A man shall be commended according to his
wisdom
Not according to his birth and pedigree; not according to his
riches and wealth; not according to the places of honour and
trust he may be in; but according to his wisdom, which he
discovers in his words and actions, in his life and conversation:
not according to the wisdom that is earthly, sensual, and
devilish; not according to the wisdom of the world, which comes
to nought, either natural or civil; especially that which lies in
sophistry and subtlety, in wicked craft and cunning, whereby men
trick, overreach, and defraud one another; but according to that
which is spiritual and evangelical; which lies in the knowledge
of Christ, and of God in Christ, and of those things which belong
to salvation; the beginning of which is the fear of the Lord, and
which comes from above, and is pure and peaceable. A man
possessed of this is commended by all wise and good men, and by
the Lord himself; as the wise man is by Christ, ( Matthew 7:24
Matthew
7:25 ) ; who builds his house on a rock; for which reason it
stands, as in the preceding verse; but he that is of a
perverse heart shall be despised;
and which appears by the perverse words he speaks against God and
Christ; against his people, ways, and worship, as antichrist and
his followers do; and by his perverse actions, which are contrary
to the light of nature, to the law of God, and Gospel of Christ:
and such vile persons are contemned in the eyes of all good men,
and are had in abhorrence by the Lord himself; for such who
despise him are lightly esteemed; see ( Proverbs
18:3 ) .
Proverbs 12:8
