"For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but His secret is with the righteous. The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but He blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely He scorneth the scorners: but He giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools" (Proverbs 3:32-35).
Here the Lord sets before us four descriptions of both the unregenerate and the regenerate. The one we were by nature, the other we are by grace.
1. The froward and the righteous. We have no righteousness of our own, but we are made righteous in Christ. "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." By nature, we too were "froward," for we departed from the Lord in our father Adam, but by grace we are "the righteous."
2. The wicked and the just. Every believing sinner is justified before God, legally acquitted of all guilt and perfect through the imputed righteousness of Christ. By birth we were also "wicked," guilty of high crimes against God, but Christ took our transgressions away and gave us His righteous obedience and in Him, we are "the just."
3. The scorners and the lowly. The Spirit of Truth has troubled our souls with a knowledge of our sinfulness and made us to realize we are "not worthy of the least of His mercies." Prior to being enlightened by the Spirit of illumination, in our arrogance we mocked sin, and ridiculed the things of God. However, now we have been brought to be among "the lowly," realizing we are rebels against God, and that if we are going to be saved, God Himself will have to do the work.
4. The fools and the wise. In our unconverted state, we were foolish and ignorant of the holy character of God, our own depravity and the necessity of the substitutionary death of Christ. The Spirit of grace, however, using the living Word of God, "made us wise unto salvation" (2 Timothy 3:15). We now know how God can be just and justify the ungodly, and how He can forgive us without compromising His law. The blessed Son bore the iniquities of His people on the cross; and on the basis of justice satisfied, God accepts us "in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6).