At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; Yea, strife and reproach shall cease”
Proverbs 22:10
We have all heard the phrase “level playing field.” Not only have we heard the phrase, but we like the idea. It makes us think of fair play, equal weights and measures, and so on. But there are striking situations where it does not apply at all, this proverb gives us a good example.
In the book of Titus, the apostle Paul says this: “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition” (Titus 3:10, NKJV). What are we supposed to do with a divisive man? Well, to be blunt, Paul tells us to divide from him, reject him. We are to divide from the divisive. Isn’t that a contradiction? Well, no.
In this proverb, we are told that to move a scorner out of your company is going to greatly reduce the amount of disputing within that company. Contention will go out. Strife and reproach shall cease. This is no contradiction because obedient and disobedient actions never occur on a level playing field.
With the level playing field paradigm, offsides for one team should be offsides for the other. Clipping for one is clipping for the other. Unsportsmanlike conduct should be evaluated justly, regardless of the color of the uniform. That is what we mean by the phrase, and it is a just standard.
But Jesus gets to call the Pharisees whited sepulchers, and they do not get to call Him a drunkard, glutton, or demon-possessed. And the reason is that what Jesus said about them was true, and what they said about Jesus was false.
So when Diotrephes excludes friends of the apostle John, he is doing it because he is sinning, and is in love with his own preeminence. When the scorner is fired from your workplace, and the morale of everybody goes up, this is not an inconsistency. It is a verification of the truth of the Word.
