Galatians 5.14-15
“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5.14.15)
We are witnessing a heart-breaking deterioration of public discourse in America and around the world. Many people exhibit a staggering inability to engage in respectful discussion and debate. The frequency and intensity with which people descend into name-calling and mud-slinging is on display every day in the news and online.
It is possible you have heard of Godwin’s Law, which is the observation that the longer an internet argument goes on, the higher the probability that someone will be compared to the Nazis and Hitler. It’s been said that when someone is no longer able to present a reasonable, fact-based point of view, they resort to calling their opponent a racist, fascist, Nazi, or some other obscence epithet.
I have seen Christians fall into this trap, especially online.
“Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.” (Proverbs 29.8)
If you recall, we studied this verse in our series on Proverbs. The word used in this verse for “set aflame” means to blow on a fire to fan the flames. It describes people who make a great effort to stir up trouble. Serious trouble. Solomon is talking about agitators who fan the flames of division, anger, and violence in a relationship, an organization, or in society.
In any nation, there will always be groups with differing interests and conflicting ideologies. In countries both ancient and modern, the potential to stir up trouble and fan the flames of division and anger has always been present, and it is easy to turn one group against the other and cause differences to be inflamed.
The proverb gives a name to the agitators who stir up trouble: scoffers. This is not the only place that Proverbs refers to these hardhearted agents of conflict and chaos. Proverbs 21.24 described them very clearly: “Scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.”
Scoffers are agitators who love to pick fights. They are selfish, combative, and arrogant. They think they are smarter than everyone else, and they believe their ideas are the only worthy ideas. They don’t solve problems, they cause problems.
Because they like to argue and pick fights, it is often necessary to get rid of the scoffer in order to solve division and resolve conflict. When the scoffer is gone, the contention stops. There is no one left to fan the flames of controversy and division. “Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.” (Proverbs 22.10)
Since the scoffer thinks he is smarter than everyone else, he will not be corrected; he will not listen to counsel. “A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.” (Proverbs 15:12)
America seems to have an abundance of scoffers/agitators who fan the flames of controversy, conflict, and violence. This is not a minor problem, and unless our nation addresses and resolves the root causes, we will continue to be a nation divided.
Proverbs tells us that godly wisdom is needed in order to turn away wrath, and that will be the focus tomorrow.
Coram Deo
