The Sweetness of Truth Well Spoken Text: Proverbs 16:21
Introduction: Words as Weapons and Salves
We live in an age that is drowning in words. We are bombarded by them, assaulted by them. We have blog posts, podcasts, tweets, cable news shouting matches, and an endless torrent of digital noise. But for all our talking, we have very little to say. Our culture has managed the astonishing feat of being both cacophonous and meaningless at the same time. The reason for this is simple: we have forgotten the connection between the heart, the mind, and the tongue. We have severed speech from wisdom.
The modern world believes that words are either meaningless tools for self-expression, where my truth is just as valid as your truth, or they are raw power, cudgels to be used to beat our political opponents into submission. In the first case, words are fluff. In the second, they are bricks. But the Bible teaches that words are something else entirely. They are architectural. They build things. They can build houses of wisdom or hovels of folly. They can be medicinal, a healing balm, or they can be toxic, a subtle poison.
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical about this. It does not treat speech as a small, compartmentalized part of the Christian life. It understands that what comes out of the mouth is a diagnostic tool for the state of the soul. Jesus Himself tells us that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). Your words are a biopsy of your heart. If your speech is foolish, bitter, or empty, it is because your heart is. If your speech is wise, gracious, and instructive, it is because your heart is.
Our text today gets right to the point. It presents a beautiful, twofold reality: the internal state of a wise man, and the external effect of his words. It shows us that true wisdom is not a silent, monastic affair. It is meant to be communicated. And when it is communicated rightly, it has a powerful, persuasive, and instructive effect. This proverb is a rebuke to two kinds of fools: the wise fool who has knowledge but is so harsh and graceless that no one can receive it, and the sweet fool whose words are pleasant but empty, a candy-coated nothing. The Christian is called to be something else entirely: a wise-hearted, sweet-lipped ambassador of the truth.
The Text
The wise in heart will be called understanding,
And sweetness of lips increases learning.
(Proverbs 16:21 LSB)
The Internal Reality: A Wise Heart (v. 21a)
The first clause of our proverb establishes the foundation.
"The wise in heart will be called understanding..." (Proverbs 16:21a)
Notice where wisdom resides: in the heart. In Hebrew thought, the heart is not primarily the seat of emotion, as we tend to think of it. It is the center of the person, the seat of the will, the intellect, and the conscience. It is the command center of your entire being. Biblical wisdom, therefore, is not about having a high IQ or a head stuffed with trivia. It is about having a rightly ordered heart, a heart that begins with the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).
A wise heart is one that is rightly oriented to God. It understands His created order, His law, His character, and His gospel. It sees the world as it truly is, because it sees the world through the lens of divine revelation. This is a presuppositional issue. You cannot be "wise in heart" if you begin with the assumption that this is a random, meaningless universe that coughed itself into existence out of nothing. That is not wisdom; it is the foundational creed of foolishness. The fear of the Lord is the axiom of all true knowledge.
And what is the result of this internal state? "The wise in heart will be called understanding." This is not a self-proclaimed title. This is a reputation. This is a public recognition. True wisdom, rooted in the heart, eventually becomes evident to others. It manifests itself in prudent decisions, in a calm demeanor in the midst of chaos, in righteous living. A truly wise man does not need to constantly announce his own wisdom. His life does the talking. People see the fruit and they recognize the root. They see a man who can navigate the complexities of life, who gives sound counsel, who understands people and situations, and they call him discerning, or prudent, or understanding.
This is a quiet rebuke to the man who thinks he is wise but whose life is a shambles. If your family is in chaos, your finances are a wreck, and your relationships are a series of train wrecks, you are not wise in heart, no matter how many theological tomes you have on your shelf. Wisdom is practical. It works. It builds. And when it is present, people notice.
The External Effect: Sweet Lips (v. 21b)
The second clause shows how this internal reality flows outward.
"And sweetness of lips increases learning." (Proverbs 16:21b LSB)
Here is the bridge from the heart to the world. The wisdom inside is not meant to stay inside. It is designed for export. And the vehicle for that export is the lips. But not just any lips. Sweet lips.
Now, "sweetness" here does not mean sentimental fluff or syrupy flattery. This is not about avoiding hard truths or telling people what they want to hear. The prophets were not sweet in that sense, and neither was the Lord Jesus when He was rebuking the Pharisees. The sweetness spoken of here is graciousness. It is pleasantness. It is the opposite of a harsh, abrasive, contentious, bitter, or arrogant spirit. It is speech that is well-timed, well-toned, and well-aimed.
Think of it as the difference between a surgeon's scalpel and a mugger's knife. Both cut. But one cuts to heal, and the other cuts to harm. The truth, spoken without love, is a weapon. But the truth spoken with graciousness, with "sweetness of lips," is a tool for instruction. Paul echoes this perfectly in the New Testament: "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each one" (Colossians 4:6). The salt is the truth, the substance. The grace is the sweetness, the manner of delivery.
And what is the result? It "increases learning." Or, as some translations put it, it increases persuasiveness. When truth is presented graciously, it is more readily received. A harsh, angry presentation causes the listener to throw up barricades. Their pride is engaged, their defenses are up, and they are bracing for a fight, not preparing for instruction. But gracious words can disarm. They can bypass the defenses and deliver the truth right to the heart, where it can do its work.
This is a profound lesson for all of us, whether we are parents teaching our children, pastors preaching to a congregation, or simply Christians talking to our neighbors. You can have all the right doctrine in the world, but if you deliver it with a spirit of arrogance, anger, or contempt, you are actually making the truth repulsive. You are hanging a "Keep Out" sign on the door of the kingdom. Sweetness of lips makes the truth attractive. It adorns the doctrine of God our Savior (Titus 2:10).
Christ, the Wisdom of God
As with all of Proverbs, we must ultimately see this proverb fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who is, in the absolute sense, "wise in heart." He is the very wisdom of God incarnate (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).
And how did this perfect wisdom manifest itself? Through the ultimate "sweetness of lips." The officers sent to arrest him came back empty-handed, saying, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" (John 7:46). When He taught in His hometown synagogue, the people "marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth" (Luke 4:22). His words were so compelling, so persuasive, so full of grace and truth, that they increased learning wherever they were received.
He could speak the hardest truths with a grace that drew people in. To the woman at the well, He exposed her entire life of sin, but did it with such wisdom and gentleness that she ran to tell the whole town, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" (John 4:29). This is the perfect union of a wise heart and sweet lips.
And it is this same Christ who transforms us. By nature, our hearts are foolish and our lips are unclean. Like Isaiah, we must confess, "I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5). But the gospel is the story of how God cleanses our hearts through the blood of Christ and touches our lips with a coal from the altar. He gives us a new heart, a wise heart, and He puts His Spirit within us.
And as He sanctifies us, He teaches us to speak. He is conforming us to the image of the one whose lips were filled with grace. Our goal is to have the wisdom of Christ in our hearts, so that the grace of Christ might flow from our lips. We are to speak the truth, the hard truth, the glorious truth of the gospel, but we are to do so in love, with sweetness, so that by our words we might increase learning, and bring others to the knowledge of the one who is Wisdom itself.