So here we go. In this post we are finishing off the second part of verse 7.
Let’s begin with the pattern we see throughout Psalm 19:7-9: “the [title] of the LORD is [property], [effect]”. For a more in-depth explanation of this pattern see my last blog post. I would also like to note that even though these verses use different titles, they all ultimately point to the same thing: God’s Law. Each title illuminates a different facet so that by the end of verse 9 we have a fuller and clearer picture of the Law and, by extension, of God himself.
19:7b. the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
What aspect of God’s Word is the focus in this phrase?
His ‛êdûth (ay-dooth): his testimony, or witness; in some English translations, “statutes”.
What is God’s “testimony”?
The Hebrew word ‛êdûth is the same word used by Moses in the book of Exodus when the Lord commands him to “put into the ark [of the covenant] the testimony (‛êdûth) that I shall give to you” (Exo. 25:16), referring to the two stone tablets on which God inscribed the 10 Commandments (see also Exo. 31:18, 32:15, and 34:29). In the ESV translation, the books of Exodus and Numbers are filled with references to this “testimony” when talking about the ark into which the two tablets were placed as well as the tabernacle as a whole. The ark is often called the “ark of the testimony” (Exo. 25:22; 26:33-34; 30:6, 26; 31:7; 39:35; 40:3, 5, 21; Num. 4:5; 7:89) and the tabernacle the “tabernacle of the testimony” (Exo. 38:21; Num. 1:50, 53; 10:11) or the “tent of the testimony” (Num. 9:15). In other translations the word “testimony” in these phrases is stated as the “covenant law”, again referring to the 10 Commandments.
How is it that a list of commands testifies, or serves as a witness, to the Lord?
The 10 Commandments were, and are, more than a set of rules; they provide us a glimpse of the character of God. For example, God commands His people to “not make…a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” and to “not bow down to them or serve them…” (Exo. 20:4-5a). Why? Because God is the Creator of all the “heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1) and is, therefore, the only One worthy of worship[1]. The Third Commandment warns against “tak[ing] the name of the Lord your God in vain…” (Exo. 20:7a). Why? Because God is holy, righteous, all-knowing, and all-powerful and therefore His Name deserves respect and reverence. As such, whoever does defile the Name of Almighty God will be held accountable. As Exodus 20:7 continues, we see God’s justice on display with His promise to “not hold him guiltless who takes [the Lord’s] name in vain”. The Ninth Commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exo. 20:16). Why? Because God is Truth and as such demands that His people also behave honestly. In the Decalogue God graced His people with a reflection of His own heart; it is a beautiful picture of His holiness and majesty, even as it only skims the surface of His vast ocean of love and mercy.
Now that we know what the “testimony” is, we can look at what property David ascribes to this particular aspect of God’s Law.
It is “sure”, or trustworthy and reliable. How do we know that we can trust God’s testimony? I touched on the answer above, but it deserves further explanation. To inform how I proceed with this discussion I will draw from a devotional published by R.C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries, entitled The Lord’s Testimony:
Most of the world’s religions have some kind of doctrine of divine revelation upon which the teachings of their particular system are based. However, the revelation given in most of these other religions is not, in the final analysis, dependable. For example, there are many passages in the Qur’an suggesting that Islam’s Allah is not finally knowable — that he can choose whatever characteristics he wants to have and therefore human beings cannot have a true knowledge of his character. Similarly, the pagan gods portrayed in religions both ancient and modern are capricious, changing their demands, actions, or emotions on a whim, leaving their servants unable to know what is expected of them.
The God of the Bible, however, is far different. … God’s statutes are based on an unchanging standard — nothing other than the character of the Lord Himself.
