<p>5:20&nbsp;<i>Now the law was added to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace increased all the more</i>- &ldquo;Was added / entered&rdquo; is s.w. only Gal. 2:4, where the Judaizers &lsquo;sneaked in&rsquo; to the church. Why exactly Paul uses such a word isn&rsquo;t altogether clear to me, nor to any of the many expositors I&rsquo;ve read.</p><p>In the context, &ldquo;the trespass&rdquo; singular refers to the specific sin of Adam- &ldquo;the offence of the one man&rdquo; (5:18). The Law was intended on one hand to bring life (Rom. 7:10); it was &ldquo;holy, just and good&rdquo;. But the effect of it in practice was to accentuate sin, and this result of human failure was also somehow under the overall hand of God. He on the one hand cannot be held guilty of leading men into sin by creating the concept of Divine law; for that Law which He gave was ordained to bring life. Yet He worked with and through human weakness, so that in the bigger picture, the result was that the Law convicted men of their sin&nbsp;<i>so that</i>&nbsp;God&rsquo;s grace could superabound, abound yet more than sin abounded. God uses sin, and doesn&rsquo;t just turn away from human failure in disgust; and in this we see a huge lesson for ourselves, we who are confronted on all sides by serious human failure. &nbsp;<br />Paul knew the &lsquo;abounding&rsquo; aspect of the Father, when he wrote of how God does exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think (Eph. 3:20). How many times have we found that we prayed for one thing, and God gave us something so very much better?&nbsp; I see a kind of similarity with the way that God brought in the Law &ldquo;that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly&rdquo; (Rom. 5:20). God set up a situation in order that in due time, He could lavish His grace the more. One almost wonders whether this is one of the reasons why God allowed the whole concept of sin to exist at all. After all, the God of boundless possibilities surely had ways to achieve His ends without having to allow a concept like sin in the first place. Seeing there is no personal Satan, the intellectual origin of the concept of sin surely lies with God. And perhaps He chose this simply as a way of being better able to express His amazing grace and love to sinners. Having lambasted Israel for their sins and described in detail their coming judgment, God then makes a strange comment, apparently out of context with what He has just been saying: &ldquo;And therefore will Yahweh wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for Yahweh is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him&rdquo; (Is. 30:18). God appears to be saying that He delays His actions, that He brings judgment, that He sets Himself&nbsp;<i>so</i>&nbsp;far above us- just so that He can get to show yet more mercy to us. Perhaps Joseph was manifesting God in the way he worked out that slow and detailed scheme of dealing with his sinful brethren... it has always seemed to me that he drew out the process just so that he could lead up to a climax of pouring out his maximum grace to them. Whilst the way seems long, &ldquo;blessed are all they that wait for him&rdquo;. God is even spoken of as concluding (Gk. &lsquo;shutting up the eyes&rsquo;) of Israel in the sin of unbelief, &ldquo;that he might have mercy&rdquo; upon both them and the Gentiles (Rom. 11:32).</p><p><b>Romans and the&nbsp;<i>Wisdom of Solomon</i></b><br />Seeing Romans 1-8 is Paul&rsquo;s inspired exposition of the nature of sin and the Gospel, it&rsquo;s surely surprising that he makes no mention of the words Satan or Devil, let alone &lsquo;fallen Angel&rsquo;. He lays the blame for sin quite clearly upon us and our weakness in the face of internal temptation. And Paul speaks of the Genesis account of the fall of Adam and Eve as if he accepted it just as it is written &ndash; he makes no attempt to say that the serpent was a Lucifer or fallen Angel. In fact, closer analysis shows that Paul is consciously rebutting the contemporary Jewish ideas about these things as found in&nbsp;<i>The Wisdom of Solomon</i>&nbsp;and other writings. We must remember that in the first century, there was no canonized list of books comprising the &ldquo;Old Testament&rdquo; as we now know it. There was therefore a great need to deconstruct the uninspired Jewish writings which were then circulating &ndash; hence the many allusions to them in the inspired New Testament writings, in order to help the Jewish believers understand that these writings were uninspired and to be rejected.