Apr 11, 2025 The Wrong Side of Righteousness – Words of Grace Blog – April 11, 2025
Proverbs 6 is a passage in the Bible that when read too quickly and without much thought we can easily conclude is not about us. There are six things, the passage says, that the Lord hates, and seven things that are an abomination to him. The list includes arrogance, lying, killing innocent people, wickedness in the heart, evil actions, false witness against others, and causing discord between people (Proverbs 6:16-19).
These are bad things that bad people do. They are on the wrong side of righteousness and should be punished, so we think.
Jesus was preaching one day to people who thought this way (Matthew 5-7). Two topics were included in his sermon that everyone in his day agreed needed to be punished — murder and adultery.
“You have heard it said, you shall not murder… you shall not commit adultery,” Jesus said as he introduced each topic. “But I say to you…,” he continued, pointing out the heart sins of anger and lust. He exposed the human heart and let us know that the seeds of murder and adultery reside in us. We are on the wrong side of righteousness.
That is not to say that if we have anger in our heart we should be punished for murder. Or if we have lust in our heart our spouse has freedom to divorce us.
Jesus is saying that righteousness is a matter of the heart as well as actions, and the same is true for unrighteousness. Who can claim a righteous heart?
Back to the abominations of Proverbs 6. Applying Jesus’ teaching to them we conclude that we are guilty of the things God hates, if not in our actions, at least in our heart.
The list of abominations lands on us with the weight of the law that accuses, tries, and finds us guilty. On the wrong side of righteousness, we are left to wonder what will become of us, what should we do?
Enter the gospel! The law leads us to conviction and contrition. The gospel says look to Christ who died for our unrighteousness, even the kind that resides hidden from others in the heart. And Christ was raised for our life, granting us new life with new power to be transformed in our heart to be more and more like him.
By faith we stand with Christ on our side, forgiven, made new, and counted righteous before God. By faith we are being changed within by the Holy Spirit to live more closely on the right side of righteousness.
Through the eyes of faith in Christ we come to read Proverbs 6 not as a passage of judgement on especially bad people, but as a revelation that we, too, are sinners in need of a Savior. Hallelujah, what a Savior we have in Christ!
I look forward to worshipping our Savior with you this Palm Sunday.
-Scott