PROVERBS 15
DEALING WITH CONVERSATION verse 1- 5
A soft answer turns away wrath BUT grievous words stir up anger – MOUTH The tongue of the WISE uses knowledge aright BUT the mouth of FOOLS pours out
foolishness – WICKED The eyes of the LORD are in every place beholding: evil and good
– Omniscience of God
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life
BUT perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit – MOUTH
A FOOL despises his father’s instruction
BUT he that regards reproof is PRUDENT – DISCIPLINE
LIFESTYLE OF RIGHTEOUS verse 6 – 15
In the house of the RIGHTEOUS is much treasure
BUT in the revenues of the WICKED is trouble -Money
The lips of the WISE disperse knowledge
BUT the heart of the FOOLISH does not so – WICKED & Righteous
The sacrifice of the WICKED is an abomination to the LORD
BUT the PRAYER of the UPRIGHT is HIS delight – PRAYER
The way of the WICKED is an abomination to the LORD
BUT HE loves him that follows after righteousness – WICKED & Righteous
Correction is grievous to him that forsakes the way
AND he that hates reproof shall die – DISCIPLINE
Hell and destruction are before the LORD
How much more than the hearts of the children of men? – HEART
A SCORNER loves not one that reproves him
neither will he go to the WISE – DISCIPLINE
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance BUT by sorrow of the heart – the spirit is broken – HEART
The heart of him that has understanding seeks knowledge BUT the mouth of FOOLS feeds on foolishness –
All the days of the afflicted are evil, BUT he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast -Heart
DEALING WITH WEALTH verse 16- 19
Better is little with the FEAR OF THE LORD THAN great treasure and trouble therewith – WEALTH
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is THAN a stalled ox and hatred therewith
A wrathful man stirs up strife BUT he that is slow to anger appeases strife –
The way of the SLOTHFUL man is as an hedge of thorns BUT the way of the RIGHTEOUS is made plain – WORK ETHIC
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS verse 20-33
A WISE son makes a glad father: BUT a FOOLISH man despises his mother WICKED & RIGHTEOUS Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom BUT a man of understanding walks UPRIGHTLY – WICKED & RIGHTEOUS
Without counsel purposes are disappointed BUT In the multitude of counselors they are established
– COUNSEL
A man has joy by the answer of his mouth AND a word spoken in due season – how good is it – MOUTH
The way of LIFE is above to the WISE that he may depart from HELL beneath – WICKED & RIGHTEOUS
The LORD will destroy the house of the PROUD BUT HE will establish the border of the widow – WICKED & RIGHTEOUS
The thoughts of the WICKED are an abomination to the LORD BUT the words of the PURE are pleasant words – WICKED & RIGHTEOUS
He that is greedy of gain troubles his own house BUT he that hates gifts shall live – MOUTH
The heart of the RIGHTEOUS studies to answer BUT the mouth of the WICKED pours out evil things – HEART & MOUTH
The LORD is far from the WICKED BUT HE hears the prayer of the RIGHTEOUS – PRAYER
The light of the eyes rejoices the heart AND a good report makes the bones fat – HEART
The ear that hears the reproof of life abides among the WISE – – DISCIPLINE
He that refuses instruction despises his own soul BUT he that hears reproof gets understanding – DISCIPLINE
The FEAR OF THE LORD is the instruction of wisdom AND before honor is HUMILITY – HUMILITY
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 : 1 A soft answer turns away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. (6089 “grievous” [‘etseb] means harsh words, word of toil, critical speech, unduly cruel speech, hurtful way, labor, sorrow, pain, or hardship)
DEVOTION: In our churches today we have individuals that would rather win a battle and lose the war. They are called the “devil’s advocates” in our churches. Some don’t care what the Bible teaches if it seems to disagree with the constitution of the church. They are the ones who are always bringing the negative at business meetings.
This chapter seems to emphasize the importance of our inner thoughts. There are many references to the heart of a person. The other topic covered is the mouth. Our mouths speak what is in our hearts. Those who are followers of Christ need to have soft answers to encourage people to communicate well with each other.