Note that last sentence. How do we know that we can trust God’s testimony? Because the testimony of the Law is founded and upheld in God. His Word is dependable because He is dependable. James 1:17 tells us that God is “our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens” and who, unlike other lights in our universe, “never changes or casts a shifting shadow” (NLT). Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” also speaks to this truth. Consider the second stanza:
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
God’s character remains the same from age to age, or in other words: forever! If the Lord is constant throughout all time, and His testimony is upheld by His person, His testimony will likewise remain true and steady, unchanging throughout time. Thus, the surety of His testimony is not dependent upon us. Its steadfastness does not ebb and flow with our fickle attitudes and emotions or our ability to perfectly keep it (Praise the Lord!). Rather, God’s testimony is reliable because of His faithfulness and unchanging nature. When we acknowledge, meditate on, and rest in the trustworthiness of “the LORD’s testimony”, we are graced with experiencing the effect of these truths: “making wise the simple”.
Understanding what it means to “make wise the simple” requires us to ask: who are the “simple”?
In answer, let’s go to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs mainly describes three types of people: the “wise”, the “fool”, and the “simple”. In 14:15 we are told, “The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps”. From this, we learn some key characteristics of a “simple” person. First, he “believes everything”, meaning he does not stand on, or commit to, any firm foundation or truth. He is easily influenced and therefore easily led astray. He has no filter to separate worldly “truth” from the pure, undefiled truth of God. Secondly, there is a contrast between the “simple” and the “prudent”. A prudent person is one who “gives thought to his steps”, the opposite of which would be the “simple” person, not giving thought to his steps; he is careless, maybe living his life in a que sera sera attitude; an indifferent “you do you and I’ll do me” type fellow.
Next, we must understand the word “wisdom”. I will first address what it is not. Wisdom does not refer to intellectual capacity. The testimony of the Lord will not make you “smarter” in a worldly sense. It will not increase your IQ nor magically allow you to suddenly understand quantum physics. The smartest people in the world are fools in God’s eyes if they deny His existence or refuse to see their need for salvation and turn to Christ (see Pro. 1:7 and 1 Cor. 3:19).
Now, what wisdom is. Wisdom does refer to a knowledge and acceptance of God and His Word. Psalm 111:10 tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (also Pro. 1:7). Jeremiah proclaims in Jeremiah 9:23-24:
Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord” (emphasis mine).
This wisdom is more than just knowing about God, it is knowing God. And the only way to know the Father is through His Son, Jesus Christ. Paul gives a lengthy discussion on Jesus being the means through which we obtain wisdom in 1 Corinthians 1:18-30. He describes Christ as “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1:24), while the “wisdom of the world” is “made foolish” by God (1:20; see also Isa. 29:14).
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. … For the foolishness of God is wiser than men… [and] God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption… (1 Cor. 1:20-30).
Likewise, Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:15, “…from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”. The purpose of God’s Word, the purpose of His Law, the purpose of His Testimony, is to make us “wise for salvation”.
What does this mean, exactly?
God’s testimony, also referred to as His “moral law”, calls us to live a life of holiness, as it did for the Israelites. It is a gracious guide to teach us how to “be holy” just as the Lord is holy (Lev. 11:44)[2]. Yet God knew, even as He inscribed on the tablets the 10 Commandments which he gave to Moses, that His people were and are incapable of perfectly adhering to His Law. That is why God mercifully instituted the sacrificial system, the “ceremonial law”, recorded in the book of Leviticus. All the sacrifices described in Leviticus foreshadowed the spotless Lamb of God who laid down his life as the perfect, once-for-all-time, sacrifice (Heb. 10:1-14) and, therefore, is the One in Whom we are forever cleansed.
It is worth a brief detour to explain why I made a distinction above between God’s moral law and His ceremonial law: God’s moral law is still applicable to Christians today whereas the ceremonial law is not. Chapter 19:3-5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith distinguishes between the moral law and the ceremonial law in this manner:
…God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances; partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits (Heb. 9; Heb. 10:1; Gal. 4:1-3; Col. 2:17); and partly of divers instructions of moral duties (1 Cor. 5:7; 2 Cor. 6:17; Jude 23). All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the new testament (Col. 2:14,16-17; Dan. 9:27; Eph. 2:15-16)… The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof (Rom. 13:8-9; Eph. 6:2; 1 John 2:3-4,7-8); and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God, the Creator, who gave it (Jas. 2:10-11). Neither doth Christ, in the Gospel, any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation (Mat. 5:17-19; Jas. 2:8; Rom. 3:31).
