Sophia Saves
The ministry of Jesus is the ministry of Sophia made flesh
Neon signs and bumper stickers declare the message, “Jesus Saves.”
The slogan emerged in the revival movements of the nineteenth century and became a defining statement of evangelical Christianity.
Long before Christians proclaimed that Jesus saves, Jewish scripture proclaimed Sophia saves.
Sophia, the divine Wisdom of God, appears throughout scripture as God’s companion in creation, God’s voice in the streets, and God’s presence among humanity. In the Wisdom of Solomon, Chapters 10-11, Sophia is described as a savior.
Sophia saves Adam, “Wisdom protected the first-formed father of the world, when he alone had been created; she delivered him from his transgression.” (10:1)
Sophia saves Noah, “When the earth was flooded because of him, wisdom again saved it, steering the righteous man by a paltry piece of wood” (10:4)
Sophia saves Abraham, “Wisdom recognized the righteous man and preserved him blameless before God and kept him strong in the face of his compassion for his child.” (10:5)
In the same pattern, this scripture goes on to describe how Sophia Wisdom saved Lot, Jacob, Joseph, Israel, and all who are oppressed.
In the New Testament, Jesus embodies the work of Sophia by bringing salvation as he brings good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. The ministry of Jesus is the ministry of Sophia made flesh.
This matters, for those of us who have been taught to see salvation only through masculine images of God. By extension, we have often bought in to the cultural narrative that women need men to save them, the damsel in distress.
The saving power of God is not patriarchal or misogynist. Sophia Wisdom, present before creation, has always been crying out in voices ignored by power. Wisdom has always strengthened through those whom society considers weak.
Sophia saves our understanding of God.
I'm enjoying your dive into Sophia, Joelle. Not sure if irony is the right word, but Western cultural stereotypes often associate men with intellect and women with emotion. Yet, the concept of Sophia (Greek for "wisdom") directly upends such binaries by blending the feminine with the intellectual. These days, I do think Sophia is widely understood as the mother God, as feminine wisdom, and that the old binaries are dissolving into more interesting complexities of human evolution.