to be a time when he was not, or perhaps that he existed but was independent of the Lord. None of these options seems to fit orthodox Christology. If the NRSV is right in translating verse 22b as ‘the first of his acts of long ago’, this makes the objection even stronger. The other obvious option is that it is not a reference to the pre-incarnate Christ (nor the Spirit, the view of Irenaeus), but simply to wisdom. Here it is an assertion that, since wisdom precedes the creation, it could be woven