Proverbs 8:20 Commentary and Bible Study

We have seen that wisdom calls, and it does so by a number of ways. It calls to everyone, either speaking in tones of dissatisfaction, so that we are dissatisfied with the present life and its explanation for existence and for everything. It also speaks through conscience, and of course it speaks mainly and effectively through the message of the gospel. We saw in the early part of the chapter that wisdom speaks in all walks of life, and particularly at the crossroads of life, in times of great decisions.Wisdom speaks to those who regard themselves as simple, even as fools, in the language of the chapter. In other words, the qualification for gaining divine wisdom, the wisdom that God will give us, is to feel our vulnerability in this life and in this world, even as Christians to feel vulnerable to error, and to being swept aside from the right way. It is to acknowledge our ignorance by nature, how much we need to understand more and more of the word. Wisdom, we have seen, is all about established truth, principles and rules, teachings which come from God. In the world, people sit down and discuss and share their opinions. But the people of God gain their wisdom from the word. It is revealed; it is propositional truth; it is not subject to discussion. And we saw the word ‘speak’ appears in the first half of the chapter – wisdom is imparted to us by words. You do not get it by infusion all at once, although you get a tremendous send-off in wisdom when you are converted. But thereafter it comes in stages, little by little, as we apply ourselves to the word. We saw that God will not share wisdom with error; if we are students of error, we cannot be successful students of wisdom. It is to be received, that is, welcomed and embraced. We saw some of the impediments. We must act by wisdom as believers, and never act on impulse, even less out of lust, never out of aggravation or temper, never by instant judgement, trusting our own judgements. So we now come to this 20th verse – ‘I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment’, which means that I lead you to get a favourable verdict from God. The verse more or less teaches justification by wisdom. We are justified, of course, by faith in the Saviour and his suffering and death, his atoning death for sinners, but we get that understanding of the gospel, and that insight by the blessing of God. It comes home to our minds and grips our heart, and we see that it is true, and it is what we need, and the only way for us to be forgiven by God. That is wisdom, gospel wisdom. So it is quite in order for this chapter to say, ‘I, wisdom, lead you to find favour with God.’ ‘I lead you to justification’, it virtually says. Of course, it is the gospel and Christ who secures our justification, but it is through this divine knowledge of the gospel that we understand these things.