The Grammar of Justice: No Freelance Avengers
Introduction: The World's Two Dictionaries
We live in a time when words are treated like Silly Putty. Men pick them up, stretch them into whatever shape suits their current emotional state, and then try to stick them onto reality. Words like justice, truth, and fairness have been ripped from their biblical moorings and are now adrift on a sea of sentimentality. The world, in its rebellion, wants to define these terms for itself. For the world, "justice" is a synonym for revolutionary envy, and "truth" is a private preference. But God has a dictionary, and we are not permitted to edit it.
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical, but it is not a book of disconnected moralistic tidbits. It is the application of God's perfect law to the gritty realities of Tuesday afternoon. It teaches us the grammar of a righteous life, a life lived in the fear of the Lord. And in our text today, we are given two sharp, clear prohibitions that cut right across the grain of our fallen human nature. The first deals with the sanctity of our neighbor's reputation, and the second deals with the sanctity of God's prerogative to render ultimate justice.
These two commands are pillars of a stable society. The first, concerning truthful witness, is the foundation of all jurisprudence and basic neighborliness. Without it, society dissolves into a chaos of slander, suspicion, and paranoia. The second, forbidding personal vengeance, is the foundation of all civil order. It distinguishes between the righteous execution of justice by a lawful magistrate and the arrogant pride of personal revenge. Our culture, which champions both the slander of social media and the vengeance of "cancel culture," has declared war on both these pillars. As Christians, we must understand that to obey these commands is not just a matter of personal piety; it is a matter of worldview warfare.
The Text
Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, Nor deceive with your lips. Do not say, "As he did to me so I shall do to him; I will render to the man according to his work."
(Proverbs 24:28-29 LSB)
The Sanctity of Reputation (v. 28)
The first prohibition addresses the tongue, that small fire that can set a great forest ablaze.
"Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, Nor deceive with your lips." (Proverbs 24:28)
This is a direct application of the ninth commandment: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16). But notice the precision here. The prohibition is against being a witness "without cause." This implies that there are times when one must be a witness against a neighbor, but there must be a righteous cause. If your neighbor is a thief, and you are called to testify in court, you are required by God to speak the truth. Silence in the face of evil is not piety; it is complicity. To withhold testimony when a crime has been committed is to bear false witness by omission.
But the phrase "without cause" targets a whole host of sins that fester in the human heart. It forbids perjury in court, of course, but it also forbids the casual assassination of character that happens over coffee or on the internet. It forbids gossip, which is sharing information you have no business sharing. It forbids slander, which is sharing lies. It forbids the sin of taking up a report against another without verifying the facts. It forbids speaking the truth with a malicious motive, intending to harm rather than to heal.
The second clause, "Nor deceive with your lips," broadens the scope. This isn't just about outright lies. Deception is more subtle. It includes half-truths, strategic omissions, and carefully crafted innuendo. It's the art of creating a false impression while maintaining plausible deniability. It is the native language of cowards and manipulators. God is a God of truth. His Son is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Therefore, His people must be a people of the truth. Our words are to be seasoned with salt, not poison. A man's reputation is a precious thing, and we are not to fling mud at it for sport, or out of envy, or to make ourselves feel important. To attack a neighbor's good name without just cause is to steal from him something more valuable than his wallet.
The Prerogative of God (v. 29)
The second prohibition moves from the sins of the tongue to the sins of the vengeful heart.
"Do not say, 'As he did to me so I shall do to him; I will render to the man according to his work.'" (Proverbs 24:29 LSB)
Here we have the motto of every blood feud, every petty squabble, and every revolutionary mob in history. "I will do to him as he has done to me." This is the anthem of the flesh. It feels so right, so just, so satisfying. And it is a direct usurpation of the throne of God.
The phrase "I will render to the man according to his work" is particularly audacious because it is language the Bible reserves for God Himself. God is the one who will "render to each one according to his deeds" (Romans 2:6). When a man says this in his heart, he is appointing himself as the judge, jury, and executioner. He is claiming a divine prerogative. This is vigilantism, whether it is carried out with a fist or with a malicious email.
Now, we must make a crucial distinction here, a distinction our sentimental age has almost entirely lost. This verse is forbidding personal vengeance, not civil justice. This is not Christian pacifism. God has established the civil magistrate, the government, as His minister to execute wrath on the wrongdoer (Romans 13:4). The principle of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (lex talionis) was given to civil judges, not to individuals. Its purpose was to limit and guide retribution, ensuring the punishment fit the crime, thereby preventing the kind of escalating, disproportionate vengeance this proverb condemns. When a man's eye is taken, his sinful heart wants to take the offender's head in return. The lex talionis was a guardrail against that, a principle of proportional justice for the courts.
So, it is not unchristian to press charges against a man who has robbed you. It is not a denial of forgiveness to seek the protection of the law from an abuser. That is appealing to God's ordained minister of justice. What is forbidden here is taking the law into your own hands. It is the personal, bitter, "I'll get you back for this" spirit. We are commanded to leave that to God. "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord'" (Romans 12:19).
The Gospel and the Great Reversal
As with all of God's law, these two prohibitions drive us to the foot of the cross. Who among us can say he has perfectly guarded his neighbor's reputation? Who can say he has never harbored a vengeful thought? The law shows us our sin, and our sin shows us our need for a Savior.
And in the gospel, we see the ultimate fulfillment and reversal of these principles. First, consider the matter of false witness. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only truly innocent neighbor, had countless false witnesses rise up against Him. He was slandered, mocked, and lied about. He was a witness against the evil of the world, and He did it with just cause, yet the world bore false witness against Him and put Him to death.
Second, consider the matter of vengeance. Look at the cross. There, the Lord Jesus did not say, "As they did to me, so I shall do to them." He did not render to them according to their work. If He had, we would all be in Hell. Instead, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). He absorbed the vengeance we deserved. He took the full and just penalty for our lies, our slander, our gossip, and our bitter, vengeful hearts.
God did, in fact, "render to the man according to his work" on that day. But the man was Christ, and the work was our sin, which He took upon Himself. And because He took the penalty for our sin, we who are in Him are now free from the lust for vengeance. We can forgive because we have been forgiven. We can entrust our case to God because He is a just judge who has already settled our ultimate case in Christ. We can speak the truth in love because we have been set free by the Truth Himself.
Therefore, when you are tempted to slander, remember the One who was slandered for you. When you are tempted to take revenge, remember the One who prayed for His executioners. You are not your own avenger. You have a champion, an advocate, a righteous judge. Leave the judging to Him. Your job is to speak the truth, love your neighbor, and proclaim the good news of the One who turns liars into truth-tellers and avengers into agents of grace.