Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 16:6
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD [men] depart from evil.
6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged ] This is not a statement of the method and ground of atonement, though the Heb. word here rendered purged is the usual word in the O.T. for covering, or atoning for, sin. That is taught elsewhere both in the Old (Psa 51:7), and in the New Testament (Rom 3:20-26). But it is a lifting of man’s appropriation of atonement out of the ceremonial and ritual into the moral sphere of action. Not by sacrifices as its purchase-money, but by a new life as its seal, is the free gift of atonement realised and assured. Comp. Eze 18:27-28; Mic 6:6-8; Jas 2:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare Pro 15:8. By mercy and truth, not by sacrifices and burnt-offerings, iniquity is purged, atoned for, expiated. The teaching is the same as that of the prophets.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 16:6
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged.
The mission of mercy and truth
Some plead for prevailing mercy, and some for prevailing justice, in jurisprudence, education, and theology. Some try to blend the two, but find the effort a hopeless one. By a mercy and truth torn apart, and set in opposition to each other, iniquity is not purged. Solomon was speaking in the spirit of the Old Testament; yet he has no sense of contradiction between these two qualities: he makes no endeavour to show how they may be adjusted to each other. He does not say that truth is tempered with mercy, or that mercy must not be carried too far lest it should interfere with truth. He says simply, By mercy and truth iniquity is purged. Both are equally enemies of iniquity; both are equally interested in its extirpation; both are equally interested in the deliverance of the creature who is tormented by it. This view alone could satisfy the Jew who believed in the God of Abraham. The Lord of heaven had revealed himself to his fathers as the God of righteousness and truth. The Jews were tempted to honour beings less righteous; and they yielded to the temptation. But the Being whom they forgot was what He had ever been. His mercy and truth were fixed as the hills. By and by the recollection of Him came back to them. It was their comfort to believe there was One unlike themselves, One who was not changeable and capricious as they were. He was merciful, and forgave their transgressions. This unfolded to them depths in the Divine character of which they had known nothing, or only by the hearing of the ear. They felt that only a perfectly righteous Being could be perfectly merciful. The psalmists implore mercy, but they implore it of One who, they believe, is willing to bestow it, because He is righteous. That view of mercy, in which it takes the form of indulgence of sins, they dare not cherish. The fear of God is the fear of the righteous and merciful Lord; not the fear of some false being, some creature of their own thoughts, clothed with their own evil qualities. Such creatures they were not to fear; they were to fight continually against the fear of them. In the Son of God did any one see that warfare of truth with mercy which we have so rashly dreamed of in the eternal mind? His warfare was the warfare of truth and mercy against untruth and hardness of heart. Jesus showed that mercy and truth were divided only by the evil which seeks to destroy both. It is by their perfect union that iniquity is purged. The sacrifice of purges iniquity. But we are not taught in the Bible that the sacrifice of Christ was the sacrifice to one attribute, for the sake of bringing it into agreement with another. By the mercy and truth of God the Father, Son, and Spirit is the iniquity of our race, and of each of its members, purged. By the fear of this great and holy name do men depart from evil. The fear of an unbending Lawgiver will not keep men from evil. The New Testament name for God is the name of absolute eternal Truth and Love, and this alone makes us fear to sin. (F. D. Maurice, M.A.)
By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil,–
Sins of men arising from a want of the fear of God, and the instigation of the devil
The wickedness of man is referable to two causes, a want of due apprehension of the Almighty, and the instigation of the devil. Consider who God is, and what are His chief qualities. He is the creator and governor of the universe: a Being of infinite power, present everywhere, privy to our most secret transactions. If we had these ideas constantly before our eyes, should we ever dare affront Him with our iniquities? There is a particular scepticism in too many, with regard to the attributes of God. They doubt whether He possesses some qualities in that extent in which reason and Scripture assure us that He doth. They persuade themselves that His presence is not universal; that He does not regard human concerns minutely; that He is not too rigidly just; and that His goodness will tone His justice. But if they did not wish to deceive themselves, they would never reason in this manner. Nor may we impute our iniquities to our natural frailty, seeing we are promised aids in overcoming it. The want of the fear of God is the prime cause of unrighteousness. The enemy only attacks us when he perceives us defenceless; then he plies us with suitable temptations. Our safety from him lies in keeping, continually, well within the fear of the Lord. (G. Haggitt, M.A.)
The fear of God
The term fear is here used for the principle of religion. This principle is the only one which will cause men to forsake evil. A reverent regard to the Divine will is the only security for human virtue. Fear, then, here embraces all the feelings and motives, which tend to keep men separate from everything which God disapproves. Dread of the Divine displeasure prepares the soul for the operation of higher and better feelings. There are those who are disposed to censure the text, as conveying an expression positively wrong. Reason is the power which persons of this stamp profess to worship; and reason, as well as religion, has in all ages, had her bigots and fanatics. The fear of the Lord they spurn, as a motive infinitely beneath them. All fear, they tell us, is sordid and slavish. They say that all virtue is to be despaired of which is not built on disinterested feeling, i.e., on a complete independence either of punishment or reward. But if we take away the fear of God, what safeguard have we left for the integrity of man? True, man has two guides, his moral sense, or perception of right and wrong, and his sense of what is useful and expedient. But would the virtue of individuals or the peace of society be long secured in the custody of these sages?
1. We must not speak in disparagement of the moral sense. But it is the fact, that the breath of a corrupt world has passed over this breastplate of light and perfection, and hath dimmed its glory. This faculty has deeply partaken of mans degeneracy. The sense of moral fitness often degenerates into a mere taste or impulse. The advantages this world has to offer are not clearly on the side of virtue. Were virtue to be found at perpetual variance with pleasure or with safety, it is absurd to imagine that she would long retain her votaries.
