“The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. Proverbs 8:22
This verse does not say Jesis was created.
This verse is referring to the Lord Jesus having or possesing Wisdom when He created all things .
Do yiu understand the Seven Fold Spirit of the Lord?
The Spirit of Wisdom is one of them.
JLB
Prov. 8:22:
"The Lord
made me the beginning of his ways for his works. - Septuagint.
The Lord
created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. -
RSV.
The Lord
created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. -
NRSV.
“The Lord
made me at the beginning of His creation, before His works of long ago." -
HCSB.
Like most, if not all, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Irenaeus taught that “Wisdom” speaking at Prov. 8:22-30 is the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, the Word. In fact, the writers of the
Ante-Nicene Fathers (
ANF) admit also:
"Prov. viii 22-25. This is one of the favourite
Messianic quotations of the Fathers, and is considered as
the base of the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel." -
ANF 1:488, f.n. #10.
Here, then, is what Irenaeus taught about the Son of God, Wisdom, the Word, speaking at Prov. 8:22-25:
"The Lord
created me the beginning of His ways in His work .... before all the hills, He brought me forth ... when He made the foundations of the earth strong, I was with Him preparing [them].
".... There is therefore one God, who by [through] the Word and Wisdom created and arranged all things. -
ANF 1:488.
....................................................
God begets God?
"Begotten" and "created" are
English words carefully chosen by Bible translators to convey the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words of the original manuscripts as closely as possible. So first we should determine what the words "created" and "begotten" actually mean in English. The
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1963 ed. that I have at home says:
"
create ...
1: to bring into existence...
3 : cause, make" - p. 195
. And
beget ... begot ... begotten ... 1 : to pro
create as the father : sire 2 :
cause" - p. 77.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company:
be·get
1. To father; sire.
2. To cause to exist or occur; produce
The Hebrew word
yalad means "to bear, bring forth, beget"- Gesenius, #3205, but it can be used (as the equivalent English word also can) for "
cause to be." For example, when God says he "begot"/"fathered"
(yalad) the nation of Israel (Deut. 32:6, 18), he clearly means that he
caused it to be as a nation.
"You forsook the creator who
begot [
yalad] you and ceased to care for God who brought you to birth." - Deut. 32:18,
NEB.
In Ps. 90:2 we also see
yalad used in the sense of created:
"Before the mountains were
born [yalad] or you
brought forth the earth" -
NIV, AT, JB, NJB, NAB (1991),
NASB; "
begotten" -
NAB (1970); "were given
birth" -
MLB.
Or, "Before the mountains were
created, before the earth was
formed." -
Living Bible, cf.
TEV. So, the Hebrew word most often translated "begotten, brought forth" may also be understood (as in English) to mean created or produced.
Dr. Williston Walker writes in his classic work,
A History of the Christian Church, 4th ed.:
"Christian thought had early learned to express its monotheistic stance by insisting that God is the sole
agennetos ('underived,' '
ungenerated' ['
unbegotten']): that is, the unique and absolute first principle.
By contrast with God, all else that exists - including the Logos, God's Son - was described as generated ['begotten']." - p. 132, Charles Scribner's Sons, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1985. [Emphasis and bracketed material added.]
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.) wrote:
"God
alone is
unbegotten and incorruptible, and therefore He is God, but
all other things after him are created and corruptible {Justin has just concurred that the
world itself was
begotten by God} .... take your stand on one Unbegotten [the Father]
, and say this is the Cause of all." - ANF 1:197 ('Dialogue').
But,
"Jesus Christ is the only proper Son who has been
begotten by God, being His Word and
first-begotten" - ANF 1:170 ('Apology').
Since God has begotten all creation, it should not be surprising to find that the Word was 'begotten' by God and does not mean that he must also be God.