</p><p>The flood of apostate Jewish literature in the first century and just before it all have much to say about Adam&rsquo;s sin (e.g. the&nbsp;<i>Apocalypse of Baruch</i>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<i>Apocalypse of Abraham</i>), and I submit that Paul writes of Adam&rsquo;s sin in order to deconstruct these wrong interpretations. Wisdom 2:24 claimed: &ldquo;Through the Devil&rsquo;s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it&rdquo;. This is actually the first reference to the idea that a being called &lsquo;the Devil&rsquo; envied Adam and Eve and therefore this brought about their temptation and fall. Paul rebuts this by saying that &ldquo;By one man Adam &ndash; not &lsquo;the Devil&rsquo; sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned&rdquo; (Rom. 5:12). This is evidently an allusion by Paul to this wrong idea &ndash; and he corrects it. The allusion becomes all the more legitimate when we appreciate that actually Paul is alluding to the&nbsp;<i>Wisdom of Solomon</i>&nbsp;throughout his letter to the Romans. This book glorified the Jewish people, making them out to be righteous, blaming sin on the Devil and the Gentiles. By way of allusion to it, Paul shows how the Jews are de-emphasizing sin, not facing up to the fact that all of humanity are under the curse of sin and death, and all therefore need salvation in Christ. This same basic emphasis upon personal responsibility, not blaming others for our sins, not seeing ourselves as pure and everyone else as the problem, is just as relevant today &ndash; surrounded as we are by false theologies that make us out to be basically pure, shifting all blame onto a &lsquo;Devil&rsquo; of their own fabrication. It should be noted that this way of alluding to contemporary writings and correcting them is common throughout Scripture &ndash; I&rsquo;ve elsewhere given examples of where Jude and Peter do this in relation to the Book of Enoch, and how Genesis 1&ndash;3 does this with the views of creation and origins which were common at the time the book of Genesis was compiled.</p><p>Wisdom of Solomon 13&ndash;14 criticizes the Gentiles for idolatry and sexual immorality. And Paul criticizes the Gentiles for just the same things in Rom. 1:19&ndash;27 &ndash; in language which clearly alludes to the Wisdom of Solomon. It&rsquo;s as if Paul is reviewing the Wisdom of Solomon and placing a tick by what is right (e.g., that Gentiles are indeed guilty of idolatry and immorality), and a cross by what is wrong in the book. E.P. Sanders has observed: &ldquo;Romans 1:18&ndash;32 is very close to the Wisdom of Solomon, a Jewish book written in Egypt. Paul&rsquo;s reference to &lsquo;images representing... birds, animals or reptiles&rsquo; (Rom. 1:23) points to... Egypt. Birds, animals and reptiles were idolized in Egypt, but not commonly in the rest of the Graeco&ndash;Roman world&rdquo; (E.P. Sanders,&nbsp;<i>Paul</i>&nbsp;(Oxford: O.U.P., 1996) p. 113). The point of the reference to these things would therefore simply be because Paul is alluding to, almost quoting, the Wisdom of Solomon.</p><p><b>Paul&rsquo;s Other Allusions to the Wisdom of Solomon</b><br />Having spoken of how &ldquo;the destroyer&rdquo; destroyed the Egyptian firstborn, Wisdom 18 goes on to speak of how this same &ldquo;destroyer&rdquo; tried to kill Israel in the wilderness, but the evil &ldquo;destroyer&rdquo; was stopped by Moses: &ldquo;For then the blameless man made haste, and stood forth to defend them; and bringing the shield of his proper ministry, even prayer, and the propitiation of incense, set himself against the wrath, and so brought the calamity to an end, declaring that he was thy servant. So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued him that punished, alleging the oaths and covenants made with the fathers (Wisdom 18:21,22). Paul in 1 Cor. 10 alludes to this &ndash; showing that &ldquo;the destroyer&rdquo; was sent by God to punish Israel&rsquo;s sins. The author of Wisdom speaks as if &ldquo;the destroyer&rdquo; is some evil being victimizing Israel &ndash; and Paul appears to correct that, showing that it was the same &ldquo;Destroyer&rdquo; Angel who protected Israel in Egypt who later slew the wicked amongst them. Wisdom 19 makes out that all sins of Israel in the wilderness were committed by Gentiles travelling with them &ndash; but Paul&rsquo;s account of Israel&rsquo;s history in 1 Cor. 10 makes it clear that&nbsp;<i>Israel</i>&nbsp;sinned and were punished.