2. Will mans sense of what is useful for the general good of mankind do any more for him than the sense of moral propriety. Suppose each member of a commonwealth were under an implied covenant with his fellow-men to abstain from actions which may be at variance with the general interest. What is there to secure this compact from daily and hourly violation, when there is no witness to report it, and no external power to control it. Who but the man himself is to interpret the rules of universal convenience and expediency in cases where doubt really exists, or where selfishness raises the apparition of a doubt? Here, then, we have a law left to execute itself. Suppose human laws come to aid the powers within us; it may still be urged that these are not effective if the powers of the world to come be removed. No law can long maintain its authority without reference to the Supreme Will, the fountain of all law throughout the universe. Equally rash would it be to rely on the fear of infamy to prevent disorder and crime. For here again the hope of escaping discovery would come in to pacify the apprehensions of disgrace. It is public opinion that wields this scourge, and it is the general prevalence of high moral feeling that makes public opinion a stern and formidable executioner. The moral sense, and the rule of public usefulness, furnish, no doubt, very strong recommendations to virtuous practice, but nothing less than the fear of an avenging Deity can ever generally enforce it. (C. W. Le Bas, M.A.)
Mercy and truth evidential of salvation
The application might be restricted to the manner in which the God of mercy and truth, the God who Himself delighteth in mercy, and who requireth truth in the inward parts, manifests His regard to the practice of these virtues in His creatures. There is a Scriptural sense, too, in which mercy and truth, and the kindred graces, impart confidence towards God; but it is only as evidential of interest in the salvation by grace which the Divine Word reveals; it is neither as meritorious, nor as expiatory. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged] This may be misunderstood, as if a man, by showing mercy and acting according to truth, could atone for his own iniquity. The Hebrew text is not ambiguous: bechesed veemeth yechapper avon; “By mercy and truth he shall atone for iniquity.” He – God, by his mercy, in sending his son Jesus into the world, – “shall make an atonement for iniquity” according to his truth – the word which he declared by his holy prophets since the world began. Or, if we retain the present version, and follow the points in yecuppar, reading “iniquity is purged” or “atoned for,” the sense is unexceptionable, as we refer the mercy and the truth to GOD. But what an awful comment is that of Don Calmet, in which he expresses, not only his own opinion, but the staple doctrine of his own Church, the Romish! The reader shall have his own words: “‘L’iniquite se rachete par la misericorde et la verite.’ On expie ses pechez par des oeuvres de misericorde envers le prochein; par la clemence, par la douceur, par compassion, par les aumones: et par la verite – par la fidelity, la bonne foi, la droiture, l’equite dans le commerce. Voyez Pr 3:3; Pr 14:22; Pr 20:28.” “‘Iniquity is redeemed by mercy and truth.’ We expiate our sins by works of mercy towards our neighbour; by clemency, by kindness, by compassion, and by alms: and by truth – by fidelity, by trustworthiness, by uprightness, by equity in commerce.” If this be so, why was Jesus incarnated? Why his agony and bloody sweat, his cross and passion, his death and burial, his resurrection and ascension? Was it only to supply a sufficient portion of merit for those who had neglected to make a fund for themselves? Is the guilt of sin so small in the sight of Divine justice, that a man can atone for it by manifesting good dispositions towards his neighbours, by giving some alms, and not doing those things for which he might be hanged? Why then did God make such a mighty matter of the redemption of the world? Why send his Son at all? An angel would have been more than sufficient; yea, even a sinner, who had been converted by his own compassion, alms – deeds, c., would have been sufficient. And is not this the very doctrine of this most awfully fallen and corrupt Church? Has she not provided a fund of merit in her saints, of what was more than requisite for themselves, that it might be given, or sold out, to those who had not enough of their own? Now such is the doctrine of the Romish Church – grossly absurd, and destructively iniquitous! And because men cannot believe this, cannot believe these monstrosities, that Church will burn them to ashes. Ruthless Church! degenerated, fallen, corrupt, and corrupting! once a praise, now a curse, in the earth. Thank the blessed God, whose blood alone can expiate sin, that he has a Church upon the earth and that the Romish is not the Catholic Church; and that it has not that political power by which it would subdue all things to itself.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By mercy and truth; either,
1. By Gods mercy or grace, and by his truth in performing his promises made to sinners in Christ. Or,
2. By mens mercy and truth, as those very words are jointly used, Pro 3:3; 20:28, and elsewhere; and as, in the following clause, the fear of the Lord is a grace or disposition in men; by a merciful, and just, and faithful frame of heart and course of life; which are here opposed to sacrifices, as mercy is, Hos 6:6, by which the hypocritical Jews expected to obtain the expiation of their sins.
Iniquity is purged, not meritoriously, but instrumentally, as they qualify a man to offer up acceptable prayers to God for the pardon of his sins, and to receive and apply to himself that pardon which Christ by his blood hath purchased for all sincere believers, who are filled with mercy, and truth, and other graces.