Those who are not followers of Christ seem to like to stir up anger in people. Their words are critical. Their words are cruel. Their words cause pain in others. Sometimes even followers of Christ act like those who are not followers of Christ. We make daily choices regarding the words we use.
When we are tired we don’t think before we speak. One key to giving a soft answer is proper rest. We have watched people say things when they are tired that they regret for a long time. When we are tired, we need to keep our mouths shut. Walk away from any argument. This doesn’t happen as often as it should.
This verse tells us what happens when we don’t walk away and say hurtful word. We cause others to be angry with us. When we are tired, we don’t care. It is when we get rest that we do. Let’s try to remember to give a soft answer to those who are around us. Too often the ones we hurt with our mouth are the ones closest to us.
Remember that those who are followers of Christ should have encouraging words come out of our mouths. There are times when we have to express constructive criticism but we can do it with love. If the majority of our time we are encouraging the ones we love, they will accept constructive criticism better. Let us not be ones who cause pain in others.
CHALLENGE: Our disposition affects our family, church and world. Ask the LORD for help with what comes out of your mouth.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. ( 6822 “beholding” [tsaphah] means watchmanespy, look up, spy, to keep watch, examine, to look intensively, or observe.)
DEVOTION: Nothing is overlooked by the LORD. HE sees everything that is happening in everyone’s life. HE knew it from the beginning of time but HE also watches from the heavens.
The angels are said to watch what is going on here on this earth but they know nothing ahead of time. They are learning as they watch what is going on here in this world. The LORD wants them to understand HIS actions.
We are ones who watch what is going on around us because we want to know what is going on in our world. We don’t want to see the evil but we know that it is happening all the time. There are people who enjoy sinning in our world. We might not understand them but we know they are doing it because it is in their nature.
However, there are people who are followers of the LORD who also sin daily. It is not what they want to do most of the time because genuine believers want to please the LORD with their life. The LORD knows that even those who follow HIM will sin but HE asks them to confess their sin and HE is faithful and just to forgive them sin. This is not talking about salvation but fellowship. Christ settled the relationship with HIM on the cross by HIS death and resurrection. Once a person becomes a genuine believer he/she is forgiven of their sins and on their way to heaven.
Christians who sin and are not willing to confess their sin are given chastening. No individual who is a genuine believer will live in sin without the chastening of the LORD. This chastening comes in the form of weakness, sickness and premature death.
Christians are never to condone sin in a fellow believer but work to restore them to a proper relationship with the LORD before HE sends chastening that leads to death.
There are people today that say that everyone is a sinner and they are right but the difference is that some have chosen to be followers of the LORD and don’t want to practice sin or another way of saying it “live in sin.”
The church cannot and should not condone someone who is living in sin according to the commandments of the LORD. If it does it is not living by the standard that was set for it and those who are members of the local church.
The LORD is watching all the churches in the world to see what they are doing with those who trying to lead them away from HIS commands. The final book of the Bible tells us that HE will remove the candlestick from any church that is not worshiping HIM faithfully. There are going to be many candlesticks that are going to be removed or have been removed even here in America.
CHALLENGE: Today we have individuals who say that the church should accept those who are living in sin into the church without warning them of their lifestyle. That is not God’s way and should not be our way. God and HIS angels are watching our every move daily.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 6 In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble. (5916 “trouble” [‘akar] means to disturb, to grow worse, stir up, to entangle, put in disorder, throw into confusion, or to bring evil upon.)
DEVOTION: This seems to imply that when the wicked are rich it brings calamity to those who are around a wicked that are rich. In the book of Joshua chapter seven we find this to be true regarding Achan.
It was because of Achan’s greed that the children of Israel lost a battle against Ai. They were defeated after winning a battle against Jericho. Joshua didn’t know what they were defeated but he found out about the sin of Achan and had to deal with it.
Once Achan was dealt with they would have a victory.
If there is sin in the camp of a church then the church cannot grow in the LORD. The sin has to be dealt with in a godly manner. Too often churches don’t realize what is going on in the church regarding the attitude and actions of the members of the church.