</p><p>It should be noted in passing that 1 Cor. 10:1&ndash;4 also alludes to the Jewish legend that the rock which gave water in Num. 21:16&ndash;18 somehow followed along behind the people of Israel in the wilderness to provide them with water. Paul is not at all shy to allude to or quote Jewish legends, regardless of their factual truth, in order to make a point as well as to deconstruct them. God Himself is not so primitive as to seek to &lsquo;cover Himself&rsquo; as it were by only alluding to true factual history in His word; He so wishes dialogue with people that He appears quite happy for His word to refer to their mistaken ideas, in order to enter into dialogue and engagement with them in terms which they are comfortable with. Another example of allusion to Jewish legend is in Rev. 2:17, where the Lord Jesus speaks of giving His people &ldquo;of the hidden manna&rdquo; &ndash; referring to the myth that Jeremiah had hidden a golden jar of manna in the Holy of Holies at the destruction of the temple in 586 BC, which then ascended to Heaven and is to return with Messiah. Jesus doesn&rsquo;t correct that myth &ndash; He as it were runs with it and uses it as a symbol to describe the reward He will bring. He adds no footnote to the effect &lsquo;Now do understand, this is myth, that jar never really ascended to Heaven nor will it come floating back through the skies one day&rsquo;. Perhaps this is why the New Testament often quotes the Septuagint text, even where it incorrectly renders the Hebrew original &ndash; because God is not so paranoid as to feel bound to only deal in the language of strictly literal truths. If first century people were familiar with the Septuagint, even if is a poor translation of the Hebrew original in places &ndash; well OK, God was willing to run with that&nbsp;<i>in order to engage with people in their language</i>. And this approach is very helpful in seeking to understand some of the Biblical references to incorrect ideas about Satan and demons.</p><p>It seems to me that Paul&rsquo;s allusion to wrong Jewish ideas in order to deconstruct them is actually a hallmark of his inspired writing. Ecclesiasticus is another such Jewish writing which he targets in Romans; Rom. 4:1&ndash;8 labours the point that Abraham was declared righteous by faith and not by the Law, which was given after Abraham&rsquo;s time; the covenant promises to Abraham were an expression of grace, and the &lsquo;work&rsquo; of circumcision was done&nbsp;<i>after</i>&nbsp;receiving them. All this appears to be in purposeful allusion to the words of Ecclus. 44:21: &ldquo;Abraham kept the law of the Most High, and was taken into covenant with Him&rdquo;.</p><p><br /><b>Allusions From Paul&rsquo;s Letter to The Romans to The Wisdom of Solomon</b></p><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=96%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>            <b>The Wisdom of Solomon</b></p>            </td>            <td width=110 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p><b>Romans</b></p>            </td>            <td width=284 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p><b>Comment</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   4:5 The imperfect branches shall be broken off, their fruit unprofitable, not   ripe to eat, yea, meet for nothing concerning the Gentiles and those in   Israel who sinned.</p>            </td>            <td width=110 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   11:17&ndash;20</p>            </td>            <td width=284 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p>Israel   as an entire nation were the broken off branches; Gentile believers through   faith in Christ could become ingrafted branches.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   1:13 For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of   the living.</p>            </td>            <td width=110 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1:32; Romans 5,7</p>            </td>            <td width=284 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p>Death   is &ldquo;the judgment of God&rdquo; &ndash; death does come from God. It doesn&rsquo;t come from   &ldquo;the Devil&rdquo;. It was God in Genesis who &lsquo;made&rsquo; death. Death comes from our   sin, that&rsquo;s Paul&rsquo;s repeated message &ndash; death isn&rsquo;t something made by the   &lsquo;Devil&rsquo; just for the wicked.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   1:14 For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the   generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of   destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth: in the context   of the earth / land of Israel</p>            </td>            <td width=110 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1,5,7</p>            </td>            <td width=284 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p>Paul   makes many allusions to these words. He shows that all humanity, including   Israel, the dwellers upon the earth / land of Israel, are subject to sin and   death. Paul argues against the position that God made man good but the Devil   messed things up &ndash; rather does he place the blame upon individual human sin.