The fear of the LORDis to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
To fear the Lord is to hate evil, and that hatred embraces pride and arrogancy and an evil way of life and conduct and a perverse, froward, crooked and corrupt mouth and speech, all of which the Lord himself hates. Reverence for the Lord therefore means hating evil in these concrete forms, with pride and arrogance and the crooked, corrupting mouth set in direct opposition to him.
Solomon in his later course displayed the very pride and arrogant and perverse speech the verse condemns, when he took for himself glory that belonged to God alone. That course stood in contrast to the wisdom he had written and taught and showed a failure to live by it.
In its setting in the chapter on wisdom, the verse shows that true faith embraces the whole person and lifts the soul from an imperfect, undeveloped state to an understanding of true wisdom. It teaches the same principle as refusing conformity to the world and to the way of this people and sanctifying the Lord and making him fear and dread. The words were placed by the Lord Jesus in the mouth of his appointed instructor for the benefit of people living in this age, when a decided testimony is to be borne regarding the binding claims of the law of God.
Pride, arrogance, and crooked and corrupting speech have no place in God's work, so those serving in it are to reject selfishness and self-serving and to speak in ways that do not corrupt. Trying in pride to turn Sabbathkeepers aside to follow a new light, torchlight never kindled from the divine altar, is the pride the verse condemns, and those who do it will be disappointed and will lie down in sorrow. Proud opposition to truth, crooked paths contrary to the principles of truth and righteousness, betrayal of sacred trust, and revealing a hostile, dragon-like spirit appear to God in a peculiarly sinful light, for God is pleased with holiness of heart and displeased with sin. Such conduct gives no evidence of the teaching of the Holy Spirit and cannot correct supposed errors. Claims that conscience and the Holy Spirit lead people to take a position against the truth are false, for the Lord gives no such commission and never leads a person to walk contrary to truth, since nothing can be done against the truth but for the truth.
To fear the Lord is to hate evil, and that hatred embraces pride and arrogancy and an evil way of life and conduct and a perverse, froward, crooked and corrupt mouth and speech, all of which the Lord himself hates. Reverence for the Lord therefore means hating evil in these concrete forms, with pride and arrogance and the crooked, corrupting mouth set in direct opposition to him.
Solomon in his later course displayed the very pride and arrogant and perverse speech the verse condemns, when he took for himself glory that belonged to God alone. That course stood in contrast to the wisdom he had written and taught and showed a failure to live by it.
In its setting in the chapter on wisdom, the verse shows that true faith embraces the whole person and lifts the soul from an imperfect, undeveloped state to an understanding of true wisdom. It teaches the same principle as refusing conformity to the world and to the way of this people and sanctifying the Lord and making him fear and dread. The words were placed by the Lord Jesus in the mouth of his appointed instructor for the benefit of people living in this age, when a decided testimony is to be borne regarding the binding claims of the law of God.
Pride, arrogance, and crooked and corrupting speech have no place in God's work, so those serving in it are to reject selfishness and self-serving and to speak in ways that do not corrupt. Trying in pride to turn Sabbathkeepers aside to follow a new light, torchlight never kindled from the divine altar, is the pride the verse condemns, and those who do it will be disappointed and will lie down in sorrow. Proud opposition to truth, crooked paths contrary to the principles of truth and righteousness, betrayal of sacred trust, and revealing a hostile, dragon-like spirit appear to God in a peculiarly sinful light, for God is pleased with holiness of heart and displeased with sin. Such conduct gives no evidence of the teaching of the Holy Spirit and cannot correct supposed errors. Claims that conscience and the Holy Spirit lead people to take a position against the truth are false, for the Lord gives no such commission and never leads a person to walk contrary to truth, since nothing can be done against the truth but for the truth.