Wisdom chapter 15

[This chapter is in Orthodox and Catholic Bibles] God is gracious in dealing with us. Some people sell idols to get rich.

 


 

The Book of Wisdom is recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches

 


 

GOD IS GRACIOUS IN DEALING WITH US

 

VERSE 1. But you, our God, are gracious and true, patient, and in mercy ordering all things.

patient. The LORD God is slow to anger.

 

VERSE 2. For even if we sin, we are yours, knowing your dominion; but we will not sin, knowing that we have been accounted yours.

even if we sin, we are yours. Solomon has security in his relationship with the LORD God.

Unfortunately, many Christians do not. They imagine that if they commit a “mortal” sin, the LORD God will reject them and take away their eternal salvation.

 

VERSE 3. For to be acquainted with you is perfect righteousness, and to know your dominion is the root of immortality.

to be acquainted with you is perfect righteousness. Eternal life is knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ. Do you know them? Do you have a love-relationship with them? Here are the Bible verses about this »

 

VERSE 4. For we weren’t led astray by any evil plan of men’s, nor yet by painters’ fruitless labor, a form stained with varied colors,

led astray. In other words, “to sin.”

To sin is to violate God’s will for us. It harms our relationship with God. We all have missed the mark and sinned. Here are the verses we’ve found »

 

VERSE 5. the sight of which leads fools into lust. Their desire is for the breathless form of a dead image.

 

VERSE 6. Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes, are those who make, desire, and worship them.

 

SOME PEOPLE SELL IDOLS TO GET RICH

 

VERSE 7. For a potter, kneading soft earth, laboriously molds each article for our service. He fashions out of the same clay both the vessels that minister to clean uses, and those of a contrary sort, all in like manner. What shall be the use of each article of either sort, the potter is the judge.

a potter. The Bible envisions God as a potter, and we believers as clay. Are you pliable in the hands of God? Will you let him form you into the person he desires? Read more »

 

VERSE 8. Also, laboring to an evil end, he molds a vain god out of the same clay, he who, having but a little before been made of earth, after a short space goes his way to the earth out of which he was taken, when he is required to render back the soul which was lent him.

he molds a vain god out of the same clay. People make meaningless gods out of clay.

However, in our day, many Christians have a superstitious fear of idols. Such Christians imagine the idol is imbued with demonic powers.

goes his way to the earth out of which he was taken. The person who made the idol will die.

out of which he was taken. After the idol-maker dies, they will be put back in the earth.

 

VERSE 9. However he has anxious care, not because his powers must fail, nor because his span of life is short; But he compares himself with goldsmiths and silversmiths, and he imitates molders in brass, and esteems it glory that he molds counterfeits.

 

VERSE 10. His heart is ashes. His hope is of less value than earth. His life is of less honor than clay;

 

VERSE 11. because he was ignorant of him who molded him, and of him that inspired into him an active soul, and breathed into him a vital spirit.

he was ignorant of him who molded him. Many people do not yet know the One God.

They are deprived of this most vital relationship.

 

VERSE 12. But he accounted our life to be a game, and our lifetime a festival for profit; for, he says, one must get gain however one can, even if it is by evil.

a festival for profit. For some people, the purpose of life is to make money. Lots of it.

get gain however one can. Many Christians base their moral decisions on outcomes. If the consequences are good, they say is OK to do anything that is necessary. However, we believers CANNOT do evil that good may result. Read more »

 

VERSE 13. For this man beyond all others knows that he sins, out of earthy matter making brittle vessels and graven images.

 

VERSE 14. But most foolish and more miserable than a baby, are the enemies of your people, who oppressed them;

 

VERSE 15. because they even considered all the idols of the nations to be gods, which have neither the use of eyes for seeing, nor nostrils for drawing breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers for handling, and their feet are helpless for walking.

 

VERSE 16. For a man made them, and one whose own spirit is borrowed molded them; for no one has power as a man to mold a god like to himself.

 

VERSE 17. But, being mortal, he makes a dead thing by the work of lawless hands; for he is better than the objects of his worship, since he indeed had life, but they never did.

 

VERSE 18. Yes, and they worship the creatures that are most hateful, for, being compared as to lack of sense, these are worse than all others;

 

VERSE 19. Neither, as seen beside other creatures, are they beautiful, so that one should desire them, but they have escaped both the praise of God and his blessing.

 


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WISDOM

CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

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