Scripture Study for

The personified figure of Lady Wisdom, who speaks in this passage, is found in several places in the biblical wisdom books  (Sirach, Proverbs, Wisdom). Everywhere she is portrayed as  she is here: an emanation of God’s glory and the image of God’s  goodness (Wisdom 7:25, 26), “poured forth from of old.” When one contemplates the created world, one notes the harmony that exists among its parts, everything working together to advance life. Biblical Wisdom understands this to be the work of God’s wisdom, which underlies the “logic” and the beauty of the world. The whole earth was created through and in God’s wisdom. Proverbs notes especially that Wisdom delights in human beings and seeks to find a home among them, so that they may know God and God’s ways—and therefore find life—through her (Proverbs 8:35). 

Thus far in his Letter to the Romans, Paul has argued that those who wish to inherit the promises given to Abraham can, and must,  do so through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ entails believing that he died and was raised to make us righteous before God; this gracious gift of righteousness brings peace between God and the individual and is the basis of hope in future glory. To “boast” of this hope is not to brag of it, but to gladly lay claim to it or possess it. In the same way, to boast of one’s afflictions is to gladly accept them as the means to grow in hope. Finally, Paul notes that the Holy Spirit received by the baptized is the source of the “love of God,” which can mean both the baptized person’s love of God and, especially in this context, confidence in God’s love for us (5:8).

Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit takes place within the extended  Last Supper discourse. This is the same “Spirit of truth” who proceeds from the Father, of whom he has already spoken (14:17;  15:26). The gift of the Spirit is to ensure that the apostles continue to be formed in the truth that Jesus has taught them and, as Advocate,  to strengthen them and console them in times of trouble. Because the Spirit proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son, who himself is the image of the Father, the Spirit “speaks” for both the Father and the Son. In this context, to “glorify” is to reveal (God’s glory in the Old Testament refers to God’s mysterious, visible presence  [Exodus 40:34]). Just as the Son glorifies/reveals the Father, so the  Spirit glorifies/reveals the Son, and therefore also the Father.