6.4. Wisdom, Torah, Word
In the so-called wisdom literature, including the Apocrypha, there are hints of this new paradigm. Hardin gives and an example from Wisdom, Chapters 2 and 3.
Jesus: The Wisdom of God. In the OT, Wisdom was the Torah, especially the Torah purely lived. Jesus redefined that notion of Wisdom in that he and his life was wisdom. There are striking parallels between the way Wisdom was described in the OT and the was Jesus was depicted by the early Christian writers. In his teaching, Jesus modified and critiqued the wisdom literature.
- Many of the central themes are missing. For example, there is not emphasis on working hard and being blessed. Indeed, Jesus said “Blessed are the poor.”
- There are no instructions on how seeking wisdom because wisdom is present in Jesus.
- No teachings exhorting the followers of Jesus to fear God. In fact he says, “Do not be afraid.”
- There are no “How To” character building types of statements.
"Just because the text says ‘God’ doesn’t mean it is Jesus’ Abba. This is a sine qua non (indispensable) part of the logic of Jesus’ use of the Old Testament. It has taken almost 2,000 years since Jesus for this aspect of his message to get home to the world, and it still hasn’t arrived in a lot of places.”
"As long as any of us, pastors or congregations, continue to ignore Jesus as our starting point and begin with a theory of inspiration, we will be relating back to Torah and Wisdom as though Jesus had not interpreted both. It is time for Christianity to let go of all that hinders it and start over by acknowledging just Jesus, the beginning, the middle and the end. God will provide the rest."
Hardin, Michael (2013-09-26). The Jesus Driven Life: Reconnecting Humanity With Jesus, 2nd Edition Revised and Expanded (Kindle Locations 5676-5678). JDL Press. Kindle Edition.