Proverbs 22:6 Commentary and Bible Study

By all means take this proverb out of its context; use it as a stand-alone principle. It holds good. It is the word of God, it is inspired, it is precious as a stand-alone principle. But let us consider it in the context of a life of integrity, ‘a good name is rather to be chosen.’ What does this mean? Well it simply means this – learn the principles early in your Christian life. Make them foundational.The verse is about children, and it holds good in its application to children, but like all the proverbs it has a wider application. It applies to spiritual children also. It applies to believers in Christ. When we find the Lord, the most important thing we can do is study the commandments, study the standards. More than study them, learn them. The Hebrew translated train – ‘train up a child’ – some people insist on translating it catechise a child, because although the words do not strictly mean that, they almost do. They mean put into the mouth.So for young Christians, learn the commandments. Unlike the Anglicans we are not in the habit of reciting the commandments frequently in our services. In one sense it would not be a bad idea if we did that – to learn them and let them sink in – but we do not believe in a liturgy of any sort. And yet we too need to consider the commandments carefully. As we do so, we need to remember that the commandments mean more than immediately appears. They are expressed in negative form and each one is the head of a family of sins so that we need to consider all the members of that family, as well as the opposite positive virtues.