There has to be prayer and fasting to deal with what is going on in the church either with their actions or attitude toward others. God will reveal what is going on and when it is dealt with then the church can grow and move forward for the LORD.
Our churches today are dying because they are putting too much emphasis on entertainment or pleasing the saints rather than dealing with attitudes and actions that are happening in the church.
CHALLENGE; When attitudes and actions are dealt with the church can be a genuine lighthouse to the world rather than just a gathering of people who put on a good face but are not willing to change their attitude toward others.
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: 33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility. (6038 “humility” [anavah] means meekness, lowly mind, modesty, or gentleness.)
DEVOTION: We have learned that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. We have learned that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. We learned that if we searched for truth we would receive the understanding of the fear of the LORD. We can’t fear the LORD if we are wise in our own eyes. When we manifest the fear of the LORD we understand what God hates. If we have the fear of the LORD we hate evil. Our life is not filled with pride or arrogance or any evil way or a forward mouth. These are things that wisdom hates.
Our walk gives us confidence. Our walk gives us life. Our walk can help our family and our church and our nation. All we have to do is follow the instructions given to us in the Word of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Most of us would like to receive honor in this lifetime. Few of us receive it. It is unlikely that we will receive it from our family as Christ didn’t receive honor from his sibling until after HIS death. Honor doesn’t come easy in life.
Solomon instructs his son that if he manifests the fear of the LORD properly he will receive honor from those around him. The same is true in our generation. If people see us properly fearing the LORD, they will look at us different. They will acknowledge when we do things properly.
Our responsibility is to fear the LORD and instruct the next generation in how to properly fear the LORD. Many don’t understand the concept who are teachers in our churches. Too often there is a lot of pride manifested in our pulpits and in our seminaries. This has to stop.
CHALLENGE: Find someone you respect in this area and ask them to help you manifest the fear of the LORD in your life. It only comes through real dedication to the LORD. HE wants us to bring GLORY to HIM!!)
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Better is a little with the
fear of the LORD verse 16
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Love instruction verse 5, 22, 32, 33
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Prayer of the upright God’s delight verse 8
LORD hears prayers of the righteous verse 29
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination verse 8
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 3, 8, 9, 11, 16, 25, 26, 29, 33
Eyes of the LORD are in every place verse 3
HE beholds both evil and good verse 3
Abomination to the LORD verse 8, 9, 26
Delights in the prayers of the righteous verse 8
Loves them that follow after righteousness verse 9
Fear of the LORD verse 16, 33
LORD will destroy house of the proud verse 25
HE will establish the border of the widow verse 25
LORD is far from the wicked verse 29
HE hears the prayer of the righteous verse 29
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Father’s instruction verse 5
Children of men verse 11
Merry heart makes a cheerful countenance verse 13
Sorrow of heart breaks the spirit verse 13
Fools feed on foolishness verse 14
Wrathful man verse 18
Slothful man verse 19
Wise son makes his father glad verse 20
Foolish man verse 20
Mother verse 20
Man of understanding verse 21
Joyful man verse 23
Widow verse 25
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Wrath verse 1, 18
Grievous words verse 1
Anger verse 1
Mouth of fools verse 2, 5, 7, 14, 20
Foolishness verse 2, 14, 20, 21
Evil verse 3, 15, 28
Perverseness verse 4
Fool despises his father’s instruction verse 5
Wicked verse 6, 8, 9, 26, 28,
29
Revenues of the wicked is trouble verse 6
Heart of foolish does not disperse knowledge verse 7
Abomination verse 8, 9, 26
Way of the wicked verse 9
Hate reproof verse 10
Scorner – not go to the wise verse 12
Hatred verse 17
Stirring up strife verse 18
Slothful verse 19
Despising mother verse 20
Destitute of wisdom verse 21
House of the proud verse 25
Thoughts of wicked are an abomination verse 26