By the fear of the Lord; by a filial reverence or respect unto God, and by a holy fear of offending God, and by a dread of Gods judgments;
men depart from evil; they are kept from abusing pardoning mercy, and from returning to folly or wickedness. So he showeth that justification and sanctification are constant and inseparable companions.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. By mercy and truththat is,God’s (Ps 85:10); He effectsthe atonement, or covering of sin; and the principles of true pietyincline men to depart from evil; or, “mercy” and “truth”may be man’s, indicative of the gracious tempers which workinstrumentally in procuring pardon.
purgedexpiated (as inLev 16:33; Isa 27:9,Hebrew).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged,…. Or “expiated” d, and atoned for: not by the mercy and truth of men; not by alms deeds or showing mercy to the poor; nor by speaking truth and keeping promises, and doing justice between man and man; for, though these are duties to be performed, they will not atone for sin; and may be done by persons destitute of the grace of God, and whose iniquities are not purged or pardoned: but by the mercy and truth of God; through his “mercy”, in sending Christ to be the propitiation for sin; and through his “truth”, in fulfilling his promises concerning Christ; and particularly concerning pardon on the foot of his sacrifice and satisfaction, where mercy and truth have met together: or through the grace and truth come by Jesus Christ; or through his atoning sacrifice, by which he has finished transgression, made an end of sin, and made reconciliation for iniquity; in which there is a rich display of his own and of his father’s grace and mercy, truth and faithfulness;
and by the fear of the Lord [men] depart from evil; having that put into their hearts, and excited and influenced by the grace and goodness of God, men are engaged to abstain from evil, and the appearance of it; it teaches them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly and godly in this world.
d “expiabitur”, Montanus, Vatablus; “expiatur”, Tigurine version, Mercerus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6 By love and truth is iniquity expiated,
And through the fear of Jahve one escapes from evil –
literally, there comes (as the effect of it) the escaping of evil ( , n. actionis, as Pro 13:19), or rather, since the evil here comes into view as to its consequences (Pro 14:27; Pro 15:24), this, that one escapes evil. By are here meant, not the of God (Bertheau), but, like Pro 20:28, Isa 39:8, love and faithfulness in the relation of men to one another. The is both times that of the mediating cause. Or is it said neither by what means one may attain the expiation of his sins, nor how he may attain to the escaping from evil, but much rather wherein the true reverence for Jahve, and wherein the right expiation of sin, consist? Thus von Hofmann, Schriftbew. i. 595. But the of is not different from that of , Isa 27:9. It is true that the article of justification is falsified if good works enter as causa meritoria into the act of justification, but we of the evangelical school teach that the fides qu justificat is indeed inoperative, but not the fides quae justificat , and we cannot expect of the O.T. that it should everywhere distinguish with Pauline precision what even James will not or cannot distinguish. As the law of sacrifice designates the victim united with the blood in the most definite manner, but sometimes also the whole transaction in the offering of sacrifice even to the priestly feast as serving , Lev 10:17, so it also happens in the general region of ethics: the objective ground of reconciliation is the decree of God, to which the blood in the typical offering points, and man is a partaker of this reconciliation, when he accepts, in penitence and in faith, the offered mercy of God; but this acceptance would be a self-deception, if it meant that the blotting out of the guilt of sin could be obtained in the way of imputation without the immediate following thereupon of a blotting of it out in the way of sanctification; and therefore the Scriptures also ascribe to good works a share in the expiation of sin in a wider sense – namely, as the proofs of thankful (Luk 7:47) and compassionate love ( vid., at Pro 10:2), as this proverb of love and truth, herein according with the words of the prophets, as Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6-8. He who is conscious of this, that he is a sinner, deeply guilty before God, who cannot stand before Him if He did not deal with him in mercy instead of justice, according to the purpose of His grace, cannot trust to this mercy if he is not zealous, in his relations to his fellow-men, to practise love and truth; and in view of the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, and of the parable of the unmerciful steward rightly understood, it may be said that the love which covers the sins, Pro 10:12, of a neighbour, has, in regard to our own sins, a covering or atoning influence, of “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” That “love and truth” are meant of virtues practised from religious motives, 6b shows; for, according to this line, by the fear of Jahve one escapes evil. The fear of Jahve is subjection to the God of revelation, and a falling in with the revealed plan of salvation.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
See here, 1. How the guilt of sin is taken away from us–by the mercy and truth of God, mercy in promising, truth in performing, the mercy and truth which kiss each other in Jesus Christ the Mediator–by the covenant of grace, in which mercy and truth shine so brightly–by our mercy and truth, as the condition of the pardon and a necessary qualification for it–by these, and not by the legal sacrifices, Mic 6:7; Mic 6:8. 2. How the power of sin is broken in us. By the principles of mercy and truth commanding in us the corrupt inclinations are purged out (so we may take the former part); however, by the fear of the Lord, and the influence of that fear, men depart from evil; those will not dare to sin against God who keep up in their minds a holy dread and reverence of him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Grace Purges and Constrains
Verse 6 declares that it is by mercy and truth that iniquity is purged, and it is out of a submissive reverence for the LORD that purged men turn away from sin, Pro 2:10-12; Pro 20:28.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 16:6. Purged. Heb., kaphar, expiated, or covered.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 16:6
THE PURGING OF INIQUITY
I. There is in the human heart and in human life that which is not conducive to human happiness, viz., iniquity. Iniquity is inequality, or injustice, and a sinner is an unjust man.
1. He is unjust to himself. He is bound to render to himself what is due to his own natureto care for his own real and highest interestsbut this no ungodly man does.
2. He practises iniquity towards his neighbour. This follows from the first as a necessary consequence. Shakespeare thus admonishes us
To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
But if a man is not true to himself, it follows as certainly that he will not be true to any other manwill not in its real and broad sense be a just man in his relations to others.
3. He practises iniquity towards God. He does not render to God that which is His just due, and this is indeed the foundation of his iniquity towards himself and his fellow-men.
II. Human nature cannot find within itself a remedy for its own iniquity. The man who is smitten with fever cannot find a remedy for his disease in his own diseased bodyhe must look somewhere else for a cure. There are remedies powerful in curing his disease, but they must be administered from without, they are not resident within him. So there is a cure for human iniquity, and that cure is to be found in contact with mercy and truth, but neither of these is to be found in fallen human nature, or, if some traces exist among men, the mercy is not abundant enough, and the truth is not unalloyed enough to effect the cure.
