Righteousness guards the person of integrity,
but wickedness overthrows the sinner.
Summary: Today’s proverb invites us to peek into the difference between what we do and who we are.
To fully understand today’s proverb, we need to back up and take a slightly different view of who we are as people. When Solomon speaks of “righteousness” and “wickedness” doing something, he is giving us a clue how we function as people. Let’s begin with the first part.
There are three elements in the first phrase: righteousness, integrity, and “the person.” Both “righteousness” and “integrity” seem to say the same thing, and they are… sort of. The unspoken element in the phrase is the danger that righteousness guards against.
We know from many proverbs that the righteous attain life and the pursuit of evil (wickedness) leads to death (Proverbs 11:19). What I hear in this proverb is that righteousness guards the person of integrity against death.
How?
Righteousness is a synonym for integrity. In a sense, righteousness is integrity in action. If integrity is a planted field, righteousness is the crop that grows on it. In a similar way, the person who sins (“the sinner”) becomes the victim of their own wickedness. The wickedness they indulge in on earth becomes a one-way ticket to eternal separation from God (death).
The “person” in this proverb is our eternal soul. “Righteousness” and “wickedness” are how we interact with the world. The result of being guarded by righteousness is eternal safety. The endpoint of wickedness is death (eternal separation from God).
The reason Solomon describes the death of the sinner as being “overthrown” has to do with the attitude of the sinner. In their pride, the sinner doesn’t see a need for God. Their self-sufficiency is their god. They believe the lie that their pride will be enough to save them from death.
When the sinner finally “shuffles off this mortal coil” (Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”), they stand naked before their Maker. The God of the universe looks upon their shivering nakedness and is not impressed. The sinner’s pride is as substantial as a dandelion seed is before a hurricane and it has as much effect. The weight of their own wickedness overthrows the sinner’s pride and they end up in eternal darkness (John 3:36).
Application: Think about the choices you make today and see if they are consistent with your idea of integrity.
Food for Thought: How is what we do different than who we are?
One to remember
Good morning, Anon.
Do you mean that we have to remember our deeds as opposed to simply being who we are?
08-04-2022, Proverbs 13:6, How is what we do different than who we are?
I would suggest, what we do is who we are. As believers we have become perfect in God’s sight through Jesus Christ. Empowered by the Holy Spirit who will do good works through us to the degree we give ourselves to him, but we remain the wretched person Paul wrote of in Romans 7:14-25.
Imperfect beings serving our perfect God. Our churches are Christian Hospitals, filled with broken people seeking righteousness through Christ, and looking forward to the moment we will at last stand before God and be set forever free from the power of all sin.
As believers there are moments, times when we are actually used by God to minster to others and what a great pleasure it is as we experience God doing His Good works through us.
Pay attention to what we do and we will see exactly who we are.
Thank you, Ron.
You have gone to the heart of the matter and said that what we do is who we are. I don’t disagree. The challenge I see here is that we do not always know if what someone does reflect who they are or is a ruse, reflecting who they want us to think they are.
Children may sin and make bad choices and disappoint their parents, but they are still beloved children to their parents. What I do is important as a child who represents my Father, but even when I fail I am still His child. Of course, this motivates me to not be a disappointment and to faithfully love and serve the one who died and rose for me.
Rich,
You paint a picture of us falling short of God’s goals for our behavior. But even if we do not “do” what God wants us to do, we are still saved in Christ. So in this case what we do reflects who we are (sinners) and what God does reflects who he is (a loving God who redeems his own and saves them from themselves).
How is what we do different than who we are?
This is like when we define someone by their job. What we do is not who we are, but it can be indicative.
Let’s start by defining who we are:
All of mankind is loved by God
Sinful by nature
Christians are:
Redeemed by Christ’s sacrifice
Adopted as God’s children
Washed clean
Men of faith
How does what we do show that God loves us? It doesn’t. Our actions do not display God’s love for us. As a Christian, we attempt to show God’s love by loving other people the way He does. Now this can get very complicated depending on how technical you want to get. You could argue that God acts through us, therefore we show, or we show what He has shown…. But I’m focusing on the question being focused on us, people, being the source. Therefore, maybe we can show that God loves someone else by our actions toward them. But wait, sinners are loved by God too!!! So those who aren’t following God or even trying to show the best shadow of His love that we can, they are loved. How could they hope to display this by their actions????
It’s easy to show that we’re sinful.
We as Christians show that we are redeemed and washed clean by a change of action. Mainly seen when we see a sinful action in our lives and we stop that sinful action.
How do our actions show that we’re adopted? Well, usually it’s displayed by us connecting/praying/taking time for God. He’s part of our family now and we include Him in all sorts of things we do. But what about those who got mad and are giving God the silent treatment? Are they less adopted because of their change of behavior? No.
I know some men of faith that only have faith for salvation and beyond that don’t trust God with anything. It’s kind of ridiculous, to be honest. Everything else in our lives is so much easier for God to handle than salvation and even at that… Is anything too difficult for God? No!! He can do whatever He wants and we should be in awe that He wants to help us after the way we’ve treated Him.
So sometimes what we do doesn’t exactly show who we are or what we are. It would be a flawed statement, though often, yes, we act in accordance with who we are and these actions give indication. To have true integrity, we should act like who we are and not let ourselves behave like we aren’t saved or adopted.
A,
You have really wrestled with this topic. Well done! I like your definition of who we are (“All of mankind is loved by God, Sinful by nature”).
In this sense, our deeds do not define us. Even though we lack integrity and act sinfully, we are still saved by God’s grace.
🤗