Christian Philosophy: How Christ Fulfills Proverbs 10:17

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Our next proverb, which we’ll be covering this week (after such a long wait), is Proverbs 10:17, which reads: “He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth” (KJV). And, as usual, we shall endeavor to see Christ in this proverb, treating the text as a portrait of Him. This study will mostly follow our usual method, analyzing both clauses to see 1) what Christ is like and 2) what Christ is not like, this time concluding with a brief exhortation to measure ourselves by these clauses to see if we resemble Christ or wickedness.

The first clause says that the one in the way of life keeps instruction. In other words, the man who is on the path of life obeys teaching. But what instruction? What teaching? Since we’re endeavoring here to see this proverb as an illustration of the Lord Jesus, let’s ask the question: what instruction, if any, did Christ keep? The Bible, the Word of Christ (Colossians 3:16), will provide the answer to that question, since it is where we see the Lord. Christ tells us that His meat, in His earthly ministry, was to do the will of His Father (John 4:34). In other words, the doing of God the Father’s will was so important to Christ that it affected Him the way food affects us when we eat and drink it. So, we may say that the Father’s will is the instruction Christ kept. And His keeping that instruction is a sign that He is in the way of life, Christ being Life (John 14:6).

In the second clause, we see a picture of sin, or the antithesis of Christ. This clause says that the one who refuses reproof errs. In other words, the man who rejects correction goes astray. [1] Though Christ never needed correction, since He never sinned (Hebrews 4:15), yet He never disobeyed the Father’s instruction. In contrast, the man characterized by sin spurns God’s instruction, including His correction for sin. And, by this rejection, the sinner goes astray, off the path of life we see in the first clause of this proverb (consider also Matthew 7:13-14). This is the Christless man.

O reader, which clause in this proverb describes you, as you are in the secret place of your mind and heart?

[1] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/proverbs/10-17.htm