410 Urban C. von Wahlde Brown in his commentary does not address the issue; nor do most other scholars (6). S. Schultz attempted to associate the ability to give life in general with apocalyptic literature (7) but this is rejected by Beasley-Murray who attempts to link the general ability to give life and judge with his stature as Son of Man and with the synoptic picture of Jesus as the Son of Man (8). * ** Because this conception of having life “in oneself” is so central to the Christology of the gospel, positive evidence that would confirm the meaning of the phrase or which would provide confirmation of the larger conceptual framework within which that notion normally operated would seem to be valuable for understanding John 5,26. However it seems that, in the Wisdom of Solomon, there is just such a statement that provides positive evidence confirming what has been before only speculation regarding the conceptual framework out of which John 5,26 emerges. The author, discussing idolatry (15,16-17), explains the futility of such man-made gods: a[nqrwpo" ga;r ejpoivhsen aujtouv". kai; to; pneu'ma dedaneismevno" e[plasen aujtouv": oujdei;" ga;r aujtw/' o{moion a[nqrwpo" ijscuvei plavsai qeovn: qnhto;" de; w]n nekro;n ejrgavzetai cersi;n ajnovmoi". For a human made them, and one whose spirit had been lent to him made them. For no person is able to make a God like himself. For being mortal, he makes only a dead person with his lawless hands(9). Here we learn something, not about God’s ability to give life, but why someone who is human cannot. A human is mortal and his spirit has only been “lent” to him. Consequently the person is not able to transfer spirit to something else. What the person makes will only remain dead and lifeless(10). (6) R.E. BROWN, The Gospel According to John (AB 29; Garden City 1966) 215. (7) S. SCHULTZ, Das Evangelium nach Johannes (NTD 4. Göttingen 121972) 91; ID., Untersuchungen zur Menschensohn-Christologie im Johannesevangelium. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Methodengeschichte der Auslegung des 4. Evangeliums (Göttingen 1957) 111- 113. (8) G.R. BEASLEY-MURRAY, John (WBC 36; Waco 1987) 77. (9) There are a number of textual variants for this verse. The principle variants appear before the word o{moion. C. Larcher, O.P. [Le Livre de la Sagesse ou la Sagesse de Salomon (EtB 5; Paris 1985) 882] proposes that the original word before o{moion was ajnqrwvpw/ but early on was abbreviated a[nw. This then gave rise to the principal alternates (aujtw'/, anqrwpo", ajnqrwvpwn, ajnqrwvpoi"). Yet if this were the case, we would expect the reading [ anqrwpw/ to have been preserved in at least some manuscripts; but it is not. I have chosen j v to follow the text of Alexandrinus, the one adopted by Rahlfs [Septuaginta (Stuttgart 1965)]. 8 (10) This notion of an idol being lifeless is echoed in Jer 10,12-14. In those verses, there is a comparison between the work of God in creation who created the earth with his power and founded the world by means of his wisdom. “made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom. But the goldsmiths who make idols are are all put to shame, “for they cast false images; there is no breath in them” (o{ti yeudh' ejcwvneusan, oujk e[stin pneu'ma ejn aujtoi'").