NOTES for Luk 7:31-35
Let us look at three different translations of the words that the Lord speaks to us today. "And Wisdom is justified by all her children" (Synodal). "And the justification of wisdom were all her children" (translation by Bp. Cassian). "But the rightness of God's Wisdom was acknowledged by all her children" ("Good News"). In fact, all three have different meanings, which is easy to grasp regarding the third translation and quite difficult in the case of the first two, which seem very close. Since, probably, not all of us are philologists, not everyone knows the Greek language, we have no other choice, if we want to penetrate the essence of what is spoken, but to think about all three (and maybe someone knows some other significantly different translations). The first translation, very close in meaning to all the English versions known to us, means a very important thing. We, the children of Wisdom, come into this world to prove by our deeds that the Wisdom of God is a true essence, that it is not a myth created by us, that it is something Living that co-participates in our labor. But before whom must it be justified? Of course, not before God. Thus, before the world. But for what? For the Lord does not need justification before the world. Why then does Wisdom need it? Probably, to some extent, the answer can be found in chapter 8 of the book of Proverbs. Speaking of the creation of the world, Wisdom says of herself: "then I was beside Him, a master workman" (Prov 8:30). She is that "agent" (from Latin agentis — acting), if one may say so, who is responsible in some sense for the world. Here is the answer as to why she stands before the judgment of the world. The translation of Bishop Cassian somewhat removes the active principle from the children and transfers it to Wisdom. She has created such children, and in themselves they are already the justification of Wisdom. And finally, the completely different translation of the "Good News" also certainly has its truth. For why are we children of Wisdom? Only because we acknowledge her rightness without any justifications or proofs (precisely this nuance is carried by the word vindicate in one of the English translations, standing in place of the Russian "justification"). We simply accept the rightness of Wisdom and we need nothing else.