Purity and the idea of man’s election in selected fragments of The Book of Wisdom. Analysis and exegesis of three uses of the words with stem κατθαρ (Wis 2:16; 14:24; 15:7) in their close literary context

Abstract

The presented article’s purpose was to carry out a research concerning the possibility of accessing purity (and hence, salvation) by those from outside the Nation of Israel. To answer this research problem, the analysis of therms cleanness (purity) and uncleanness (impurity) in the Book of Wisdom is performed – a subject to which Polish biblical literature does not pay much attention. On the basis of the analysis of three appearances of words with stem καθαρ (ἀκαθαρσία – impurity in Wis 2:12–16 and καθαρός – pure in Wis 14:22–26 and Wis 15:7–13) the article presents the precise meaning of the words in the discussed pericopes as well as their common features and possible interpretations. During the exegesis, some references to the most important Greek dictionaries and lexicons are made (mostly Old and New Testament theological dictionaries). Questions concerning theology of the Book of Wisdom are posed, such as: what is the relation between purity and the Law?, as well as the relation between purity and the notion of God’s election? An important question concerns the theory of universalism of the Old Testament ideas in the book, supposed by some scholars, especially in the context of the God-potter metaphor in Wis 15:7–13. The carried research leads to the observation of the tension between universalism and exclusivity in the theological thought of the author of the Book of Wisdom. A solution to this tension, as well as the answer to the problem of non-Israelites access to purity and salvation is proposed. It consists of the hypothesis of the book’s author intuition concerning the universalism of salvation.