Commentary - Proverbs 20:9

Bird's-eye view

Proverbs 20:9 poses one of the most fundamental questions of the human condition, a question designed to silence all boasting and to drive every man outside of himself for any hope of righteousness. It is a rhetorical question, and the answer thundering back from the whole counsel of God is a resounding "no one." This single verse is a succinct Old Testament statement of the doctrine of total depravity. It exposes the futility of all self-justification projects, whether they be crude and pagan or sophisticated and religious. The proverb functions as a diagnostic tool, revealing the universal disease of sin that infects every human heart. Its purpose is not to lead to despair, but to be the needle of the law that pierces our pride, making way for the thread of the gospel. It shuts every mouth before God so that the one word of grace might be heard and received.

The wisdom of this proverb is not simply in getting us to admit that we are sinners in a general sense. Its sharp point is aimed at the deceitfulness of the heart itself. It challenges not just our actions, but the very seat of our affections and motivations. Who can claim to have successfully completed the project of internal purification? Who can stand as his own savior? By demonstrating the impossibility of such a claim, the verse prepares the ground for the revelation of the One who is both our purity and our cleansing, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

This verse sits within a collection of Solomon's proverbs that deal with justice, integrity, and the hidden things of the heart. The surrounding verses discuss the king's role in scattering evil (v. 8), the abomination of dishonest weights (v. 10), and the fact that even a child is known by his deeds (v. 11). This context of judgment and evaluation makes the question of verse 9 all the more potent. While the king on earth is to judge external actions, the Lord, as the ultimate King, weighs the spirit (Prov 16:2). Proverbs 20:9 takes the reader from the courtroom of men, where one might be able to put up a good front, to the courtroom of God, where the heart itself is on trial. It serves as a crucial theological anchor in the book, reminding the reader that the practical wisdom for daily life offered in Proverbs must be pursued by one who has first abandoned all pretense of his own inherent righteousness.

Key Issues

The Great Rhetorical Question

The Bible is full of rhetorical questions, and they are powerful literary and theological devices. God asks Adam, "Where are you?" not because He had misplaced him, but to force Adam to recognize his own spiritual location. He asks Cain, "Where is your brother?" to bring his sin into the open. Here in Proverbs, Solomon, speaking by the Spirit, asks a question that is intended to search every human heart and find it wanting.

This is not an invitation for a few exceptionally holy individuals to raise their hands. It is a universal indictment. The structure of the question demands the answer that no mere man can say this truthfully. It is designed to strip us of our excuses and our fig leaves. The modern man, just like the ancient man, is constantly engaged in the project of saying, "I have made my heart clean." He does this through therapy, self-help, political activism, rigorous religiosity, or determined irreligiosity. But this proverb confronts all such endeavors with a bucket of cold water. It tells us that the project is doomed from the start. You cannot use a dirty rag to wash a dirty rag. You cannot use a sinful heart to purify a sinful heart.

Verse by Verse Commentary

9 Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure, I am clean from my sin”?

The question is composed of two parallel clauses that intensify the meaning. Let us take them one at a time.

First, the claim is, "I have kept my heart pure." The verb is active. This is the statement of a man who believes he has accomplished his own sanctification. The object is the heart, the very center of his being, his will, his affections, his thoughts. The Bible teaches that the heart is the wellspring of life (Prov 4:23), and that it is deceitful above all things and desperately sick (Jer 17:9). The project, then, is to cleanse the fountainhead of our own corruption. Who can claim to have successfully done this? Who can say that he has not only managed his outward behavior, but has also scoured the very source of that behavior clean? The question is absurd on its face. The eyes we would use to inspect our hearts for impurities are themselves clouded by sin. How can we use sinful eyes to check for blemishes in our eyes? It is an impossible task.

Second, the claim is restated: "I am clean from my sin." This moves from the process ("kept pure") to the result ("am clean"). It is a declaration of final victory, of completed personal holiness. But the phrase "my sin" is telling. Sin is not presented as an external contaminant that can be washed off like dirt from the hands. It is personal, possessive: my sin. It belongs to us. It comes from within us (Mark 7:21-23). To be clean from "my sin" would require a man to be separated from himself. Again, the question exposes the futility of the claim. No one can say this because no one, apart from a gracious work of God, can escape himself.

The only man who could ever truthfully say this was the Lord Jesus Christ, who was without sin. He had no sin of His own from which He needed to be cleansed. All other men are left by this question with their mouths stopped, guilty before God. And that is precisely the point. The law, which this proverb summarizes, must do its work of killing our pride before the gospel can do its work of making us alive.

Application

So what are we to do with such a devastating question? If no one can claim to be clean, are we left to wallow in our filth and despair? God forbid. The recognition of our own uncleanness is the necessary prerequisite to being made clean. This proverb is a signpost that points us away from ourselves and toward Christ.

The answer to the terror of our own hidden and unsearchable sin is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. God's verdict over the Christian is not based on our successful heart-cleansing project. It is a forensic, legal declaration. Because Jesus lived a perfect life and died a substitutionary death, God declares us righteous in His sight. He utters the great "not guilty" over us, not because we have no sin, but because our sin was laid on Christ. He pronounces the stupefying "well done, good and faithful servant" over us, not because of our performance, but because Christ's perfect performance is credited to our account.

This is what liberates us. Because our standing with God is secure in Christ, we are set free to begin the honest, lifelong task of sanctification. We can be ruthless in hunting down our remaining sins, not because doing so makes us acceptable to God, but because God has already accepted us in the Beloved. When we find a sin, we can confess it without dread, knowing that we are under a banner that reads "no condemnation" (Rom 8:1). The man who thinks he can clean his own heart will always be engaged in a cover-up. But the man who knows he cannot, and who has fled to Christ for a borrowed, alien righteousness, is free to be honest. He can say the same thing about his sin that God does, and in that confession, he finds not shame, but cleansing (1 John 1:9).

This proverb, then, is glorious good news. It demolishes our prideful little shacks of self-righteousness so that we might be driven into the impregnable fortress of the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.