Proverbs 13:5 ESV
The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.
[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+13%3A5&version=ESV]
Hate is the great crime of modernity. Racism, anti-homosexuality, anti-transgenderism, and a whole host of other sins against modernity (e.g. bigotry) revolve around hate, around not being loving. After all, ‘love is love’. That position is evil. To hate sin is a virtue, not a vice, because sin is hateful, because God hates sin. To love sin, conversely, is a vice, because to love sin is to love what God hates. Indiscriminate love, therefore, is sinful; love should be given to what is lovely, hate to what is hateful, and lying most definitely falls into the second category.
This command to hate evil does not give man the right to hate his fellow man (Matthew 5:44; 1 John 3:15). The prerogative to judge a man to that level lies with God, and He has not given to man that right. No, the command to hate given both here in Proverbs 13:5 and in other passages is to hate vice, to hate the sin.
Sin is fundamentally a rebellion against God. To love this rebellion is to participate in it, given the absolute sovereignty of God, and to hate it is therefore the only right course. To hate sin, more importantly, is to imitate God (Revelations 2:6).
All this makes clear why the wicked bring ‘shame and disgrace’ to themselves and to others. One who (by implication of the contrast to the first portion of the verse) loves falsehood will deceive and lie, will thus sin against God by spurning His truth and by using those lies to harm others. For this they deserve judgement. Shame and disgrace, at can be seen in passages such as Jeremiah 50-51, are part and parcel of judgement; that a smaller course of them should be placed upon the wicked in this earth should not surprise us (Psalm 73).
Once the basic circumstances are established, the question of this proverb, ultimately, is one we should all ask ourselves: do I love falsehood, or do I love truth? This question isn’t as easy as just saying, ‘of course I love truth’. The answer, ultimately, lies in examination of what we do, not what we say to ourselves. Do I deceive others? Why? Who? Do I try to lie to God? Do I lie to myself? Do I repent of my lies?
This last question is important and must be properly understood. Biblical repentance isn’t just regret. Biblical repentance is the turning of the mind away from a sin, towards righteousness, in recognition of its sinfulness. Repentance therefore leads, with God’s grace, into a change of behavior. The man who repents of lying in truth does not immediately turn to lie again.
Regardless of the answer you or I find to this question, however, regardless of how much we find we loves lies (and we all love them more than we ought), one consolation, mightier than all the kings of the world, still remains: God is in heaven, and He has promised to the faithful man eternal life, for His glory, according to His steadfast love. In the words of Paul, “And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified” (Romans 8:30). God does not leave His people to struggle in the inescapable mire of their own sin; He grants instead to us His strength, that we might triumph in His name (Exodus 15:13; 2 Timothy 2:1).
Therefore, let us glory in His name, He who made heaven and earth, who humbled Himself for our sake and for His own right glory to become mortal man (Genesis 1:1; Philippians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3). Let us praise Him, who for our sins died upon the cross, was made an abomination to His Father, who bore, though the King of all, the sins of His people for which they were rightly condemned to eternal fire (Isaiah 53:12; 1 Peter 2:24; Matthew 18:8). Let us worship Him, who rose from the dead, for upon Him death had no claim, and who ascended to sit now upon the right hand of God His Father and our Father, who made us heirs by His grace and even now intercedes on our behalf (1 Corinthians 15:12; Romans 8:34; John 3:13; Galatians 4:1-7).
God bless.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
