Words as Weapons, Knowledge as a Shield Text: Proverbs 11:9
Introduction: A World of Words
We live in a world that is drowning in words. We are bombarded by them from every direction, from the twenty-four-hour news cycle, from the endless scroll of social media, from the mouths of politicians, advertisers, and influencers. And in this deluge, we have forgotten something fundamental, something the book of Proverbs never tires of reminding us: words are not neutral. Words do not simply float in the air like harmless motes of dust. Words have weight. Words have power. Words build and words destroy. Words are either instruments of life or weapons of death.
Our secular age wants to pretend that words are just expressions of personal truth, that your reality is constructed by your narrative, and my reality is constructed by mine. But this is a profound and damnable lie. It is a lie that untethers language from the God who spoke reality into existence. The Bible teaches that words are deeply moral things because they are connected to a moral universe governed by a moral God. A man's character is not ultimately revealed by his bank account or his resume, but by the fruit of his lips. As Jesus said, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34).
This proverb we have before us today sets up a stark and violent contrast. It is a proverb about spiritual warfare, and the battleground is the realm of ordinary conversation. It is a conflict between two kinds of people, the godless and the righteous. And it shows us their respective weapons. The godless man wields his mouth as a club, as a poison, as a snare. But the righteous man is not defenseless. He is delivered, not by a sharper tongue or a cleverer retort, but by something far more substantial: knowledge. This proverb is a field manual for navigating a world of dangerous words, and it teaches us that the ultimate defense is not rhetorical skill, but godly discernment.
The Text
With his mouth the godless man corrupts his neighbor, But through knowledge the righteous will be rescued.
(Proverbs 11:9 LSB)
The Corrupting Mouth (v. 9a)
The first half of the proverb lays out the method of the wicked.
"With his mouth the godless man corrupts his neighbor..." (Proverbs 11:9a)
The word for "godless" here is the Hebrew word chanep, which can also be translated as hypocrite or profane. This is not just your garden-variety unbeliever. This is the man who is actively hostile to the things of God, even if he maintains a thin veneer of piety. He is polluted in his heart, and so pollution is what comes out of his mouth. And the text says his goal is to "corrupt" or "destroy" his neighbor. The word is shachath, which means to ruin, to spoil, to bring to decay. This is not a simple disagreement. This is verbal vandalism. It is soul-poison.
How does this work? The godless man uses his mouth in a thousand different ways to achieve this end. He uses flattery to puff up his neighbor with pride, setting him up for a fall. He uses gossip and slander to isolate his neighbor from his friends and ruin his reputation. He whispers temptations, painting sin in attractive colors, making the path to destruction look like a pleasant stroll. He sows discord among brethren, turning a peaceful community into a field of strife. He spreads false doctrine, mixing just enough truth with his error to make the poison palatable. He is the serpent in the garden, asking, "Did God really say?"
Notice the target is his "neighbor." This is intimate. This is relational warfare. The wounds inflicted by a stranger are one thing, but the corruption that comes from someone close, someone you trust, is far more devastating. The godless man leverages relationship for the purpose of ruin. He is a spiritual arsonist who wants to see the world burn, and he starts with the house next door. He does this because, at the end of the day, misery loves company. The man who is inwardly corrupt cannot stand to see integrity or righteousness in others, because it is a constant rebuke to him. And so he seeks to drag others down into the same pit of decay in which he himself lives.
This is the essence of what our culture calls "cancel culture," but it is nothing new. It is the age-old tactic of the chanep. It is the use of words not to discover truth, but to destroy people. It is the mouth weaponized to bring ruin.
The Rescuing Knowledge (v. 9b)
But the righteous are not left defenseless before this onslaught. The second half of the proverb provides the counter-measure, the divine provision for deliverance.
"...But through knowledge the righteous will be rescued." (Proverbs 11:9b LSB)
The contrast is sharp. The weapon of the wicked is the mouth. The defense of the righteous is knowledge. This is not merely an accumulation of facts. This is not about winning a trivia night. The Hebrew word for knowledge here is da'ath. It signifies a deep, intimate, experiential understanding. It is discernment. It is the ability to see things as they really are. It is the knowledge of God, His character, His law, and His ways.
So how does this knowledge rescue the righteous? First, knowledge provides discernment to identify the trap. The righteous man, grounded in the Word of God, can smell the sulfur in the flatterer's compliment. He can detect the bitter root of envy beneath the sweet-sounding gossip. He hears the subtle hiss of the serpent in the theological novelty that tickles the ears. He is not naive. He is not a simpleton, easily led astray. Because he knows the truth, he can spot a lie a mile away. He has, as the apostle says, "trained his powers of discernment to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:14).
Second, knowledge provides the stability to withstand the attack. The man who knows who he is in Christ is not easily swayed by the opinions of others. If the godless man flatters him, he knows his righteousness is a filthy rag and his standing is in Christ alone, so the flattery finds no purchase. If the godless man slanders him, he knows his ultimate vindication comes from God, not men. He has an anchor for his soul that holds firm in the storm of malicious words. His identity is not built on the shifting sands of public opinion, but on the solid rock of God's declaration about him.
Third, this knowledge is ultimately the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God (1 Cor. 1:24). To know Him is to have the ultimate defense against all the corrupting words of the enemy. When you know the Good Shepherd's voice, you will not be deceived by the voice of a stranger. When you have tasted the pure water of the Word, you will not be tempted by the polluted streams of the world. The righteous are rescued because their knowledge is not just about God; it is God, dwelling in them through His Spirit and His Word.
Living in the Proverb
So what does this mean for us, here and now? It means we must be men and women who are utterly committed to the pursuit of this rescuing knowledge. We live in an age that despises deep knowledge and celebrates shallow emotivism. The world tells you to follow your heart, but the Bible tells you your heart is deceitful and desperately sick. The world tells you to speak "your truth," but the Bible tells you to submit to the truth.
This means we must be diligent students of Scripture. This is our primary defense. We cannot hope to discern the lies of the world if we are not saturated in the truth of the Word. We must read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and pray it back to God. We must sit under faithful preaching that explains the Word and applies it without flinching. This is how our minds are renewed and our discernment is sharpened.
It also means we must be careful about our company. Proverbs warns us repeatedly about the danger of bad company. "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm" (Proverbs 13:20). If you surround yourself with the godless, with those whose mouths are constantly spewing filth, gossip, and folly, do not be surprised when you find yourself being corrupted. You cannot play in the mud and expect to stay clean. We are to be in the world, but not of it. This requires us to be intentional about building deep fellowship with the righteous, with those whose speech builds up and imparts grace.
Finally, we must be on guard against our own mouths. The line between the godless man and the righteous man in this proverb runs straight through every human heart. We are all capable of using our words to corrupt and destroy. James tells us the tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. Therefore, our daily prayer must be that of the psalmist: "Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!" (Psalm 141:3). We must ask God to fill us with His knowledge, His wisdom, and His love, so that out of the abundance of a redeemed heart, our mouths might speak life, and not death. For we are called not just to be rescued from the corrupting words of others, but to be agents of redemption, speaking the truth in love, pointing our neighbors to the ultimate Word, Jesus Christ, in whom is all knowledge, all rescue, and all life.