God did not make death: Wisdom 1:13 and 2:23 in Patristic Discussions of Human Will and Embodiment
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Robert Edwards
Abstract
This article examines early Christian interpretations of Wisdom 1:13 and 2:23 from the middle of the third century to the end of the fourth century. These verses were important to Christian articulations of the goodness of creation—both the cosmos as a whole and the human creature. Christian theologians and exegetes broadly agreed in their usage of these verses, arguing against alternative philosophical perspectives that God’s creation is good, while the source of evil is human sin. However, these verses were also a source of disagreement, beginning in the mid-third century with Methodius of Olympus and Origen of Alexandria. The disagreement revolved around the meaning of “death,” which God did not create, mentioned in Wisdom 1:13: does this refer to natural death (the separation of body and soul) or spiritual death (the separation of the soul from God)? The article places these exegetical discussions within larger debates concerning sin and embodiment that also began with Origen and Methodius, and which revolved around the creation narratives in Genesis 1–2 and the nature of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15.
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Artikel
- Apocalyptic Letter Writing in Early Christianity: The Letter of Lyon and Vienne and its Reception of the Apocalypse of John
- God did not make death: Wisdom 1:13 and 2:23 in Patristic Discussions of Human Will and Embodiment
- Always Son: An Origenian Consensus between Alexander and Arius
- Marius Victorinus und die römische Liturgie – Bemerkungen zu drei Zitaten in Adversus Arium 1,30.31; 2,8
- The Syriac Reception of John Chrysostom’s Homilies against the Jews: First Soundings
- Cyril of Alexandria and the Apis Bull
- Manipulating the Imagination—Enargeia and Persuasion in Augustine’s Confessions and its Classical Roots
- Rezensionen
- Nathan Betz, Anthony Dupont, and Johan Leemans, eds.: Revelation’s New Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, History of Biblical Exegesis 6, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2023, 348 pp., ISBN 9783161623769, € 109,–.
- Olga Lorgeoux: Religiöse Bildungsprozesse in den Taufkatechesen Kyrills von Jerusalem, Studies in Education and Religion in Ancient and Pre-Modern History in the Mediterranean and Its Environs 17, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2023, XII + 369 pp., ISBN 9783161616730, € 89,–.
- Moysés Marcos: Emperors and Rhetoricians. Panegyric, Communication, and Power in the Fourth-Century Roman Empire, Transformation of the Classical Heritage, Berkeley (University of California Press) 2023, XVIII + 304 pp., ISBN 9780520394988, $ 95,–/ £ 80,–.
- Cambry G. Pardee and Jeffrey M. Tripp, eds.: Sacred Texts & Sacred Figures. The Reception and Use of Inherited Traditions in Early Christian Literature, Judaïsme ancient et origins du christianisme 25, Turnhout (Brepols) 2022, 386 pp., ISBN 9782503599182, € 80,–.
- Mattias Brand and Eline Scheerlinck, eds.: Religious Identifications in Late Antique Papyri. 3rd–12th Century Egypt, Abingdon and New York (Routledge) 2023, XII + 302 pp., ISBN 9781032263502 (hardback), £ 39.99 (paperback) and Open Access (ebook).
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Artikel
- Apocalyptic Letter Writing in Early Christianity: The Letter of Lyon and Vienne and its Reception of the Apocalypse of John
- God did not make death: Wisdom 1:13 and 2:23 in Patristic Discussions of Human Will and Embodiment
- Always Son: An Origenian Consensus between Alexander and Arius
- Marius Victorinus und die römische Liturgie – Bemerkungen zu drei Zitaten in Adversus Arium 1,30.31; 2,8
- The Syriac Reception of John Chrysostom’s Homilies against the Jews: First Soundings
- Cyril of Alexandria and the Apis Bull
- Manipulating the Imagination—Enargeia and Persuasion in Augustine’s Confessions and its Classical Roots
- Rezensionen
- Nathan Betz, Anthony Dupont, and Johan Leemans, eds.: Revelation’s New Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, History of Biblical Exegesis 6, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2023, 348 pp., ISBN 9783161623769, € 109,–.
- Olga Lorgeoux: Religiöse Bildungsprozesse in den Taufkatechesen Kyrills von Jerusalem, Studies in Education and Religion in Ancient and Pre-Modern History in the Mediterranean and Its Environs 17, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2023, XII + 369 pp., ISBN 9783161616730, € 89,–.
- Moysés Marcos: Emperors and Rhetoricians. Panegyric, Communication, and Power in the Fourth-Century Roman Empire, Transformation of the Classical Heritage, Berkeley (University of California Press) 2023, XVIII + 304 pp., ISBN 9780520394988, $ 95,–/ £ 80,–.
- Cambry G. Pardee and Jeffrey M. Tripp, eds.: Sacred Texts & Sacred Figures. The Reception and Use of Inherited Traditions in Early Christian Literature, Judaïsme ancient et origins du christianisme 25, Turnhout (Brepols) 2022, 386 pp., ISBN 9782503599182, € 80,–.
- Mattias Brand and Eline Scheerlinck, eds.: Religious Identifications in Late Antique Papyri. 3rd–12th Century Egypt, Abingdon and New York (Routledge) 2023, XII + 302 pp., ISBN 9781032263502 (hardback), £ 39.99 (paperback) and Open Access (ebook).
