The Internal Architect of Sin Text: Proverbs 24:8-9
Introduction: The Blueprint of Rebellion
We live in a culture that is obsessed with externals. Our age is one of image management, public relations, and the carefully curated online persona. We are experts at polishing the outside of the cup while the inside remains filthy. We judge ourselves and others by what can be seen, by the actions that make it into the public square, while giving little thought to the internal world where all the real action is. We think of sin as the final, messy act, the robbery, the adultery, the public lie. But the book of Proverbs, with its relentless practicality, forces us to look deeper. It takes us into the workshop of the soul, to the drafting table where the blueprints for sin are drawn up.
The world believes that a thought is harmless so long as it is not acted upon. "No harm, no foul," they say. But God, the searcher of hearts, knows that the thought is the foul. The evil begins long before the hand is lifted or the word is spoken. It begins in that secret place of deliberation, in the quiet intention of the heart. The world may call a man a criminal only after he has committed the crime. But God calls a man a schemer the moment he begins to plot it. Sin is not an accident; it is an architectural project.
These two verses in Proverbs 24 are a penetrating diagnosis of the human condition. They peel back the layers of our self-justification and expose the root. They show us that sin is not just an action, but an intention. Folly is not just a mistake, but a calculated scheme. And the scoffer is not just a disagreeable fellow, but an abomination because his mockery is aimed at the very foundations of divine order. We are being taught here to think about sin the way God thinks about it, not as a series of unfortunate events, but as a deliberate, thought-out rebellion against our Creator.
The Text
One who deliberately thinks to do evil, Men will call a schemer.
The scheming of folly is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to men.
(Proverbs 24:8-9 LSB)
The Internal Architect (v. 8)
Let us begin with the first observation in verse 8.
"One who deliberately thinks to do evil, Men will call a schemer." (Proverbs 24:8)
The Hebrew here for "deliberately thinks" is a word that means to plot, to devise, to weave a plan. This is not a fleeting, sinful thought that is immediately rejected. This is the man who sits down, metaphorically speaking, with a notepad and a pencil to map out his wickedness. He is the internal architect of evil. He considers the angles, anticipates the obstacles, and designs a course of action that will lead to his desired sinful outcome.
Notice the progression. The evil is conceived in the mind before it is born in the world. James tells us that desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin (James 1:15). This verse is describing that moment of conception. The man who does this, we are told, will be called a "schemer." The title is not given after the act, but because of the thought process itself. He is a "master of evil plots." This is his reputation, not just before God, but even before men. Even a fallen world recognizes that there is a particular darkness in the man who coolly and calmly plans his evil. There is a difference between a crime of passion and a premeditated murder, and even unregenerate men can see it.
This verse is a direct assault on our modern therapeutic culture, which wants to excuse sin by blaming it on external factors, our upbringing, our environment, our impulses. The Bible will have none of it. It places the responsibility squarely on the individual as a moral agent who thinks, plans, and devises. You are not a victim of your circumstances; you are the architect of your choices. The sin you commit tomorrow is the sin you are designing today. This is why Jesus radicalized the law in the Sermon on the Mount. He taught that lust is adultery in the heart (Matt. 5:28) and hatred is murder in the heart (Matt. 5:22). He was simply applying this Proverb. God judges the blueprint, not just the collapsed building.
The Nature of the Scheme (v. 9a)
Verse 9 then gives us the divine commentary on this kind of scheming.
"The scheming of folly is sin..." (Proverbs 24:9a LSB)
This is a foundational definition. The thought, the plot, the device of the fool is, in its very essence, sin. The Hebrew word for "scheming" here is connected to the word for "thought" or "plan." The "folly" is not a reference to low intelligence. In Proverbs, folly is a moral and spiritual category. The fool is the man who has said in his heart, "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1). He is the one who lives as though God does not exist, has no claims on his life, and will not call him to account. Therefore, all his plans are built on a faulty foundation. He is building his house on the sand.
