Proverbs 8:22-30 LXX, especially vss. 23-25, "He established Me before time was in the beginning, before He made the earth: even before He made the depths; before the fountains of water came forth; before the mountains were settled, and before all hills, He begets Me." The wisdom of God is the Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom all that was made, was brought into being. In time, the wisdom of God was heralded ultimately and clearly in Jesus Christ Himself. As St. Nikolai of Zica declares, "In His Person, the wisdom of God was proclaimed in the flesh and shown forth to men in its wonderful strength and beauty."
The miracle of Wisdom Incarnate, which the Church has proclaimed since Pentecost (see Acts 2:24-28), defends against all heresies. More important, He came so that "all who believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (Jn 3:16). The passage from Proverbs illumines three facets of the miracle of the Incarnation: that the Lord Jesus, being the Wisdom of God, is the creative Word of God "by Whom all things were made," that He is "begotten not made,"as the Creed affirms, and that He is ever, as man and God, one will with God the Father (Jn. 5:30).
Today's passage serves as a commentary on the various scriptures that treat of God's creation out of nothing: "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1 LXX). "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, the world, and all that dwell therein. He hath founded it..." (Ps. 23:1, 2 LXX). "Who appointeth the clouds for His ascent, Who walketh upon the wings of the winds" ( Ps. 103:4 LXX). These passages harmonize with the language of Proverbs 8:26-30 LXX, but with one major omission: Wisdom "accompanied" God as He made the world and "when He prepared the heaven" (Pr. 8:27 LXX). For this one easily substitutes the words of St. John the Theologian: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (Jn. 1:1-3).
The preexistence of Wisdom is both assumed and taught in this passage: "He established Me before time was in the beginning, before He made the earth" (Pr. 8:23 LXX). The Arians, of course, sought to turn this phrase to prove their heresy that the Word was a created being Who assisted God in making the rest of creation. As is well known, St. Athanasios rightly rejected all such speculation as theirs, pointing out that the God the Son, as our Creator, placed His image in mankind so that the world of men might recognize Him in all His works and acknowledge Him, and through Him the Father.
Furthermore, to defend the truth of the preexistence of God the Word, the Creed speaks of the Lord Jesus as "begotten not made," using the same verb that appears in Pr. 8:25 LXX: "before the mountains were settled, and before all hills, He begets Me."
This passage also affirms the indissoluble unity of the will of God the Father and of God the Word, Incarnate Wisdom: "I was by Him, suiting Myself to Him, I was that wherein He took delight; and daily I rejoiced in His presence continually" (vs. 30). The accounts of the Crucifixion are used by the Holy Fathers frequently to underscore the unity of Christ's will with the Father. St. Hilary of Poitiers says, "Wherefore, as Man he prays for men tht the cup may pass away, but as God from God, His will is in unison with the Father's effectual will." He fulfills David's words, "I am come (in the heading of the book it is written concerning Me) to do Thy will, O my God, and Thy law is in the midst of My bowels" (Ps. 39:11 LXX).
The Master of all endureth humiliation for the iniquities of mankind; for He is good, and granteth salvation to the world. O Lord, Thou Wisdom from on High, Glory to Thee.