III. There is enough mercy and truth in God to do away with human iniquity. He has devised a plan by which His abundant mercy and His unsullied truth shall be brought into contact with sinful men in such a manner as to cure them of their sin. Mercy without truth could not meet the need, neither could truth without mercy. Mercy is needed to do away with the guilt of sinto give remission for past transgressions, but it is equally needful that some standard of truth and righteousness should be also given, lest men sin that grace may abound. Mercy frees the sinner from the penalty of sin, but truth is brought into contact with his soul to free him from the power of sin. Being made free from sin men must become servants of God, and have fruit unto holiness. (Rom. 6:22.) And to obtain this end there must be a reception into the human soul of Divine truth to transform itto regenerate it. Hence when tie Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and men beheld His glory, it was a glory full of grace and truth. (Joh. 1:14). For Homiletics on the second clause of this verse, see on chap Pro. 14:15 (page 364).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Loving and faithful conduct towards ones neighbour is not in and of itself named as the ground of the expiation of sin, but only so far forth as it is a sign and necessary expression of a really penitent and believing disposition of heart, and so is a correlative to the fear of God, which is made prominent in the second clause; just as in the expression of Jesus with reference to the sinning woman (Luk. 7:47), or as in Isa. 58:7; Dan. 4:34, etc.Zckler.
The purging of iniquity seems here to direct us to expiation, and considering that Divine mercy and truth are frequently exhibited in connection with this invaluable blessing, the analogy of faith appears to link it here with these combined perfections which kiss in Christ the Mediator (Psa. 85:10), and with that covenant of grace in which they shine so brightly. Should this view be thought not to cohere with the general tenor of this book, which deals more with practical points and matters of common life than with the deeper articles of faith, it may be observed that, when some of its pages are so fully illuminated by evangelical sunshine (chap. Pro. 8:9), we might naturally expectbesides this connected splendouroccasional rays of doctrinal light to rest upon this system of Christian morals. God purges iniquity by sacrifice, not nullifying the sanctions of the law by a simple deed of mercy, but combining the manifestations of His truth by fulfilling these sanctions upon the Surety which mercy provided (Isa. 53:6; 2Co. 5:21). So gloriously do these two attributes harmonise. We inquire not to which we owe the deepest obligation. Mercy engages, truth fulfils the engagements. Mercy providestruth acceptsthe ransom. Both sat together in the Eternal council. Both made their public entrance together into the world. Both, like the two pillars of the temple (1Ki. 7:21), combine to support the Christians confidence. The exercise of forgiveness is to implant a conservative principle. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. The supposition of pardon for a sinner continuing impenitent would be to unite the two contraries of reconciliation and enmity.Bridges.
The gospel in
(1) Justification and
(2) Sanctification is here as beautiully announced as by any of the apostles. Justification makes its appearance as a covering of iniquity by mercy and truth. Mercy and truth is the sum of holiness. How does holiness, therefore, which is mercy and truth, cover sin? Undoubtedly by the gospel method. But then there is to be a turning from evil. This is Sanctification. How is it to be accomplished? By ourselves, as the indispensable instrument. Mercy and truth win for us the Spirit; and then, under this outfit, we are to set out upon the journey. The man in the temple must lift forth his hand (Mat. 12:10). But how are we to begin? This book tells us again and again. The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom (chap. Pro. 9:10). The turning is by an access of fear. But how are we to continue? The turning is to be kept up. It is more like a departing. Sin, being slow to wear out, the turning has to go on; and it becomes a journey; and we travel each day, just as we set out. And the very last of the journey, like the very beginning, is by the fear of Jehovah. The actual fear of Jehovah, tempered by love, is a thing of discipline (see on chap. Pro. 15:33), which drives the Christian away from his iniquity.Miller.
To fear the Lord and to depart from evil, are phrases which the Scriptures use in very great latitude to express to us the sum of religion and the whole of our duty.
1. It is very usual in Scripture to express the whole of religion by some eminent principle or part of it. The great principles of religion are knowledge, faith, remembrance, love, and fear. And religion is called the knowledge of the holy (Pro. 30:3), and the remembrance of God (Ecc. 12:1), and the love of God (Rom. 8:28, etc.), and here and elsewhere the fear of the Lord (Mal. 3:16, etc.). So likewise the sum of all religion is often expressed by some eminent part of it, as it is here expressed by departing from evil. It is described by seeking God (Heb. 11:6) and by calling on His name (Act. 2:21), etc., etc.
2. The fitness of these two phrases to describe religion. The fitness of the first will appear if we consider how great an influence the fear of God hath upon men to make them religious. Fear is a passion that is most deeply rooted in our natures, and flows immediately from that principle of self-preservation which God hath planted in every man. Everyone desires his own preservation and happiness, therefore everyone has a natural dread of anything that can destroy them. And the greatest danger is from the greatest power, and that is omnipotency. So that the fear of God is an inward acknowledgment of a holy and just being, who is armed with an almighty and irresistible power; God having hid in every mans conscience a secret awe and dread of His infinite power and eternal justice. Now fear, being so intimate to our nature, is the strongest bond of laws, and the great security of our duty. For though we have lost in a great measure the gust and relish of true happiness, yet we still retain a quick sense of pain and misery. So that fear relies upon a natural love of ourselves, and is complicated with a necessary desire of our own preservation. And therefore religion usually makes its entrance into us by this passion; hence, perhaps, it is that Solomon more than once calls it the beginning of wisdom. As for the second phrase, the fitness of it will appear if we consider the necessary connection that there is between the negative and positive part of our duty. He that is careful to avoid all sin will sincerely endeavour to perform his duty. For the soul of man is an active principle, and will be employed one way or other, it will be doing some thing; if a man abstain from evil he will do good. Virtue begins in the forsaking of vice; and the first part of wisdom is not to be a fool. The law of God, contained in the Ten Commandments, consists mostly of prohibitions which yet include obedience likewise to the positive precepts contained in those prohibitions.Tillotson.
