Proverbs 3:27 - Meaning and Application

True wisdom is shown not only in duty toward God, but also in duty toward other people. So these verses give wise commands about how we should treat our neighbors. We must give people what is owed to them, in both justice and kindness, and we must not put it off (Proverbs 3:27-28).

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.” If you can help, do not hold back because you love your money too much or because you lack love for the person. If you cannot help, no one can expect it. But it is a great fault if you have made yourself unable to do good by foolish spending. And if God has reduced your means, your deepest grief should be that you can no longer help those who have a right to your help, not merely that your own comfort has been reduced.

This includes several duties. We must pay our honest debts without fraud or delay. We must give wages to workers who have earned them. We must care for our family and dependents, because their support is owed to them. We must also give what is due to church and state, to magistrates and ministers. Beyond that, we should be ready for every act of friendship and common kindness, because the rule of doing to others what we would want done to us requires it. And we must be charitable to the poor. If others lack what they need for life, and we have the means to help, then that help is due to them. Giving to the poor is called righteousness because it is a debt we should not delay to pay. As the old saying goes, “He gives twice who gives quickly.”

We must also never plan harm against anyone (Proverbs 3:29). Do not scheme to wrong your neighbor in secret, whether in body, property, or reputation. Do this especially because he lives safely beside you, has done you no injury, and does not suspect you. It is against both honor and friendship to hurt a man without warning. It is a shameful and ungrateful thing to take advantage of a neighbor’s trust in order to cheat or injure him.

We must not be quarrelsome or quick to sue others (Proverbs 3:30). Do not fight with a man without cause. Do not claim what you have no right to, and do not treat a small mistake as if it were a serious offense. Do not bother your neighbor with useless complaints or annoying lawsuits when no real wrong has been done, or when the matter could be settled fairly and kindly. Legal action should be the last resort. Peace with others is not only our duty, it is also in our own interest.

We must also not envy the success of evil people, since this warning matches Psalm 37 (Proverbs 3:31). Do not envy an oppressor. Even if he is rich, powerful, and admired, do not count him truly happy or wish for his life. Do not choose his ways, and do not imitate how he gains wealth. Never think of doing as he does, even if it seemed to bring you everything he has, because the price would be too high.

To show how little reason believers have to envy sinners, Solomon compares the condition of sinners and saints in the last verses of the chapter, much as David did in Psalm 37. He sets them side by side so we can see how happy the righteous are, even when oppressed, and how miserable the wicked are, even when they oppress others. People must be judged by their standing with God, not by how they appear in the world’s eyes. Those who think as God thinks will see that, even if one sinner envies another, saints have no reason to envy any sinner, no matter how successful he seems.

First, sinners are hated by God, but saints are loved by him (Proverbs 3:32). The crooked person, who keeps turning away from God and lives in open rebellion against his will, is hateful to the Lord. God hates nothing he has made, yet he strongly rejects those who have ruined themselves by sin. The righteous, by contrast, are his close friends. He shares his secrets with them. They enjoy fellowship with him that the world does not understand, and they have a joy that outsiders cannot enter. He gives them private signs of his love, and his covenant is with them. They understand his mind and the meaning of his care better than other people do. “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”

Second, sinners live under God’s curse, themselves and their homes, while saints live under his blessing, themselves and their dwellings (Proverbs 3:33). A wicked man may have a fine house, strong and impressive, but the Lord’s curse rests on it. It may seem to prosper, yet even its blessings turn into curses. There can be emptiness in the soul even when the body is well fed. God’s curse may work quietly and slowly, but it still eats away at a house like a spreading disease. The righteous may live in a poor home, even a very small one, but God blesses it. He keeps blessing it, from the beginning of the year to the end. Whether a household is under curse or blessing depends on whether its people are wicked or godly. So a blessed family, though poor, has no reason to envy a cursed family, though rich.

God puts contempt on sinners, but he shows favor to saints, as Proverbs 3:34 says. Those who lift themselves up will surely be brought low. “He scorns the scorners” means that people who refuse God’s discipline, reject his rule, and mock godliness will meet the same kind of contempt from God. They scoff at holy things and take pleasure in making fun of godly people, but God will expose their shame before the world. He despises their weak and angry pride, just as Psalm 2:4 says that he sits in heaven and laughs at them. He pays them back, as Psalm 18:26 says, and he resists the proud.

Those who humble themselves will be lifted up, because he gives grace to the humble. Grace means God’s free help and favor, and it works in them qualities that honor them before God and people. Those who patiently bear mockery from proud and scornful people will receive respect from God and from all good people. So they have no reason to envy the scorners or choose their path.

The end of sinners will be lasting shame, but the end of saints will be endless honor, as Proverbs 3:35 says. Saints are wise, and they act wisely for themselves. Even if their faith now brings them into obscurity and leaves them open to reproach, they are sure to inherit glory at the end, that far greater and lasting glory.

They will have that glory as an inheritance, which is the safest and sweetest way to receive it. God gives them grace now, as Proverbs 3:34 says, and so they will inherit glory later, because grace is the beginning of glory, as 2 Corinthians 3:18 says. It is glory already begun, a sure promise of what is coming, as Psalm 84:11 says.

Sinners are fools, because they are not only preparing shame for themselves, but also flattering themselves with hopes of honor, as if they were on the path to greatness. Their end will show their folly. Shame will be their promotion. And that will make their punishment even greater, because it will come in place of the honor they expected. It will be all the promotion they ever receive, while God is glorified in their everlasting disgrace.