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   8:20 I was a witty child, and had a good spirit. Yea rather, being good, I   came into a body undefiled.</p>            </td>            <td width=110 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   3,7</p>            </td>            <td width=284 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p>As a   result of Adam&rsquo;s sin, our bodies aren&rsquo;t &ldquo;undefiled&rdquo; &ndash; we will die, we are   born with death sentences in us. &ldquo;There is none good&rdquo; (Rom. 3:12); &ldquo;in my   flesh dwells no good thing&rdquo; (Rom. 7:18)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   10:15 She delivered the righteous people and blameless seed from the nation   that oppressed them.</p>            </td>            <td width=110 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   9&ndash;11</p>            </td>            <td width=284 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p>Israel   were&nbsp;<i>not</i>&nbsp;blameless; &ldquo;there is none righteous, not one&rdquo; (Rom.   3:10).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   12:10 But executing thy judgments upon them by little and little, thou gavest   them place of repentance</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   2:4</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;Or   despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering,   not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?&rdquo; (Rom. 2:4).   Paul&rsquo;s argument is that it is God&rsquo;s grace in not immediately punishing us as   we deserve which should lead us to repentance.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   12 raves against the Canaanite nations in the land, saying how wicked they   were and stressing Israel&rsquo;s righteousness &ndash; e.g. Wisdom 12:11 For it was a   cursed seed from the beginning; neither didst thou for fear of any man give   them pardon for those things wherein they sinned.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1,2,9&ndash;11</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Paul   uses the very same language about the wickedness of Israel</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   12:12 For who shall say, What hast thou done? or who shall withstand thy   judgment? or who shall accuse thee for the nations that perish, whom thou   made? or who shall come to stand against thee, to be revenged for the   unrighteous men?</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   8:30&ndash;39; 9:19</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p><i>Wisdom&nbsp;</i>marvels at how God judged the   wicked Canaanites. But Paul reapplies this language to marvel at God&rsquo;s mercy   in saving the faithful remnant of Israel by grace. Paul&rsquo;s answer to &ldquo;Who   shall accuse thee Israel?&rdquo; is that only those in Christ have now no accuser   (Rom. 8:34).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom 12:13   uses the phrase &ldquo;condemned at the day of the righteous judgment of God&rdquo; about   the condemnation of the Canaanite tribes.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   2:5</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Paul   stresses that&nbsp;<i>Israel&nbsp;</i>will be condemned at the &ldquo;day of the   righteous judgment of God&rdquo; (Rom. 2:5)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   12:22 Therefore, whereas thou dost chasten us, thou scourgest our enemies a   thousand times more, to the intent that, when we judge, we should carefully   think of thy goodness, and when we ourselves are judged, we should look for   mercy.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   2:1&ndash;4; 11:28; 14:4</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Paul says   that Israel are the &ldquo;enemies&rdquo; (Rom. 11:28); and that judging is outlawed for   those who are themselves sinners. Paul&rsquo;s case is that we receive mercy at the   judgment because we have shown mercy rather than judgment to others.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   13:1 Surely vain are all men by nature, who are ignorant of God, and could   not out of the good things that are seen know him that is.