Greedy for gain verse 27
Mouth of wicked pours out evil things verse 28
Refusing instruction verse 32
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Soft answer verse 1
Wise verse 2, 7, 12, 20,
24, 31, 33
Tongue of wise uses knowledge well verse 2
Knowledge verse 2, 7, 14
Good verse 3
Wholesome tongue = tree of life verse 4
Regard reproof verse 5, 31, 32
Prudent verse 5
Righteous verse 6, 9, 19, 28, 29
Treasure verse 6
Lips of the wise disperse knowledge verse 7
Prayer verse 8
Upright verse 8
Understanding verse 14, 21, 32
Heart of him that seeks knowledge
Merry heart verse 15
Fear of the LORD verse 16, 33
Love verse 17
Slow to anger verse 18
Walk uprightly verse 21
Seeks counsel verse 22
Joy verse 23
Good speech verse 23, 28
Words of pure are pleasant verse 26
Hates bribes (gifts) verse 27
Heart of righteous studies to answer verse 28
Hear reproof verse 31, 32
Gets understanding
Humility verse 33
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Hell verse 11, 24
Destruction verse 11
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QUOTES regarding passage
15:3. The eyes of the Lord
The equally striking 2 Chronicles 16:9 brings out God’s saving purpose in this. Our present verse shows the range and persistence of this scrutiny; verse 11 its penetration; verses 8, 9 its sensitivity. (Kidner, D. (1964). Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 17, p. 106). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
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3 The Lord knows everyone completely. The thought is continuous in the two lines of this verse; it uses anthropomorphic language to stress God’s exacting knowledge. But as Plaut says, the verse is not meant as a statement of theology but an incentive for conduct (p. 169). Of course, for the righteous divine omniscience is a great comfort. See also 2 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm 11:4; and Hebrews 4:13 (which shows that God’s purpose in this is salvific). (Ross, A. P. (1991). Proverbs. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, p. 993). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
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This chapter points us toward the heart of our humanity. It high lights what it means to be persons, capable of thinking, feeling, knowing, loving, and speaking. Speech and prayer are the two most obvious external signs of what it means to be made in Godimage. They enable us to live life in relationship with the Lord and with each other. They allow us to express thought, pose questions, suggest answers, share needs, and voice thanksgiving—all essential factors in human existence. Israel’s wise grasped this and included in their collection dozens of sayings directed toward the art of wise speaking. (Hubbard, D. A., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1989). Proverbs (Vol. 15, pp. 216–217). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
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Ver. 3.—The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding—keeping watch on—the evil and the good. The omnipresence and omniscience of Jehovah, the covenant God, is strongly insisted upon, and the sacred name recurs continually in this and the next chapter, and indeed throughout this Book of the Proverbs (see Wordsworth, in loc.). The LXX. renders the verb σκοπεύουσι, “are watching,” as from a tower or high place. (Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). Proverbs (p. 291). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.)
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3 The eyes of Jehovah are in every place,
Beholding the evil and the good.
How comforting is this truth to the weary heart, who, like poor Hagar in the desert, feels abandoned by all save One, but can say with assurance, “Thou, God, seest me”! To know that His eyes are on all our ways is sweet indeed when there is confidence and hope in Him. But for the wicked to know that he can never hide from those all-seeing eyes is perhaps the most terrible thing he has to face. Nor need it be wondered at, when it is remembered that He who beholds all is the Holy and the True! It is sin unrepented of that makes it so dreadful a thing to be under the eye of God. He who acknowledges his guilt, and bows in repentance before Him, need no longer fear, for sin confessed is sin removed, through the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. David’s musings in Psa. 139 form a precious commentary on this verse. (Ironside, H. A. (1908). Notes on the Book of Proverbs (pp. 176–177). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bros.)