No object can well be more dull and meaningless than the stained window of an ancient church, as long as you stand without and look upon a dark interior; but when you stand within the temple, and look through that window upon the light from heaven, the still, sweet, solemn forms that lie in it start into life and loveliness. The beauty was all conceived by the mind, and wrought by the hand of the ancient artist whose bones now lie mouldering in the surrounding churchyard; but the beauty lies hid until two requisites come togethera seeing eye within, and a shining light without. We often meet with a verse upon the page of the Old Testament Scriptures very like those ancient works of art. The beauty of holiness is in itput into it by the Spirit from the first, and yet its meaning was not fully known until the Sun of Righteousness arose, and the Israel of God, no longer kept in the outer court, entered through the rent veil, and from the Holy of Holies, looked through the ancient record on an illuminated heaven. Many hidden beauties burst into view upon the pages of the Bible, when Faiths open eye looks through it on the face of Jesus. One of these texts is now before us. The first clause tells how the guilt of sin is forgiven; the second, how the power of sin is subdued. Solomon unites the two constituent elements of the sinners deliverance in the same order in which his father experienced them: I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments (Psa. 119:166). It is when iniquity is purged by free grace that men practically depart from evil. Mercy and truth meet in the Mediator. In Christ the fire meets the water without drying it up: the water meets the fire without quenching it out.Arnot.
By iniquity God and man are severed, and never can iniquity be pardoned until God and man meet again. To procure this meeting there must be a meeting of mercy and truth, of mercy in God and truth in man. And these do call the one for the other. The mercy of God being ready to forgive iniquity, calleth for truth in man to confess iniquity; the truth of man being ready to confess his iniquity calleth for the mercy of God to pardon his iniquity. Now these two readily concurring, God and man are rejoined, and by their reunion iniquity is purged. But then there must follow a departing from iniquity For iniquity, forgiven and not forsaken, doubleth the iniquity both in mans guilt and Gods wrath. Wherefore, let the mercy of the Lord breed a fear in thee, and let the truth of thy repentance appear, as well in shunning iniquity as in forsaking of it.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(6) Mercy and truth.See above on Pro. 3:3. Mercy and truth cannot, of course, in themselves purge iniquity, only so far as they are signs of the faith which worketh by love (Gal. 5:6), which accepts the salvation offered by God (Rom. 1:16-17). (Comp. the statement with regard to charity, 1Pe. 4:8.)
By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.Or, rather, escape misfortune. (Comp. Psalms 37 throughout.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. By mercy and truth (compare Pro 3:3; Pro 20:28) iniquity is purged Literally, covered. The expression has reference to those legal expiations and atonements of the old law by which sin was so far covered, as that every transgressor was, by virtue of his offering, saved from exclusion from the Jewish fold; and, when the obedience which induced the offering was accompanied by faith in that which the offering typified, a real atonement was effected for the wrong doer. This “mercy and truth” clearly refer to the man’s conduct, not towards God, but towards his fellow men. No future good conduct, as a mere morality, can secure forgiveness for past transgression. But “mercy and truth,” exercised by the repentant and pardoned man, constitute those good works which are not merely “evidence” of regeneration, but are truly pleasing to God, and contribute to banish with God and man the remembrance of a past wicked life. So, Eze 33:14-15, if the wicked turn and prosecute a course of righteousness, “none of his sins which be hath committed shall be mentioned unto him.” Comp. Isa 57:7, et seq.; 1Sa 15:22; Mic 6:6-8; Psa 50:13-14; Psa 51:16-17. Some evangelical expositors, in their zeal to oppose erroneous Romish teaching, have unintentionally wrested this passage from its legitimate use, and attempted to apply it to the “mercy and truth” of God revealed in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice for sin. But the wise teacher was not speaking of the mercy and truth of God’s dealings with men: he was treating of the dealings of men with men. “Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have (I require) mercy, and not sacrifice:” that is, in preference to sacrifice. Mat 9:13. “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” Pro 21:3. And by the fear of the Lord men depart (or, there is turning) from evil Comp. Pro 8:13. The fear of Jehovah is the most effectual way to turn from, avoid, or escape, evil moral evil and its consequences, that is, punishment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD [men] depart from evil.
Ver. 6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged. ] Lest the proud person, bearing these dreadful threats, sbould fall into despair, here is a way shewed him how to escape. “By mercy and truth”; that is, by the goodness and faithfulness of God; by his love tbat moved him to promise pardon to the penitent, and by his truth that binds him to perform; “iniquity” – though never so hateful, be it blasphemy or any like heinous sin Mat 12:31 – “is purged,” or expiated, viz., through Christ, “who is the propitiation for our sins.” 1Jn 2:2 Pro 14:22 See Trapp on “ Pro 14:22 “
And by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
mercy = lovingkindness, or grace. iniquity. Hebrew. ‘avah. App-44.
purged = covered: i.e. by a propitiatory covering.
the fear of the LORD. See note on Pro 1:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 16:6
Pro 16:6
“By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for; And by the fear of Jehovah men depart from evil.”
“Mercy and truth, no matter how diligently practiced, cannot alone be the ground of salvation from sin, except in the sense that they might be a sign of true repentance and conversion to God’s will. “What can take away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus”! This rendition: “Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for. This is correct with an expanded definition of `faithfulness.’
