Pro 12:2 | KingComments | STEP | is a good illustration of the fact that love is not about a pleasant emotion. Accepting “discipline” is often not easy. To accept discipline you must love it. You do that when you recognize its importance. This is about whether we have the explicit will to accept discipline or whether we do not want to be disciplined. If we have the will to accept discipline, we will love discipline. It is a love that must be learned. The other case, hating “reproof” happens almost automatically. This is how we are by nature. Those who want to grow spiritually must learn to accept and learn from “discipline” or correction. This requires voluntarily acting as a disciple toward someone who disciplines him. It shows the humble mind of one who does not think highly of himself. The one who disciplines him may be God Who speaks to him through His Word. God can also speak through a person, anyone, or through an event. “Whoever loves discipline”, which implies that a person longs to be disciplined, proves that he loves “knowledge”. Discipline is associated with “knowledge”. It is about the knowledge of God and Christ, which is knowing God’s will to live to His glory. To gain knowledge requires effort through training. When it is about “the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord” ( ), no way can be too hard and no cost can be too high. There is no easy way to spiritual knowledge. Eve chose the easy way and sin made its entry. The second line of verse begins with “but”, indicating that now the contrast with the first line of verse follows. There are two contrasts: “hate” is contrasted with love and “stupid” with knowledge. “He who hates reproof”, who contemptuously refuses and rejects, acts foolishly and stupidly like an animal that has no understanding. To hate means to dislike. That aversion comes from the prideful heart that does not want to know about reproof. He who hates reproof shows the unreason of an animal that does not realize that it is for its own good if it is hurt. “A good man” ( ) is he who by the grace of God is good, for “there is none who does good, there is not even one” ( ). “None is good, but one: God”, that is the Lord Jesus ( ). He who has Him as his life can also be good and therefore do good. The good one is full of goodness, which can only be worked by the Spirit of God. Goodness is part of the fruit of the Spirit ( ). A good man wants only what God, the Good One, wants and what is expressed through the Spirit. This brings him “the favor from the LORD”. God connects Himself to him, for in him He recognizes Himself. There is harmony between the good and the Good. This applies to every believer who walks with God. It applies above all to Christ. He is the perfectly good Man and also the perfectly good God. As Man, He obtained God’s favor. Opposite the man of goodness is the man “who devises evil”. In such a person there is no goodness; he has no life from God. He acts according to his sinful nature, as evidenced by the plans he makes to harm others. Such a person does not obtain the goodness of God, but obtains condemnation. Here we see that not only a sinful act makes someone condemnable before God, but also devising evil. Absalom was a man who devised evil, who set out to remove his father David from the throne and seize power ( ).

‏ Proverbs 12:2

To Love Knowledge and Obtain Favor

Pro 12:1 is a good illustration of the fact that love is not about a pleasant emotion. Accepting “discipline” is often not easy. To accept discipline you must love it. You do that when you recognize its importance. This is about whether we have the explicit will to accept discipline or whether we do not want to be disciplined. If we have the will to accept discipline, we will love discipline. It is a love that must be learned. The other case, hating “reproof” happens almost automatically. This is how we are by nature.

Those who want to grow spiritually must learn to accept and learn from “discipline” or correction. This requires voluntarily acting as a disciple toward someone who disciplines him. It shows the humble mind of one who does not think highly of himself. The one who disciplines him may be God Who speaks to him through His Word. God can also speak through a person, anyone, or through an event.

“Whoever loves discipline”, which implies that a person longs to be disciplined, proves that he loves “knowledge”. Discipline is associated with “knowledge”. It is about the knowledge of God and Christ, which is knowing God’s will to live to His glory. To gain knowledge requires effort through training. When it is about “the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord” (Phil 3:8), no way can be too hard and no cost can be too high. There is no easy way to spiritual knowledge. Eve chose the easy way and sin made its entry.

The second line of verse begins with “but”, indicating that now the contrast with the first line of verse follows. There are two contrasts: “hate” is contrasted with love and “stupid” with knowledge. “He who hates reproof”, who contemptuously refuses and rejects, acts foolishly and stupidly like an animal that has no understanding. To hate means to dislike. That aversion comes from the prideful heart that does not want to know about reproof. He who hates reproof shows the unreason of an animal that does not realize that it is for its own good if it is hurt.

“A good man” (Pro 12:2) is he who by the grace of God is good, for “there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Rom 3:12b). “None is good, but one: God”, that is the Lord Jesus (Mk 10:18). He who has Him as his life can also be good and therefore do good. The good one is full of goodness, which can only be worked by the Spirit of God. Goodness is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

A good man wants only what God, the Good One, wants and what is expressed through the Spirit. This brings him “the favor from the LORD”. God connects Himself to him, for in him He recognizes Himself. There is harmony between the good and the Good. This applies to every believer who walks with God. It applies above all to Christ. He is the perfectly good Man and also the perfectly good God. As Man, He obtained God’s favor.

Opposite the man of goodness is the man “who devises evil”. In such a person there is no goodness; he has no life from God. He acts according to his sinful nature, as evidenced by the plans he makes to harm others. Such a person does not obtain the goodness of God, but obtains condemnation. Here we see that not only a sinful act makes someone condemnable before God, but also devising evil. Absalom was a man who devised evil, who set out to remove his father David from the throne and seize power (2Sam 15:2-6).