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15:3. In His omniscience God sees and knows what everyone does (cf. 5:21; Heb. 4:13; also note the eyes of the Lord in 2 Chron. 16:9), keeping watch like a watchman guarding a city. Wicked people should be warned and good people comforted by this truth. He sees even death and destruction (Prov. 15:11). The second line of verse 3 is a participial clause that completes the thought of the first line, so this verse has synthetic parallelism (see “Literary Style” in the Introduction). (Buzzell, S. S. (1985). Proverbs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 937). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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15:3 eyes of the Lord. Cf. 5:21. This refers to God’s omniscience. Cf. 1 Sam 16:7; 2Ch 16:9; Job 24:23; Pss 33:13–15; 139:1–16; Jer 17:10. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Pr 15:3). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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Ver. 3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, &c.] Which are expressive of his omniscience, of the full, clear, distinct, and perfect knowledge, which he has of all creatures and things; so that nothing is hid from him, but all open and manifest to him; as they are to Christ the essential Word, Heb. 4:13 and also of the providence of God with respect to all persons in general, and to his own people in particular; and as he is infinite and immense, omnipresent and in all places of the world, so his omniscience and providence reach everywhere, to places most distant and secret, and to persons in them, who cannot be concealed from him, since he fills heaven and earth, Jer. 23:23, 24, beholding the evil and the good; meaning not evil things and good things, though that is true; the one he beholds with dislike, the other with pleasure; but evil men and good men: he beholds them as from a watch-tower, as the word signifies, from above, from heaven, where he is; see Psal. 33:13, 14. By evil men may be meant both profane sinners and carnal professors; such as are more openly wicked, and declare their sin, as Sodom, or more secretly so; he sees into all the wickedness there is in their hearts, all their secret devices against his people; the works done by them in the dark, as well as their more open ones; and his eyes are upon all of them, to bring them into judgment at the last day: his eyes are particularly on the proud, to abase them; such as are under a disguise of religion, and have a form of godliness, he has his eyes upon; he sees through all their disguises; he knows on what foot they took up their profession; he discerns between that and true grace; he sees how they retain their lusts with their profession; observes the springs and progress of their apostacy; and will fix his eyes on the man without a righteousness, not having on the wedding-garment, and order him into outer darkness. He also beholds good men; he sees all their bad things, their sins, and corrects them for them; their good things, their graces, and the exercise of them; their good works, the fruits of his own grace; their weaknesses, and supports and strengthens them; their wants, and supplies them; their persons, and never withdraws his eyes from them: these are on them continually, to protect and defend them; nor will he leave them till he has brought them safe to heaven; see 1 Chron. 16:9. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 4, p. 433). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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The church should care for widows, and the elders who lead the church should also receive respect.
INSIGHT
There are those in the church who feel that they have the gift of confrontation, and others the gift of rebuke. While we may smile at this, there are indeed those who have an acute sense of justice, gravitating toward exhortational ministries. These people provide an important balance in the church, but they must be cautious to wield their words with truth and grace. Paul writes that we should “not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity” (vv. 1-2). The point is that such ministries are always to be done in a spirit of grace, truth, and love. (QuietWalk)
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PRIDE
O wretched man that I am! Romans 7:24
Self-sufficiency, self-consciousness, oh, to get away from the self!
“Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). How can I get away from this wretched, ugly self I am always thinking about? Isn’t that the cry of every man and woman convicted of sin by the Holy Ghost? Now the effect of 1 John 4:9-10 is to expose all that, and I really am not prepared to listen to people who tell me that they glory in the revelation of Go’s love unless they have dealt with themselves. There is no value in any striving to keep the tenets of the Christian faith unless those tenets have made you see yourself in the world, unless they have flashed upon you in such a way as to make you see the manifestation of self; that is what the love of God always does. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” It is incredible that God could love such a person as I have been describing. That is the amazing thing! That is love, says John.
Therefore, if you believe and know all that, it makes you see yourself as you are, and do you see what happens at once? The moment you see yourself like that, you cry with John Bunyan:
He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low in pride.
John Bunyan meant that when I see myself as I really am, nobody can insult me. It is impossible, because they can never say anything that is bad enough about me. Whatever the world may say about me, I am much worse than they think. When we see ourselves in the light of this glorious gospel, no one can hurt us, no one can offend us.
A Thought to Ponder: Self-sufficiency, self-consciousness, oh, to get away from the self! (From The Love of God, p. 70, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Mortified
“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Romans 8:13)
To mortify something means to put it to death. Paul taught in our text and in other passages that the “deeds of the body,” or its fleshly actions and appetites, all that pertains “to the old man,” should be mortified, or put to death.
