What Scripture says
The New Testament never quotes Wisdom directly, but some passages seem to echo it:
- Paul’s description of people exchanging God’s glory for idols, and the moral collapse that follows (Romans 1:18–32), closely resembles Wisdom 13–14.
- Hebrews calls Christ “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV). The rare Greek word for “radiance” (apaugasma) also appears in Wisdom 7:26, which calls wisdom “a reflection of eternal light”.
- John’s description of the Word through whom all things were made (John 1:1–3) has parallels with Wisdom’s picture of wisdom present at creation (Wisdom 9:9), though Proverbs 8 is a closer source.
Echoes like these show the writers knew the ideas in Wisdom, or shared a common tradition, but they don’t treat the book as Scripture.
What the evidence says
History
What it contains
Wisdom of Solomon has three parts:
- Chapters 1–6: Wisdom and immortality. The righteous may suffer, but “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God” (Wisdom 3:1), while the wicked who mock them will be judged. Chapter 2 vividly describes the wicked plotting against the righteous man who calls himself God’s child, a passage Christians often read as foreshadowing Christ’s passion.
- Chapters 6–9: In praise of wisdom. Speaking as Solomon, the writer describes wisdom as a radiant, divine gift, and prays for it (Wisdom 9).
- Chapters 10–19: Wisdom in history. Wisdom guided Israel from Adam to the Exodus. A long section mocks idol-worship (Wisdom 13–15) and contrasts God’s treatment of Egypt and Israel.
Date and language
It was written in Greek, not Hebrew, probably in Alexandria, Egypt, sometime between about 100 BC and AD 40. Its style and ideas reflect Greek philosophy: it speaks of the four cardinal virtues (Wisdom 8:7) and of an immortal soul. Solomon lived around 950 BC, so the attribution is a literary device, a common one in the period. No Hebrew original has been found.
Theology
Wisdom is one of the richest books of the Apocrypha:
- It teaches immortality and future judgment more clearly than most of the Old Testament.
- It personifies wisdom as God’s agent in creation, preparing language the New Testament later uses of Christ.
- It explains death as entering the world “through the devil’s envy” (Wisdom 2:24).
Reception
| Community | View of Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Judaism | Not in the Hebrew canon; written in Greek |
| Muratorian Fragment (c. 200) | Listed, oddly, among New Testament books |
| Augustine | Scripture |
| Jerome | Useful for edification, not doctrine |
| Catholic and Orthodox | Scripture |
| Protestant | Valuable background reading |
Where they meet
Wisdom’s hope of immortality and its picture of divine wisdom helped prepare the language the New Testament later used. Catholics and Orthodox read it as Scripture; Protestants as valuable background, not authority, since it was written in Greek and never in the Hebrew canon.
What’s still open
How much the New Testament writers drew on it directly, and whether that influence says anything about its status. That ties into the wider debate (3.8).
Bottom line
Wisdom of Solomon is poetic reflection on wisdom, written in Greek around the 1st century BC, not by Solomon. Its theology is rich, but it was never in the Hebrew canon. It is rated Debated because traditions still disagree.