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1,10</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p><i>Wisdom</i>&rsquo;s implication is that the   Gentiles are vain by nature, but Israel aren&rsquo;t, because they aren&rsquo;t ignorant   of God, and see Him reflected in the &ldquo;good things&rdquo; of His creation. Paul   contradicts this. He says that&nbsp;<i>all </i>humanity is &ldquo;vain... by   nature&rdquo;; Israel are &ldquo;ignorant of God&rdquo; (Rom. 10:3); and it is believers in   Christ who perceive God from the things which He has made. Indeed, it is   Israel who are now &ldquo;without excuse&rdquo; because they refuse to see &ldquo;the goodness   of God&rdquo; cp. &ldquo;good things&rdquo; in the things which He has created (Rom.   1:20&ndash;30).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   12:26 But they that would not be reformed by that correction, wherein he   dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God.&nbsp;<br />            Wisdom 12:27 For, look, for what things they grudged, when they were   punished, that is, for them whom they thought to be gods; now being punished   in them, when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whom   before they denied to know: and therefore came extreme damnation upon them.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>It   is&nbsp;<i>Israel</i>&nbsp;and all who continue in sin who are worthy of   judgment (Rom. 1:32). It was&nbsp;<i>Israel</i>&nbsp;who changed the true God   into what they claimed to be gods (Rom. 1:20&ndash;26).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   13:5&ndash;8: For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the   maker of them is seen. But yet for this they are the less to be blamed: for   they peradventure err, seeking God, and desirous to find him. For being   conversant in his works they search him diligently, and believe their sight:   because the things are beautiful that are seen. Howbeit neither are they to   be pardoned.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1,2</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>It is   Gentile Christians who &lsquo;found&rsquo; God (Rom. 10:20). It was they who were led by   the beauty of God&rsquo;s creation to be obedient to Him in truth (Rom. 2:14,15).   It was Israel who failed to &lsquo;clearly see&rsquo; the truth of God from the things   which He created (Rom. 1:20).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   14:8 But that which is made with hands is cursed, as well it, as he that made   it: he, because he made it; and it, because, being corruptible, it was called   god.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1:23</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>It was   Israel who changed the glory of the true God into images made by their hands   and called them gods (Rom. 1:23)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   14:9 For the ungodly and his ungodliness are both alike hateful unto God.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   4:5; 5:6</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Paul   argues that Christ died for the ungodly before they knew Him (Rom. 5:6); God   justifies the ungodly not by their works but by their faith (Rom. 4:5)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   14:31 For it is not the power of them by whom they swear: but it is the just   vengeance of sinners, that punisheth always the offence of the ungodly.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   5</p>            </td>            <td width=281 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Paul   argues that the offence of man is met by God&rsquo;s grace in Christ, and not dealt   with by God through taking out vengeance against sinners. It was the   &ldquo;offence&rdquo; of Adam which was used by God&rsquo;s grace to forge a path to human   salvation (Rom. 5:15&ndash;20). As &ldquo;the offence&rdquo; abounded, so therefore did God&rsquo;s   grace (Rom. 5:20).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   15:2 For if we Israel sin, we are thine, knowing thy power: but we will not   sin, knowing that we are counted thine.</p>            <p>Wisdom   15:3 For to know thee is perfect righteousness: yea, to know thy power is the   root of immortality.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   3</p>            </td>            <td width=278 valign=top>            <p>Paul   argues that we&nbsp;<i>all</i>&nbsp;sin &ndash; it&rsquo;s not a case of &lsquo;we don&rsquo;t sin,   because we are God&rsquo;s people&rsquo; (Rom. 3:23). And knowledge isn&rsquo;t the basis for   immortality, rather this is the gift of God by grace (Rom. 6:23). Paul leaves   us in no doubt that there&rsquo;s no question of &ldquo;<i>if</i>&nbsp;we sin&rdquo;; for we   are all desperate sinners, Jew and Gentile alike (Rom. 3:23). And our sin   really does separate us from God and from His Son; we are &ldquo;none of His&rdquo; if we   sin (Rom. 8:9 &ndash; cp. &ldquo;we are thine&rdquo;). We are not automatically &ldquo;His... even if   we sin&rdquo;. Paul speaks of how both Jew and Gentile are equally under sin;   whereas<i> Wisdom</i>&nbsp;claims that there&rsquo;s a difference: &ldquo;While therefore   thou dost chasten us, thou scourgest our enemies i.e. the Gentiles ten   thousand times more&rdquo; (12:22).