Scripture Study for

Biblical wisdom literature, as here in Sirach, often talks about the choice between two paths: wisdom or foolishness, life or death. The point of traditional wisdom literature is to make this choice clear and to argue for the way of wisdom and of life. The commands of God are intended also to point toward the way of life. God’s commands are not impossible to fulfill, otherwise they would be unjust. Humans must learn to trust that what God commands is, in fact, the truly good. Sin, in this reading, is failure to trust God and so choose the wrong path. 

Although Paul declared that he did not come to the Corinthians speaking wisdom (2:1–5), he now concedes that, in fact, he did come speaking wisdom. But it was not the “wisdom of this age.” Instead,  he spoke God’s wisdom, which only those who are “mature” can understand. God’s wisdom is not likely to be persuasive to those who think with the mind of the age rather than with the mind of God (see  Romans 12:2). This wisdom is only accessible through the power and gift of the Spirit, who alone comprehends the “mysterious, hidden”  plan of God. Paul will go on to insist that it is this same Spirit that the Corinthians have received, so that they may “judge spiritually,”  and not according to the wisdom of the world (2:11–15). 

Jesus insists to his disciples that he has not come to abrogate a single divine command or prophetic exhortation. Instead, he insists that the law exists not merely to be “observed,” but to be lived. It is intended to point toward and inculcate those dispositions and virtues  that together comprise “righteousness.” The way to the kingdom of heaven is not merely to follow the rules, as if they in themselves were the point. Rather it is to become formed into people whose wills reflect the values embodied by the law (which of course does not excuse one from keeping the commandments).