Bird's-eye view
This proverb sets before us a foundational principle of God's moral government of the world. It describes a radical inversion of justice that the Lord finds utterly detestable. The structure is a simple parallel: two actions, justifying the wicked and condemning the righteous, are placed side by side and given one singular, emphatic verdict. They are an abomination. This is not merely a statement about flawed human courts; it is a revelation of the very character of God. He is a God of absolute justice, and therefore any system, any action, any person who calls evil good and good evil is engaged in something He loathes. This proverb is a sharp razor, cutting to the heart of our modern relativistic sensibilities and forcing us to reckon with the fixed nature of righteousness and wickedness. Ultimately, it drives us to the foot of the cross, the one place in all of history where this great inversion was dealt with in a shocking and glorious way.
At its core, the verse is about definitions. What is righteous? What is wicked? And who gets to decide? The world wants to constantly redefine these terms to suit its own rebellious purposes. But God has established the standard. To justify the wicked is to declare them "in the right" when they are factually and morally in the wrong. To condemn the righteous is to declare them "in the wrong" when they are standing in the right. Both actions are a direct assault on the nature of God Himself, for whom justice is not a policy preference but an essential attribute of His being. This proverb, then, is a cornerstone for understanding biblical ethics, civil government, and the gospel itself.
Outline
- 1. The Great Inversion (Prov 17:15)
- a. The First Abomination: Justifying the Wicked (v. 15a)
- b. The Second Abomination: Condemning the Righteous (v. 15b)
- c. The Divine Verdict: An Abomination to Yahweh (v. 15c)
Context In Proverbs
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical, but it is not a collection of disconnected fortune-cookie sayings. It is grounded in a fundamental theological reality: "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov 1:7). All the practical wisdom on diligence, speech, family life, and commerce flows from this central truth. Proverbs 17:15 fits squarely within this framework. It is part of a larger collection of sayings that contrast the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish, and the outcomes of their respective paths. This particular proverb raises the stakes from personal behavior to the realm of judgment and public declaration. It deals with forensics, with legal verdicts, whether they are rendered in a formal court of law or in the court of public opinion. It establishes the principle that right judgment is a non-negotiable requirement for a society that fears the Lord. To get this wrong is not just a mistake; it is an abomination.
Key Issues
- The Nature of Divine Justice
- The Definition of Righteousness and Wickedness
- The Role of Civil Magistrates
- The Gospel Paradox of Justification
- The Sin of Relativism and False Tolerance
God's Moral Gag Reflex
The word abomination is one of the strongest words of revulsion in the entire Hebrew language. It is not a word of mild disapproval. It describes something that is utterly detestable, repugnant, and nauseating to God. It is used to describe idolatry, sexual perversion, and dishonest business dealings. And here, it is used to describe the perversion of justice. This tells us that for God, a corrupt judicial sentence is in the same category as the most vile pagan ritual. When a judge, or a culture, or a church, or an individual calls a wicked man righteous, God has a kind of moral gag reflex. It is an assault on His very being.
We live in a time that prides itself on being non-judgmental, which is really just a cover for calling evil good. Our entire culture is engaged, day in and day out, in the business of justifying the wicked. We call promiscuity "sexual freedom." We call the murder of the unborn "choice." We call rebellion against God "authenticity." At the same time, we are quick to condemn the righteous. The man who holds to biblical standards of morality is called a bigot. The woman who dedicates her life to her home and children is called oppressed. The Christian who insists on the exclusive truth of Jesus Christ is called intolerant. According to this proverb, our entire society is an abomination to the Lord. We must not be naive about this. The culture war is not a battle over minor points of etiquette; it is a battle over that which God loves and that which He hates.
Verse by Verse Commentary
15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.
The proverb is structured as a couplet, with two parallel clauses that describe two sides of the same coin. Let us take them one at a time.
He who justifies the wicked... To justify is a legal term. It means to declare righteous, to acquit, to pronounce "not guilty." The person in view here is wicked. He is a lawbreaker, a rebel against God's standards. To justify him is to look at his wickedness and declare it to be righteousness. It is to pat him on the back, give him a clean legal slate, and tell him to keep up the good work. This can be done by a corrupt judge taking a bribe. It can be done by a legislature passing laws that protect sinful behavior. It can be done by a pastor who refuses to call sin "sin" from the pulpit. It can be done by parents who refuse to discipline their children. In every case, it is a lie. It is a declaration that stands in direct opposition to reality, and God hates it.
...and he who condemns the righteous... This is the flip side. The righteous man is the one who lives in conformity with God's law. He is not sinlessly perfect, but his life is characterized by faithfulness and integrity. To condemn him is to declare him guilty. It is to take his righteousness and label it as wickedness. This is what the Sanhedrin did to Jesus. It is what the Roman authorities did to the apostles. It is what the world does to the faithful church in every generation. When a man is punished for his obedience to God, a profound injustice has occurred. The standard of good and evil has been turned completely upside down.
...Both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh. The proverb brings the two actions together and delivers the final verdict. Notice the word alike. God does not consider one of these sins to be worse than the other. Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent are equally detestable to Him. They are two streams that flow from the same poisoned spring: a hatred for God's revealed standard of justice. They are both an abomination, a stench in the nostrils of the holy God who is Yahweh, the covenant Lord of Israel.
Application
So how do we apply this sharp-edged proverb? First, we must apply it to ourselves. We must be ruthless in examining our own hearts and our own speech. Are there areas where we are justifying wickedness in our own lives or in the lives of those we love? Do we make excuses for our sin? Do we call our pride "self-respect" or our envy "a desire for justice"? Conversely, do we condemn the righteous? Do we look with suspicion on those who are more zealous for holiness than we are? Do we resent the godly because their lives are a rebuke to our compromise? We must repent of this, for it is an abomination.
Second, this proverb has massive implications for the civil realm. The primary task of the civil magistrate is to punish the wicked and praise the righteous (Romans 13:3-4). When the state begins to do the opposite, it becomes an abomination. When the government subsidizes wickedness and penalizes righteousness, it has become a rebel government, and Christians have a duty to call it what it is.
But the ultimate application of this proverb is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. For at first glance, the gospel seems to present us with a profound problem. Does not God Himself do the very thing this proverb condemns? In the gospel, God "justifies the ungodly" (Romans 4:5). How can this be? Is God contradicting Himself? Is He committing an abomination? The answer is a resounding no, and the reason is the cross. God did not simply wave a magic wand and declare wicked sinners to be righteous. He did not ignore our sin. Rather, He condemned it. He took all the wickedness of His people, from all of history, and He laid it on His own Son. On the cross, Jesus was treated as the ultimate wicked one. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us. And God the Father condemned that sin, pouring out the full measure of His righteous wrath upon His Son. He condemned the Righteous One. But in doing so, He was condemning our sin in the flesh of His Son. Because our sin was fully and justly condemned in Christ, God is now free to justify us, the wicked, without compromising His own justice. He remains both "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). The cross is the one place where God can condemn the righteous (Christ, bearing our sin) and justify the wicked (us, trusting in Christ) and have it not be an abomination, but rather the most glorious display of His wisdom and grace in all of history. This proverb, then, should drive us to our knees in gratitude for the glorious gospel, where God's hatred of sin and His love for sinners meet in perfect harmony.