Christian Philosophy: How Christ Fulfills Proverbs 10:9

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Proverbs 10:9 says: “He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.” (KJV) So, what picture do we have here of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), the Proverbs’ purpose being to teach wisdom (Proverbs 1:1-2)?

The first clause says that the one who walks uprightly (i.e., lives righteously) walks surely. The word “surely” here can also be translated “securely.” [1] So, the one who lives righteously lives securely. Now, we know that security here does not mean non-exposure to any trouble whatsoever, because Acts 14:22 tells us that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of God. Rather, the righteous one is secure in the way in which Psalm 23 says the righteous man is secure (please read Psalm 23). And, given the oft-mentioned fact in this Proverbs series that Christ is the Ultimate Righteous One (1 John 2:1), we know that Christ, given His perfect righteousness, ever walked uprightly as a Man on this earth in His earthly life. And even that perfect life did not mean Christ’s exemption from tribulation. For He hungered (Matthew 4:2), He became weary (John 4:6), He thirsted (John 19:28), He was reproached with the reproaches by which His Father was reproached (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17; Romans 15:3), He sorrowed unto death (Matthew 26:38), He was slandered (Mark 14:56), He was crucified (Matthew 27:26), His Father forsook Him when He was on the cross (Matthew 27:46), and He endured other sorrows, so much so that He was a Man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3). So, with all that, how can it be said that Christ, as the Righteous Man, walked securely? He lived securely in the sense that the Father was always with Him (John 8:29). “But you just said that God forsook Him while He was on the cross!” Yes, but that forsaking was temporary. It was finished while Jesus was on the cross (John 19:30). Indeed, Christ saw the travail of His soul, which travail He suffered on the cross, and was satisfied, when He saw the full reward of His sufferings [2] (Isaiah 53:11). So, though God forsook His Son temporarily, He was, is, and will be with Him eternally. And we see the antithesis of the Righteous One in the second clause of this proverb: “but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.” When God made man, He made man upright (Ecclesiastes 7:29), which means man’s way was originally in perfect accordance with God’s commands. But man, because of both Adam’s disobedience and his own disobedience (Romans 5:12-21; Ephesians 2:1-3), perverts his way, twisting his way of life into a sinful, godless, and evil one (see Romans 1:18-32). And when man so perverts his way, he will be known, in his shame. He will expose his disgrace for people to see. While we have foretastes of this in scandals on this side of eternity, the second clause of this proverb will be ultimately fulfilled when the unbelieving and Christless will be resurrected to never-ending contempt (Daniel 12:2). In this proverb, we have the two ways set forth before us: the way of life and the way of death (Deuteronomy 30:19; Matthew 7:13-14). Christ is the Life (John 14:6), and He, walking uprightly, was ever secure. Sin, or the opposite of Christ, is perversion of man’s way from what it should be, and that man, in his perversion, will be made known, especially, in time, to all creation.

Christian, as one who trusts and follows the Lord Jesus Christ solely, you walk securely! Just trust and obey Him, and you will be secure in Him, no matter what troubles and hardships threaten your joy, contentment, and peace! Reader, if you are not trusting and following Christ only, you are perverting your way, and you WILL be made known!

[1] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/proverbs/10-9.htm [2] The expression “the full reward of His sufferings” comes from this video: https://illbehonest.com/get-off-facebook-be-a-man-paul-washer