In living, dying, and rising again, Christ completed the requirements of both the ceremonial law and the moral law, but the moral law still has application in the life of believers. When asked by the Pharisees in Matthew 22, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” (22:36) Jesus answered them, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. … And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commands depend all the Law and the Prophets” (22:37-40). Jesus fulfilled this command during his life on earth because He perfectly loved God and loved others, but His fulfillment of this law did not render it obsolete. Rather, because of the perfect obedience of Christ counted to us we live life in the light of that imputed holiness, a life governed by “the law of the Spirit of life” (Rom 8:2). In fact, Jesus brought to light the full expression of the moral law, teaching that it pertained to internal personal holiness as well as external interactive holiness: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgement.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement” (Mat. 5:21-22).
Providing a standard of holiness for believers is not the only application of the moral law. John Calvin discusses three uses in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book II, Section 1). The first is that it reveals sin and compels sinners to seek salvation. Augustine wrote, “The law orders, that we, after attempting to do what is ordered, and so feeling our weakness under the law, may learn to implore the help of grace.” The second use is in the restraint of evil in society, such as informing civil governments regarding murder. The third use, which has been addressed above, is to inform the Christian how to live the God-pleasing life into which they were saved. As R.C. Sproul eloquently stated it:
By studying or meditating on the law of God, we attend the school of righteousness. We learn what pleases God and what offends Him. The moral law that God reveals in Scripture is always binding upon us. Our redemption is from the curse of God’s law, not from our duty to obey it. We are justified, not because of our obedience to the law, but in order that we may become obedient to God’s law. To love Christ is to keep His commandments. To love God is to obey His law.[3]
So, how does the surety of “the testimony of the LORD” turn a simple person into someone wise?
Recall, a simple person is easily misguided because he has no ultimate truth to stand on. God is Truth, and His Word is Truth (John 17:17). Therefore, those who are humble and willing to submit to the teaching of God’s Word (Psa. 25:8-10), accept His testimony as being grounded in the unchanging, never-failing nature of God, and believe in the One to whom all Scripture ultimately points and the One “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3), Jesus Christ, are made wise.
To wrap-up this post I will summarize our discussion by once again drawing from the Reformed commentator Matthew Henry[4]:
The testimony of the Lord (which witnesses for him to us) is sure, incontestably and inviolably sure, what we may give credit to, may rely upon, and may be confident it will not deceive us. It is a sure discovery of the divine truth, a sure direction in the way of duty. It is a sure foundation of living comforts and a sure foundation of lasting hopes. It is of use to make us wise, wise to salvation (2 Tim. 3:15). It will give us an insight into things divine and a foresight of things to come. It will employ us in the best work and secure to us our true interests. It will make even the simple (poor contrivers as they may be for the present world) wise for their souls and eternity. Those that are humbly simple, sensible of their own folly and willing to be taught, shall be made wise by the word of God (Psa. 25:9).
“Your testimonies are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.”
~ Psalm 119:129-130
*All scripture references used in this post were taken from the ESV translation unless otherwise noted.
[1] Recall, also, the first verse of Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork”. If creation itself shouts of the glory of its Creator, who are we to exalt any part of creation in worship? Only the Creator is worthy of our praise.
[2] The command from God to His people to be holy was not only to the national people of Israel under the Mosaic Covenant, it applies to believers today as well (see 1 Peter 1:14-16). Thus, all believers across all time, hearing the command and finding themselves lacking in perfect holiness, are driven ever further into the refuge of Christ in Whom they are declared holy.
[3] https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/sproul/threefold_law.html
[4] Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Published 1708-1714. Accessed on e-Sword.