Proverbs 8:13 (NKJV) — 13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.

The first step of the fear of the Lord. The Book of Proverbs elsewhere defines the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. According to this verse, then, the first step toward the attainment of either is to hate evil. As long as we are fond of the knowledge of evil, either through a desire for respectability in the eyes of the world or through ignorance of its dangers, we will never gain wisdom. We should hate evil because it is an affront to God and a snare to humanity. Wisdom hates pride, arrogance, evil ways, and the perverse mouth.

We must allow the Bible to identify evil, for our human judgment is faulty. If the decision as to what is evil is left to us, we will often excuse evil as good and call good evil.

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