Pro 16:6. God is in both parts of mans salvation: His fear causes man to depart from evil, and His mercy and truth atone for the sin that has been dropped. Mercy is that attribute of God that exhibits itself in our forgiveness; truth stands for the way that He has set up for us to come to Him for His forgiveness. Fear is a deterrent to sin; to crime, and to misbehavior (Pro 14:16).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
mercy: Pro 20:28, Psa 85:10, Dan 4:27, Mic 7:18-20, Luk 11:41, Joh 15:2, Act 15:9, 1Pe 1:22
by the: Pro 8:13, Pro 14:16, Pro 14:27, Gen 20:11, Neh 5:9, Neh 5:15, Job 1:1-8, Job 28:28, 2Co 7:1, Eph 5:21
Reciprocal: Exo 1:17 – feared God Exo 9:30 – General Deu 6:2 – fear Deu 25:18 – feared Deu 30:13 – go over the sea Psa 4:4 – sin Psa 25:12 – What Psa 36:1 – no Psa 37:27 – Depart Pro 3:3 – mercy Pro 3:7 – fear Pro 13:14 – to Pro 13:19 – depart Isa 56:2 – keepeth his Jer 44:10 – neither Mal 3:5 – fear Act 9:31 – and walking Act 10:35 – feareth Rom 3:18 – General 1Pe 3:11 – eschew
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 16:6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged By the covenant of grace, in which mercy and truth shine so bright, even the mercy and truth of God, which meet together, and kiss each other, in Jesus Christ the Mediator; by mercy in promising, and truth in performing, is the guilt of sin taken away from us, when we are truly penitent, and cast our sinful souls by faith on that mercy and truth. Hereby also a principle of mercy and truth is implanted in us, by which the power of sin is broken, and our corrupt inclinations are mortified and destroyed. In this way, and not by any legal sacrifices, or ceremonial observances, such as those on which the hypocritical Jews depended for the expiation of their sins, is iniquity purged, and the sinner both pardoned and renewed, Mic 6:7-8; Hos 6:6; Mat 9:13. And by the fear of the Lord By a filial reverence toward God, and by a holy fear of offending him; men depart from evil They are kept from abusing pardoning mercy, and from returning to folly or wickedness. So he shows that forgiveness and holiness, or justification, and at least a measure of sanctification, are constant and inseparable companions.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:6 By {d} mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD [men] depart from evil.
(d) Their upright and repenting life will be a token that their sins are forgiven.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
We do not atone for our own iniquity by being loving and truthful. This proverb is not a denial of our need for God’s atonement. However, we can and should cover (atone for) the mistakes of others lovingly and truthfully (1Pe 4:8), as God covers our sins. What will keep us all away from evil is the fear of Yahweh.
"The fear of Jahve is subjection to the God of revelation, and a falling in with the revealed plan of salvation." [Note: Delitzsch, 1:339.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
-28
CHAPTER 29
AN ASPECT OF ATONEMENT
“He that hideth his transgressions shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy.”- Pro 28:13
“Happy is the man that feareth alway but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”- Pro 28:14
“The fear of the Lord tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited with evil.”- Pro 19:23
“By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.”- Pro 16:6
THE Hebrew word which is used for the idea of atonement is one which originally signifies to cover. Sin is a hideous sore, a shocking deformity, which must be hidden from the eyes of men, and much more from the holy eyes of God. Thus the Old Testament speaks about a Robe of Righteousness which is to be thrown over the ulcerated and leprous body of sin. Apart from this covering, the disease is seen working out its sure and terrible results. “A man that is laden with the blood of any person shall flee unto the pit: let no man stay him,” {Pro 28:17} and though blood-guiltiness appears to us the worst of sins, all sin is alike in its issue; every sinner may be seen by seeing eyes “fleeing unto the pit,” and no man can stay him or deliver him. Or, to vary the image, the sinful man is exposed to the violence of justice, which beats like a storm upon all unprotected heads; he needs to be covered; he needs some shelter, some hiding place, or he must be swept away.
But the objection which immediately occurs to us is this: what is the use of covering sin if the sin itself remains? The disease is not cured because a decent garment is drawn over the suffering part; indeed, it is not hard to conceive a case in which the covering might aggravate the mischief. If the idea of covering is to be of any service, it must be cleared from all misconception; there is a kind of hiding which may be ruinous, a garment which may drive the disease inward and hasten its deadly operation, a covert from the storm which may crush and stifle the person whom it professes to protect. “He that covereth his transgressions,” in that way, “shall not prosper.” Every attempt to conceal from God or from man or from oneself that one is diseased with sin is ineffectual: every lame excuse which seeks to palliate the guilt; every hypocritical pretense that the thing done has not been done, or that it is not what men usually suppose it to be; every ingenious argumentation which seeks to represent sin as something other than sin, as a mere defect or taint in the blood, as a hereditary and unavoidable weakness, as an aberration of the mind for which one is not responsible, or as a merely conventional and artificial offence, -all such attempts at hiding must be failures, “covering” of that kind can be no atonement. Quite the reverse; this trifling with conscience, this deluded self-righteousness, is the worst possible aggravation of the sin. Hidden in that way, though it be, as it were, in the bowels of the earth, sin becomes a poisonous gas, more noxious for confinement, and liable to break out in awful and devastating explosions.
The covering of sin which is spoken of in Pro 16:6 is of a very different and of a quite particular kind. Combining this verse with the others at the head of the chapter, we may observe that every effectual “covering” of sin in Gods sight involves three elements, -confession, forsaking, and a changed practice.