This mortification is first of all judicial—Christ having been put to death in our stead. “Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6).
But the mortification must not stop there, with only a positional death. It must also be an actual mortification in practice, for “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25). “For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness” (Romans 6:19).
Elsewhere, Paul identifies specific deeds and attitudes that must be mortified. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence [or evil desires], and covetousness” (Colossians 3:5). The first four listed will be recognized as various forms of sensual sins, indicating how detrimental this category of sin is to spiritual life. The fifth is covetousness, or inordinate love of money and material things. These five comprise deadly sins to men and women of any historical age—particularly our own. If they are not put to death, they bring death, “for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh” (v. 6).
The choice is clear! It will be either death to the flesh, or death to the spirit. (JDM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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Dr. David Turner previous post on the new commandment left me with one regret—that I didn’t explore the relationship of this new love command to the love commands of the Old Testament. The current debate over Andy Stanley’s view of the Old Testament in general and of the new commandment in particular, expressed in his recent book Irresistible, make this a timely topic. In this post I’ll explain why I part company with Stanley, and then I’ll present my own view on the new commandment (John 13:34-35; 15:12; 17:26; cf. 1 John 2:7-11).
In his recent book, Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World, Andy Stanley discusses the new commandment in the course of his argument that the church should unhitch itself from the old covenant. Stanley’s altogether commendable goal is to help the church reach more people for Christ. He believes that questions and problems related to the Old Testament keep many people from church, and that the church needs to realize Christ totally abolished the old when he brought about a totally new covenant through the cross. Accordingly, if the church jettisons the Old Testament from its message, people will have fewer reasons to resist Christ’s call to discipleship.
There is a two-part interview with Stanley about the book at CT online, as well as a critique by Robert Foster and a reply by Stanley. Michael Kruger has another review of the book at the Gospel Coalition. Tom Schreiner has also posted on the broader theological issue raised by Stanley. My discussion here focuses on Stanley’s view of the new commandment.
A New Sort of Supersessionism
Stanley discusses the new commandment in chapter 15 of Irresistible (pp. 193-200). He argues that the “golden rule” (Matt 7:12; cf. Lev 19:18//Matt 22:39) amounts to treating others according to one’s personal standard of fairness. This lower standard has been superseded—Stanley’s word is “trumped”—by the “platinum rule” or new commandment, which raises the ethical bar to a higher standard based on God’s action in Christ. Here is a key paragraph from Stanley’s online reply to Foster:
As I explain in Irresistible, the OT asked us to base our love for others upon our own standard of fairness—how we want to be treated. Jesus said this was the great commandment of the OT, to love your neighbor as yourself—the golden rule. But then he takes us one step further. Jesus gives us a new and better command, one that’s not based on you or me, but on the standard of love Jesus has shown to us. I call this the platinum rule. Jesus Christ has ended the old covenant once and for all, with all the Old Testament practices, promises, and expectations. We need to stop mixing the old with the new, because God has given us something better in Jesus Christ and his new command.
From the above excerpt, one would think that the New Testament contains a discourse in which Jesus cited the golden rule as the highest Old Testament ethic and then explained that it had been superseded by his new commandment. But no such passage exists; Stanley has blended two separate passages without regard to the context of either passage. Apparently Stanley thinks that Jesus’ “golden rule” sayings are merely descriptive of the old covenant, not part of Jesus’ new teaching for the church. This is untenable because the golden rule is found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 7:12), where Jesus explained how his teaching fulfilled Moses and the prophets. But maybe Stanley actually thinks that one saying of Jesus (John 13:34-35) trumps another (Matt 7:12). It’s common to find Christian teachers who argue that Jesus trumps Moses; rarely do Christian teachers argue that Jesus trumps Jesus. Stanley’s approach pits the Johannine Jesus against not only the Synoptic Jesus, but also against Paul (Rom 13:9; Gal 5:14) and James (2:8), who both cite the golden rule as central to biblical ethics.
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