort or a dual nature, male/female. I don't know if that is so, but there do seem to be a few 'mother traits' scattered throughout the Bible...the hen covering her young, the nursing mother...

Edited July 8, 2007 by Bramble

[sirguessalot]

yeah

how Jesus pointed to our natural birth as the model for spiritual birth

how he promised a comforter after spiritual rebirth

a descending dove?!?

...can't get much more feminine than that

how Paul warned not to fall into masculine-only theology and practice

how he was a spiritual midwife

though i must also say that we will get more out of all this

if we move beyond mere theology about it all

and into the realm of actual disciplined spiritual practice

what we have come to consider remote and distant and reserved for extra special people

is as close to us and as ordinary as our very breath

i dont write this to bring shame

but to help remove the shame that keeps us from it all

[Ham]

The last I remember, even "Shekinah" is feminine. Illustrious, beautiful..