The Treason of a Twitch: The Body Language of Sin Text: Proverbs 16:30
Introduction: The Body Politic
The modern world, particularly the secular world, is deeply confused about the human body. On the one hand, they are materialists; they believe that the body, and indeed all of physical reality, is all there is. There is no soul, no spirit, no ghost in the machine. And yet, on the other hand, they treat the body as an arbitrary costume that can be put on or taken off at will. They believe it is a canvas for their radical self-expression, and that its given nature, its created design, means nothing. A man can be a woman, a human can be a cat, and your feelings about your body are more real than your chromosomes.
This is the kind of profound foolishness that can only be achieved by very clever people who have rejected the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. The Scriptures, by contrast, give us a robust and sane theology of the body. The body is not everything, but it is something very important. It is the instrument through which the soul acts in the world. It is not a neutral tool. Your body is a tattletale. It tells the truth about what is going on in your heart, even when your mouth is busy telling lies.
The Bible is a book that takes body language with the utmost seriousness. The prophets were commanded to perform symbolic acts. Jesus healed with a touch and looked upon the rich young ruler with love. And here, in the book of Proverbs, the Holy Spirit gives us a field guide to the physical tells of a wicked heart. We are not to be naive. We are not to be gullible. We are to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. And part of that shrewdness is learning to read the non-verbal cues that betray a corrupt heart. Sin is not just a matter of abstract thoughts; it is an embodied reality. It leaks out through the eyes and is compressed in the lips. It has a posture, a gait, and a tell.
In this proverb, Solomon pulls back the curtain on the micro-expressions of malice. He shows us that great evil is often planned in the quietest moments and communicated in the subtlest gestures. This is not a call to paranoia, but to Spirit-sharpened discernment. We are to understand that the war for our souls is fought not only in great doctrinal battles but also in the silent, treasonous twitches of the face.
The Text
He who winks his eyes does so to devise perverse things;
He who compresses his lips brings evil to pass.
(Proverbs 16:30 LSB)
The Conspirator's Wink (v. 30a)
We begin with the first clause:
"He who winks his eyes does so to devise perverse things;" (Proverbs 16:30a)
In our culture, a wink can be playful, a sign of a shared, harmless joke. But that is not the context here. In the Scriptures, this kind of wink is the secret handshake of the wicked. It is a non-verbal signal of shared conspiracy. Think of what is happening. A wink is a deliberate, controlled gesture. It is a wordless communication sent to a co-conspirator, usually while in the presence of the intended victim. It says, "We have a secret understanding. We are on the same page, and the person we are looking at is not in on it. He is the mark."
The winker is a man who delights in duplicity. He enjoys the feeling of being one step ahead, of manipulating the situation from behind a facade of normalcy. He is devising "perverse things." The Hebrew word here speaks of things that are twisted, distorted, and turned aside from the straight path of righteousness. This is not just a man planning a simple sin; he is contriving a crooked scheme. He is plotting to turn reality upside down for his own advantage.
This is the body language of a man whose heart is a chamber of secrets. He does not live in the light. His relationships are not governed by covenant faithfulness but by shifting, selfish alliances. He is the kind of man who will say one thing to you in a meeting and then wink at his ally across the table, signaling the exact opposite. He is the man who flatters you to your face while silently communicating contempt for you to a third party. He is a fountain of instability. He creates an atmosphere of suspicion and intrigue because his actions and his hidden intentions are perpetually at war.
We see this elsewhere in Proverbs. "A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord" (Proverbs 6:12-14). The wink is part of a whole-body symphony of deceit. It is the conduct of a man who is a walking conspiracy. He cannot simply walk a straight path; he must always be working an angle, playing a game, devising a perversity. This is the opposite of the man described in Psalm 15, who "swears to his own hurt and does not change," and who "speaks truth in his heart." The godly man's heart, mouth, and body are all integrated in integrity. The wicked man's body is constantly betraying his lying mouth.
The Determined Malice of the Lips (v. 30b)
The second clause gives us another piece of this diagnostic manual for wickedness.
"He who compresses his lips brings evil to pass." (Proverbs 16:30b LSB)
If the wink is about devising the plan, compressing the lips is about the determination to execute it. This is the face of a man who has made up his mind. Think of the physical action. To compress your lips is to press them together tightly. It is a sign of resolute, unyielding intention. It is the look of a man who is steeling himself to do something he knows is wrong. He is shutting down all debate. He is silencing any last-minute protests from his own conscience. The decision has been made, and the evil is about to be brought to pass.
This is not a man stumbling into sin. This is a man marching into it with grim resolve. The evil is not just an idea anymore; it is in motion. He "brings evil to pass." He is the efficient cause. The malice in his heart has now traveled to his hands and feet, and the compressed lips are the final checkpoint before the act is committed.
This gesture reveals a heart that is hardened. He is not open to counsel, to rebuke, or to reason. His jaw is set, his lips are sealed, and his will is fixed on destruction. You see this in the face of a man about to unleash a torrent of verbal abuse. You see it in the face of a man determined to get his revenge. You see it in the face of a rebellious child who has decided he will not, under any circumstances, obey.
Together, these two gestures paint a complete picture of premeditated sin. The winking eye signals the secret plot, the perverse devising. The compressed lips signal the hardened will, the bringing of that evil into reality. The first is the sin in committee; the second is the sin in execution. The first is the treasonous thought; the second is the overt act of rebellion.
Conclusion: The Integrity of the New Man
So what is the takeaway for us as Christians? First, we are to be wise to the ways of the world. We must not be the naive fools who take every smooth word at face value. We must pay attention. The world is full of men who wink and compress their lips, from the corporate boardroom to the halls of government. Discernment is a necessary tool for navigating a fallen world.
But the far more important application is to look in the mirror. Our calling in Christ is to a radical, whole-life integrity. Jesus is the ultimate man of integrity. There was no deceit in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22). His "yes" was "yes," and His "no" was "no." There was no shadow of turning in Him. He is the Wisdom of God, the straight path personified. There was never a conspiratorial wink from our Lord, never a lip compressed in malicious resolve. He set His face like flint toward Jerusalem, not to bring evil to pass, but to absorb all the evil of the world in His own body on the tree.
Through faith in Him, we are made new creatures. And this new creation must extend to our bodies. The Holy Spirit is in the business of sanctifying not just our souls, but our facial expressions, our gestures, our posture. Our calling is to put off the old man with his crooked ways, his winks and his signals and his compressed lips. We are to put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator (Colossians 3:9-10).
This means our faces should be open. Our eyes should be straightforward. Our communication should be honest, without duplicity or hidden meanings. We are to be people of the light, and so we must renounce the secret signals of the darkness. When a perverse thought enters your mind, do not wink at it and entertain it. When you feel that old, bitter resolve to sin hardening your heart, do not compress your lips and follow through. Confess it. Repent of it. Bring it into the light, where the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
Let your body be an instrument of righteousness, not of iniquity. Let your eyes be full of light, not of cunning. Let your lips be given to praise, not compressed in malice. In short, let the truth of the gospel so saturate your heart that it radiates from your face, demonstrating to a watching world the glorious, straightforward, and undeceived honesty of the kingdom of God.