Three Types of Sinners

Posted by Brian Mann on Jul 2, 2009 in Blog | Comments Off

Proverbs 2:22 states them:

“How long, O naive ones, will you love simplicity? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?” (Prov. 2:22 NASB)

So you have:

1. Naive ones who love simplicity- the most complete definition in one place that I have found for the “naive” is found in Prov. 14:15 “The naive believes everything, but the prudent man considers his steps.”  They are in the sense we would say today, gullible.  This gullibility leads them to be as Proverbs 1:32 says killed by their turning away (synonyms for this word ‘turning away’ are: waywardness, apostasy, backsliding, vacillating, indecisiveness).  Anyone who has experienced some trauma will feel this, agnostics feel this, many people feel this and it will kill them if they do not listen to the call of God’s wisdom.
2. Scoffers who delight themselves in scoffing- one of the most notable things about scoffers is that they are intolerable to one whose delight is in the Law of the Lord (Psalm 1).  They are pictured there as seated.  Scoffers are those who exalt themselves by making fun of others.
3. and Fools who hate knowledge- ‘fool’ here is the most general word for fool in Proverbs.  The most notable verse that I found on this word is Proverbs 17:24 “…But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth” meaning that a ‘fool’ does not have the concentration for wisdom, he cannot stay focused; why can he not stay focused?  It is the reason that a lot of people cannot stay focused, not ADD or ADHD, not to discount those medical issues, but here we do not have that, here the diagnosis of the fool is that he cannot stay focused because he simply hates knowledge and doesn’t want to learn.

Something interesting about all three of these types of sinners are that they express by their affections their character:  The one loves simplicity, the other delights in scoffing, and still the other hates knowledge.  Their love, delight, and hatred of things identifies them well.  So it is the case with our affections.  One can see if he falls into the category of one or more of these types of sinners, but I certainly believe most will.  People struggle with indecisiveness, scoffing or mocking, and with concentration on God’s Word.  Could it be that our indecisiveness is an indication that we are lovers of simplicity, order and the like rather than God?; could it be that our mocking of people and things at times indicates that we delight more in making fun of others than in exalting God and exalting others made in God’s image?; could it be that our lack of concentration is really identifying that our affections are not set on God’s Word but something else?  I find these all as not only possible, but likely.  And if likely, Proverbs has much to teach everyone, because everyone is a sinner apart from the Grace of God.