So, when the fool schemes, the product of that scheming is necessarily sin. Why? Because the entire enterprise is an act of autonomous rebellion. The fool is planning his life without reference to God. He is seeking his own glory, his own pleasure, his own advantage, and he is doing it as though he were the sovereign of his own universe. This is the very definition of sin. Sin is not simply the breaking of a rule on a list; it is the declaration of independence from the ultimate reality, who is God.
Therefore, the thought of folly, the plan hatched in a heart that ignores God, is sin from the moment of its inception. It doesn't become sin when it is executed. It is sin on the drawing board. This is why we are commanded to take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). The battle is won or lost in the mind. If you allow foolish, God-less schemes to take root in your thinking, the sinful actions will follow as surely as night follows day.
The Ultimate Offense (v. 9b)
The verse concludes by identifying the man who embodies this attitude in its most public and arrogant form.
"...And the scoffer is an abomination to men." (Proverbs 24:9b LSB)
Who is the scoffer? The scoffer is the man who not only schemes in folly but also mocks wisdom. He is the fool who has graduated, summa cum laude, from the university of pride. He doesn't just ignore God's law; he ridicules it. He doesn't just walk in his own way; he makes fun of those who walk in God's way. He is the cynic, the mocker, the man who answers earnest conviction with a sneer.
Psalm 1 warns us not to sit in the seat of scoffers. Why? Because their posture is one of settled contempt for all that is holy, righteous, and good. The scoffer is the man who has heard the gospel and calls it foolishness. He has seen the righteous and calls them hypocrites. He has been confronted with the law of God and calls it oppressive.
And notice the reaction to him. He is an "abomination to men." This is a strong word. It means he is detestable, loathsome. Even in a fallen world, there is something uniquely repulsive about the scoffer. While men might secretly admire a clever schemer, they despise the man who mocks everything and builds nothing. The scoffer poisons the well of community. He destroys discourse with his cynicism. He makes trust impossible. He is a social corrosive. No one wants him on their team, because his ultimate loyalty is to his own arrogant pride. He will mock his own friends if it gives him a momentary sense of superiority.
From the Drawing Board to the Cross
So what do we do with this? This passage forces us to become introspective, to examine the schemes and thoughts of our own hearts. It is not enough to simply manage our outward behavior. We are called to repent of the very inclination to devise evil. We must confess the sin of foolish thinking, the sin of crafting plans that leave God out of the equation.
This is profoundly humbling, because if the very thought of folly is sin, then we are all sunk. Who here has not entertained a foolish scheme? Who has not devised a plan based on self-interest rather than God's glory? Who has not, in some moment, harbored the scoffing spirit of cynicism toward God's commands? On the standard of this verse, we are all guilty. Our minds are little factories of folly, constantly churning out sinful schemes.
And this is precisely why we need the gospel. The gospel is not a self-help program for better behavior. It is a rescue mission for condemned schemers. The ultimate act of evil scheming was devised in the heart of man against the Son of God. The religious leaders plotted, Judas schemed, and Pilate calculated. They all deliberately thought to do evil, and they were all called what they were.
But in the glorious wisdom of God, the greatest evil scheme of man was turned into the greatest salvation plan of God. At the cross, God took the sin of our scheming hearts and laid it upon His Son. Jesus took the abomination that we are and bore it in His own body on the tree. He did this so that He could give us a new mind, the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). He did this so that the Spirit of God could come and begin the demolition process on our internal factories of folly and begin a new construction project, building thoughts of truth, righteousness, and holiness.
The Christian life, then, is a process of learning to think differently. It is the process of submitting our plans to His Word. It is repenting not just of our sinful actions, but of our sinful blueprints. It is learning to hate the scoffer in our own hearts and to instead sit at the feet of Wisdom Himself, Jesus Christ. He is the one who turns our foolish thoughts into wisdom, our sinful schemes into righteous obedience, and our abominable pride into humble worship. We must bring every thought, every plan, and every scheme to Him, and ask Him to nail the sinful ones to His cross and bless the righteous ones with His power.