The interpretation timeline

Wis 6:8

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic witness · 2 Medieval witnesses

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Patristic before A.D. 750
John of Damascus · A.D. 676–749 A.D. 749
“No one is entirely without the gifts of God, but one will be inclined to this virtue and another to that. One to more virtue, another to less. One to the more elevated and supereminent virtues, another to those that are humble and modest. God has distributed to each according to the measure of his faith. The powerful will therefore be examined severely, and "of the one to whom much has been entrusted, much will be required." Of each person will be demanded, in fact, according to the measure in which he has been entrusted by God's power. And the benefactor knows his recipient: "Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes."”
Historical Christian Faith commentaries database, on Wis 6:8 (HOMILY FOR HOLY SATURDAY 34) PD · Historical Christian Faith commentaries database ↗
Medieval c. 750 – 1100
Rabanus Maurus · c. A.D. 780–856 A.D. 856
“For God is not a respecter of persons, as the apostle Peter testifies; but in every nation, whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by Him (Acts 10:35). But for those who are false teachers and introduce destructive sects, and deny the Lord who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction (2 Peter 2), the gloom of darkness is reserved. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to Hades, delivering them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment and punishment, and did not spare the original world, but preserved Noah, the eighth, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes, making them an example to those who would act wickedly; and delivered righteous Lot, oppressed by the unjust conduct of the lawless; for by sight and hearing he was righteous, living among them, tormenting his righteous soul day by day by their wicked deeds: so also now those who walk after another flesh in lust and impurity, bold, self-pleasing, and do not fear to make sects, blaspheming, will perish in their own corruption, receiving the reward of their injustice. For God fears no one's greatness, because He Himself is above all and His greatness has no end. He accepts no one's person, because He will judge each according to his ways. He cares equally for all, because He is the creator of all, and He takes proper care of His work and provides the help by which it may subsist. Therefore, after wisdom has spoken to the powerful and rebuked the hardness of their hearts with words, it now turns the speech of exhortation to the rulers themselves, and wonderfully explains the praise of wisdom.”
Historical Christian Faith commentaries database, on Wis 6:8-9 (Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109) PD · Historical Christian Faith commentaries database ↗
418 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500

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