First, there is confession. This appears on the face of it to be a paradox: the only way of covering sin is to uncover it. But it is strictly true. We must make a clean breast of it; we must acknowledge its full extent and enormity; we must spare the patient ear of God no detail of our guilt. The foul, explosive gases must be let out into the open, since every attempt to confine them increases their destructive power. The running sore must be exposed to the Physicians eye, since every rag put over it to hide it becomes steeped in its defiling tides. It is true, confession is a painful and a weary task: it is like removing a heap of dust and refuse by spadefuls, -each bit as it is disturbed fills the atmosphere with choking particles and noisome smells; worse and worse is revealed the farther we go. We came to confess a single fault, and we found that it was but a broken shard lying on the foul and pestilential heap. Confession leads to confession, discovery to discovery. It is terribly humiliating. “Am I then so bad as this?” is the horrified cry as each candid admission shows only more and worse that must be admitted. True confession can never be made into a priests ear, – to men we can only confess the wrongs which we have done to men; but true confession is the awful tale of what we have done to God, against whom only we have sinned and done evil in His sight. It is sometimes urged that confession to a priest gives the penitent relief: possibly, but it is a false relief; since the eye of the priest is not omniscient, the sinner confesses only what he chooses, brings the broken shard, and receives absolution for that in lieu of removing the whole heap of abominations that underlie. When we have gone as far as we can in laying ourselves bare to man, there remain vast untraversed tracts of our life and our mind which are reserved; “Private road” is written on all the approaches, and trespassers are invariably prosecuted. It is only to God that a real confession can be made, because we know that to Him all is necessarily evident; with Him no subterfuges avail; he traverses those untraversed tracts; there are no private roads from which He is excluded; He knoweth our thoughts afar off.
The first step in the “covering” of sin is to realize this. If our sins are to be really covered they must first be laid bare; we must frankly own that all things are open to Him with whom we have to do; we must get away from the priests and into the hands of the High Priest; we must abjure the confessional and bring God Himself into the secret places of our hearts to search us and try us and see if there be any evil way in us. The reserve, and the veilings, which every individual cannot but maintain between himself and all other individuals, must be torn away, in full and absolute confession to God Himself.
Secondly. There is a confession, especially that fostered by the habit of confessing to priests, which is unaccompanied by any forsaking of the evil, or any departing from iniquity in general. Many times have men gone to their priests to receive absolution beforehand for the sin which they intended to commit; or they have postponed their confession to their, deathbeds, when there will be, as they suppose, no further sins to turn from. Confession of that kind is devoid of all significance; it covers no sins, it really only aggravates them. No confession is of the least avail-and indeed no real confession can be made to God at all-unless the heart turns away from the evil which is confessed, and actually departs at once, so far as it knows and is able, from all iniquity.
The glib language of confession has been and is a deadly snare to multitudes. How easy it is to say, or even to musically chant, “We have done that we ought not to have done; we have left undone that which we ought to have done.” There is no pain in such a confession if we once distinctly admit that it is a normal and natural state of mind for us to be in, and that as we say it today, so we shall say it tomorrow, and again the next day to the end. But real confession is so painful, and even heartrending, because it is only of value when we begin from that moment onwards “to do what we ought to do, and to leave undone what we ought not to do.” It is well for us, perhaps, to confess mot so much sin in the abstract as our own particular transgressions. Sin is too shadowy a monster for us to definitely avoid and forsake; like death, its kinsman, -Death of whom Milton says:-
“What seemed his head
The likeness of a kingly crown had on.”
Sin is formless, vague, impalpable. But our own individual transgressions can be fixed and defined: bringing ourselves to the test of the Law, we can say particularly, “This practice of mine is condemned, this habit of mine is sinful, this point of my character is evil, this reticence, this indolence, this reluctance, in confessing Christ and in serving His cause, is all wrong; “and then we can definitely turn our back on the practice or the habit, we can distinctly get rid of the blot in our character, we can fly this guilty silence, rouse ourselves from our selfish indolence. “We live to greatness like what we have been”; and it is this act of the will, this resolute purpose, this loathing what once you loved, and turning towards that which once you ignored, it is, in a word, the twin process of repentance and conversion, that constitutes the second act in this “covering” of sin. Not, of course, that in a moment the tyranny of old habits can be broken, or the virtue of new activities acquired; but “the forsaking” and “the departing from” are instantaneous exertions of the will. Zaccheus, directly the Lord speaks to him, stands forth, and breaks with his sins, renounces his extortions, resolving to make amends for the past and enters on a new line of conduct, promising to give the half of his goods to the poor. That is the essential seal of every true confession: “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh” his transgressions.
Thirdly. This has led us to see that the confession of sins and the conversion from them must issue in a positive practice of mercy and truth, in order to make the process of which we are speaking complete: “By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for.”
It is this part of the “covering” which is so easily, so frequently, and so fatally overlooked. It is supposed that sins can be hidden without being removed, and that the covering of what is called imputed righteousness will serve instead of the covering of actual righteousness. To argue against this view theoretically is at the present day happily quite superfluous: but it is still necessary to contend against its subtle practical effects. There is no verity more wholesome and more needed than the one contained in this proverb. Sin may be summed up in two clauses: it is the Want of Mercy and it is the Want of Truth. All our ill-conduct to our fellow-men comes from the cruelty and hardness of our selfish nature. Lust and greed and ambition are the outcome of pitilessness: we injure the weak and ruin the helpless, and trample on our competitors, and stamp out the poor; our eye does not pity. Again, all our offence against God is insincerity or wilful lying. We are false to ourselves, we are false to one another, and so we become false to the unseen verities, and false to God. When a human spirit denies the spiritual world and the spiritual Cause which can alone account for it, is it not what Plato used to call “a lie in the soul”? It is the deep inward and vital contradiction of consciousness; it is equivalent to saying, “I am not I,” or, “That which is, is not.”