</p>            </td>            <td width=1>                        </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   15:7 For the potter, tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much   labour for our service: yea, of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that   serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as serve to the contrary:   but what is the use of either sort, the potter himself is the judge.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   9:21&ndash;30</p>            </td>            <td width=278 valign=top>            <p><i>Wisdom</i>&nbsp;mocks the potter for   making idols &ndash; Paul shows that God is the potter and Israel the clay, and   they will be discarded like an idol. For they became like that which they   worshipped. Paul uses the same language as&nbsp;<i>Wisdom</i>&nbsp;here &ndash; he   speaks of how the Divine potter uses &ldquo;the same clay to make different types   of vessels.</p>            </td>            <td width=1>                        </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   15 often laments that the Gentiles worship the created more than the creator</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1 and 2</p>            </td>            <td width=278 valign=top>            <p>Romans   1 and 2 make the point, using this same language, that Israel as well as the   Gentiles are guilty of worshipping the created more than creator</p>            </td>            <td width=1>                        </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   18:8 For wherewith thou didst punish our adversaries, by the same thou didst   glorify us, whom thou hadst called.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>cp.   Romans 8:30</p>            </td>            <td width=278 valign=top>            <p>The   &ldquo;us&rdquo; who have been &ldquo;called&rdquo; and are to be &ldquo;glorified&rdquo; are those in Christ &ndash;   not those merely born Jews.</p>            </td>            <td width=1>                        </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>Wisdom   18:13 For whereas they would not believe anything by reason of the   enchantments; upon the destruction of the firstborn, they acknowledged this   people to be the sons of God.</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>cp.   Romans 8:14</p>            </td>            <td width=278 valign=top>            <p>The   true &ldquo;sons of God&rdquo; are those in Christ, the Son of God; for not those who   merely call themselves &ldquo;Israel&rdquo; are the children of God, as&nbsp;<i>Wisdom</i>   wrongly argues (Rom. 9:6)</p>            </td>            <td width=1>                        </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=316 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>As for   the ungodly, wrath came upon them without mercy unto the end: for he knew   before what they would do... For the destiny, whereof they were worthy, drew   them unto this end, and made them forget the things that had already   happened, that they might fulfil the punishment which was wanting to their   torments&rdquo; (Wisdom 19:1,4)</p>            </td>            <td width=106 colspan=2 valign=top>                        </td>            <td width=278 valign=top>            <p>What&nbsp;<i>Wisdom</i>&nbsp;says   about the Gentile world and Egypt, Paul applies to Israel in their   sinfulness. And he stresses many times that the result of sin is death (Rom.   6:23), not &ldquo;torments&rdquo; in the way the Jews understood them. &ldquo;Wrath... without   mercy&rdquo; is a phrase Paul uses about the coming condemnation of those Jews who   refused to accept Christ (Rom. 1:18; 2:5,8). Paul uses the idea of   foreknowledge which occurs here in<i> Wisdom</i>, but uses it in Romans 9 and   11 to show that foreknowledge is part of the grace of God&rsquo;s predestination of   His true people to salvation. It is the Jews who reject Christ who are   &ldquo;worthy&rdquo; of death (Rom. 1:32) &ndash; not the Gentile world. No wonder the Jews so   hated Paul</p>            </td>            <td width=1>                        </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table>