Proverbs 27:11 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 27:11

Comments

Surely our minds go immediately to Christ’s saying, ‘But wisdom is justified by her children’ (Matthew 11:19). The speaker in the proverb refers to those who reproach him, and evidently he is surrounded by enemies who are trying to build a case against him. However they are not content with just finding fault with his actions; they also wish to destroy his character and so the battle has come much closer. The one being considered knows that his enemies lack integrity and that their charges are groundless, but how is he going to defend himself in a convincing way? He can say all he likes about himself, but his testimony will be dismissed as self-evidence, self-justification. Ah, but there is a testimony which is more convincing, for it points to long years of walking in integrity in secret. It is not possible to train up a child by a bad example. Children scrutinise their parents more closely in the family home, where the parents’ guard is down and the true character comes out, than any stranger can do. The child is ruthlessly honest in reporting this testimony to the world, for the child is the product of the parents’ life, a living reproduction of their parents’ character. Here then is an answer which the most wary cannot reject without being exposed as unreasonably cynical and suspicious. If they will not accept the testimony of the character of the child, their reproaches are nothing more than hateful prejudice. What joy it is then for the wise father to see his children learning to speak the truth, to have respect for parents and other elders, to work diligently, to have self-control and resist temptation, to care for the disadvantaged and weak, to know how to handle to the subtle and not be taken advantage of. All this is evidence that wisdom has been passed on to the next generation, and as Christ says, wisdom is known by her children. If a wise son comes from a foolish parent, then the son has learnt wisdom somewhere else, in an unusual way, but it is generally the case that the parents must be credited with teaching wisdom to the wise son. This training shows itself even in the case of a child who has not come to faith. There will be habitual self-restraints in the child of the believer, even though they fall far short of the inner change worked by the new birth.The father whose son turns out to be wise has an answer for those who reproach him, and that answer first speaks in his own heart. He knows that God has not abandoned him or his children. This blessing compensates for many trials he faces in life, for a wise son is worth more than riches and fine houses.

Application

Questions

Can believing parents expect their children to also be converted? This is a difficult and large question. God is sovereign in salvation and in its timing, and he may wait long before bringing a soul to faith. Even Christ’s brothers did not believe until after his death and resurrection. There may be many hardships to go through before the child is converted; on the other hand, they may be converted while still young. As always, we look to Scripture to find an answer to this question and in particular we observe how the children of believers fared. We can say that faith runs in families and that Scripture encourages Christians to bring children into the world with the hope that God will bless them, a hope which the unbeliever cannot expect to have. But still the Lord’s discipline on a man includes the outcome of the lives of his children, and example is all important and is taken into account by the Lord. Prayer for children should be constant and parents must plant the seed of the gospel in the child’s heart.

Do children that rebel disqualify a parent from serving the Lord? The apostle Paul makes it a qualification for office that a bishop is ‘One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity’ (1 Timothy 3:4). While children are still in the home it is reasonable that their behaviour should reflect upon their parents, but not all come to faith immediately. There are children whose fathers and mothers have done all that they can to train their children and to love and care for them, and yet those children still go rebelliously into a far country. An earthly parent can only do the work of preparation in planting the seed of the gospel, but they cannot bring to the new birth. Paul requires that the children should be in subjection, but inconsistency will certainly ruin this.

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Proverbs 27:11 Commentary and Bible Study