Now, when we have lived in sin, without mercy or without truth, or without both; when our life up to a certain point has been a flagrant selfishness of absolute indifference to our fellows, or a flagrant lie denying Him in whom we live and move and have our being; or when as is so often the fact, the selfishness and the falseness have gone together, an inextricable and mutually dependent pair of evils, there can be no real covering of the sin, unless selfishness gives place to mercy and falsehood to truth. No verbal confession can possibly avail, no turning from the past iniquities, however genuine for the time, can have any permanent significance, unless the change is a reality, an obvious, living, and working fact. If a man supposes that he has become religious, but remains cruel and selfish, pitiless, unmerciful to his fellow-men, depend upon it that mans religion is vain; the atonement in which he trusts is a fiction, and avails no more than the hecatombs which Carthage offered to Melcarth availed to gain a victory over Rome. If a man counts himself saved, but remains radically untrue, false in his speech, insincere in his professions, careless in his thought about God, unjust in his opinions about men and the world, he is certainly under a lamentable delusion. Though he has, as he thinks, believed, he has not believed to the saving of his soul; though he has undergone a change, he has changed from one lie to another, and is in no way better off. It is by mercy and truth that iniquity can be covered.
Now it will be generally admitted that we do not take the course which has just been described unless we have the fear of God before our eyes. Nothing but the thought of His holiness and the awe which it inspires, and in some cases even, nothing but the absolute terror of Him who can by no means clear the guilty, moves the heart of man to confession, turns him away from his sins, or inclines him to mercy and truth. When the fear of God is removed from mens eyes they not only continue in sin, but they quickly come to believe that they have no sins to confess; for indeed when God is put out of the question that is in a certain sense true. It is a mere fact of observation, confirmed not by many changing experiences of humanity, that it is “by the fear of the Lord men depart from iniquity”; and it is very significant to notice how many of those who have entirely put away the fear of the Lord from their own eyes have strongly advocated keeping it before the eyes of others as the most convenient and economical police resource. Many fervent free-thinkers are thankful that their opinions are only held by a minority, and have no wish to see the whole of society committed to the cult which they would have us believe in all that their own religious nature requires.
But supposing that any one of us is led into the position of confession and conversion and amendment which is described in these Proverbs: what follows? That person, says the text, “shall obtain mercy.” The gracious Father immediately, unconditionally, and absolutely pardons. This is the burden of the Old Testament, and it is certainly not repealed by the New. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” “Repent, and be converted,” said St. Peter to the crowd at Pentecost, “that your sins may be blotted out.” The New Testament is indeed on this point the louder and the clearer echo of the Old. The New Testament explains that saying which sounds so strange in the mouth of a perfectly just and Holy God, “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake.” {Isa 43:25} Human theologies have imagined obstacles in the way, but God never admitted them for a moment. Clear as the truth that the soul which sins should die was the promise that the soul which turned from its sin, and did that which is righteous in the eyes of the Lord, should live. No earthly father, frankly and unconditionally forgiving his penitent, sobbing child, could be so prompt, so eager as God. While the prodigal is yet a great way off the Father runs to meet him, and hides all his broken confessions in the rush of His embrace.
But we hesitate to admit and rejoice in this grand truth because of an uneasy fear that it is ignoring what is called the Atonement of Christ. It is a very proper hesitation, so long as we settle it within ourselves that these sweet and beautiful utterances of the Old Testament cannot possibly be limited or reversed by that Gospel which came to give effect and fulfillment to them. Is not the solution of any difficulty that has occurred to us to be found here? The sacrifice and the work of Christ create in the human soul those conditions which we have been considering. He came to give repentance unto Israel. It is His patient love in bearing all our infirmities and sins, His mysterious self-offering on the Cross, that can effectually bring us to confession, conversion, and amendment. Our hearts may have been as hard as the nether millstone, but at the Cross they are broken and melted. No stern denunciation of sin has ever moved our stubbornness; but as we realize what sin did to Him, when He became sin for us, the fear of the Lord falls upon us, we tremble, and cry, What shall we do to be saved? Then again, it is His perfect holiness, the beauty of those “stainless years He passed beneath the Syrian blue,” which wakes in us the hankering desire for purity and goodness, and makes us turn with a genuine disgust from the sins which must seem so loathsome in His sight. His “neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more,” gives us a more burning hatred of sin than all the self-righteous censures and condemnation of the Pharisees. It is in the pages of the Gospels that we have first understood what concrete goodness is; it has risen upon our night like a clear, liquid star, and the passion of it has entered into our souls. And then, finally, it is the Risen Lord, unto whom all power is given in heaven and in earth, that can really transform our nature, flood our heart with love, and fill our mind with truth, so that, in the language of the proverb, mercy and truth may atone for iniquity.
Is it not because Christ by His coming, by His living, by His dying, by His risen power, produces in the believer repentance and confession of sins, conversion and departing from sin, regeneration and actual holiness, that we say He has covered our sins? What meaning can be attached to Atonement apart from its effects? And in what other way, we may ask, could He really give us such a covering or atonement, than by creating in us a clean heart and renewing a right spirit within us? Sometimes, by a not unnatural confusion of language, we speak of the sacrificial death of our Lord as if it, apart from the effects produced in the believing heart, were in itself the Atonement. But that is not the language of the New Testament, which employs the idea of reconciliation where the Old Testament would employ the idea of atoning; and clearly there can be no reconciliation accomplished between man and God until, not only God is reconciled to man, but man also is reconciled to God. And it is when we come to observe more accurately the language of the New Testament that this statement of the Proverbs is seen to be no contradiction, but an anticipation, of it. Only the regenerate soul, that in which the graces of the Christ-life, mercy and truth, have been implanted by Christ, is really reconciled with God, i.e., effectually atoned. And though the framer of the proverb had but a dim conception of the way m which the Son of God would come to regenerate human hearts and make them in harmony with the Father, yet he saw clearly what Christians have too often overlooked, and expressed tersely what theology has too often obscured, that every effectual Atonement must include in itself the actual, moral regeneration of the sinner. And further, whoever wrote the verse which stands at the head of our chapter understood what many preachers of the Gospel have left in perplexing obscurity, that God would necessarily, from His very nature, provide the offering and the sacrifice on the ground of which every repentant soul that turns to Him could be immediately and freely forgiven.