When Man Contradicts God: The Collapse of False Authority

Happy Lord’s Day to you all! Today we gather not just in rest, but in reflection;setting our hearts and minds on the One who gives true wisdom. The book of Proverbs reminds us that wisdom is not hidden, nor is she reserved for the learned or powerful. She is God’s gift to all who fear Him, who humble themselves, and who choose to walk in His ways.

As we journey through today’s passage, we’ll see how wisdom calls out to us, how she warns against the traps of sin, and how she promises peace and safety to those who listen. These are not abstract ideas but living truths that shape our daily walk with Christ. My prayer is that as we reflect together, you will be encouraged, corrected where needed, and reminded that the Lord delights to give wisdom to His children.

Wisdom begins with reverence for the LORD, acknowledging Him as the source of all truth and instruction (1:7). Without this foundation, knowledge collapses, because those who despise God’s wisdom also reject correction, choosing to live without accountability.

From the very beginning, wisdom is meant to be nurtured at home. A child is urged to listen to a father’s instruction and not to forsake a mother’s law (1:8). These teachings are not burdens but adornments of honor, like a crown or a necklace, beautifying the life of the one who walks in them (1:9).

But immediately comes a warning: when sinners try to lure you, do not give in (1:10). The enticement often comes with promises of excitement, power, and quick wealth (1:11–14). Yet wisdom makes it clear that such company leads only to destruction. The call is not to reason with them but to avoid their path altogether (1:15). These people are in a hurry to do evil, eager for violence, blind to the ruin they’re running toward (1:16). In fact, their behavior is more foolish than that of animals; even a bird can see a trap and avoid it, but sinners walk straight into their own destruction (1:17). Their schemes end up turning back on themselves, bringing loss to their own lives (1:18–19).

Wisdom, however, is not silent. She is pictured as calling out loudly in the streets, at the gates, and in the busiest parts of the city, offering herself publicly to all who will listen (1:20–21). Her cry is directed at three groups: the simple who love their naivety, the mockers who delight in their scoffing, and the fools who outright despise knowledge (1:22). Yet even for these, there is hope. If they will turn at her rebuke, she promises to pour out her spirit and make her words known (1:23).

But the tragedy is that many refuse. Wisdom has stretched out her hand, but people reject it (1:24–25). The result is that when disaster strikes, those who laughed at truth will find themselves mocked by the irony of justice itself (1:26–27). They will call out, but it will be too late, because their rejection of the fear of the LORD has brought them to ruin (1:28–29). In the end, they will be forced to eat the fruit of their own choices, filled with the consequences of rejecting God’s counsel (1:30–31).

The outcome is inevitable: the wandering away of the simple will lead to death, and even the temporary success of fools will ultimately destroy them (1:32). Yet the chapter closes with a note of hope. Those who listen to wisdom will dwell in safety, free from the fear of evil, resting in the security of God’s protection (1:33).

Proverbs chapter 2 begins with a call to treasure God’s commandments. The father says, “My son, if you receive my words and hide my commandments with you” (2:1). This is not just about hearing but about storing them up, guarding them as something precious. The word “hide” here means to treasure, to preserve. That is the very opposite of what has been done by those in power who have altered, rearranged, or outright dismissed the commandments of God.

The Ten Commandments were given by the LORD Himself, written with His own finger (Exodus 31:18). They are not suggestions to be adjusted with the times, nor are they man-made traditions. Yet throughout history, religious leaders have acted as though they hold authority to change what God Himself has spoken. But God’s Word is clear: His law is eternal, and no man may add to it or take from it (Deuteronomy 4:2). To hide His commandments in our hearts is to refuse to let them be stolen or redefined.

Why would anyone want to change God’s commandments? The reason is plain: because God’s commandments bring life, blessing, and holiness, but sin and false power thrive where His Word is twisted. To lead people away from the Sabbath is to lead them away from God’s rhythm of rest and fellowship. To downplay the command against idolatry is to open the door for images and objects made by human hands to become objects of worship. We are warned against such practices because they rob God of His glory and enslave people to false religion. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). And His commandments are still His commandments; they cannot be abolished simply because a church council or institution claims the authority to do so.

The passage continues by describing how true wisdom is sought; inclining the ear, applying the heart, crying out for discernment, and seeking her like hidden treasure (2:2–4). If we do this, the promise is sure: we will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God Himself (2:5). This is not man’s knowledge, not religious traditions, but God’s truth revealed to those who pursue Him.

The LORD is the very source of wisdom, for she was created by Him and belongs to Him alone

Proverbs 8:22–23,

“The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.”

Out of His mouth come knowledge and understanding (2:6). He lays up wisdom for the righteous and is a shield to those who walk uprightly (2:7). He preserves the way of His saints (2:8). When His Word fills us, we gain clarity to discern righteousness, justice, equity, and every good path (2:9). This is why altering God’s Word is so dangerous; it cuts off the very source of moral clarity and protection.

When wisdom takes root in the heart,she becomes pleasant to the soul (2:10). Discretion and understanding guard us (2:11). They deliver us from evil men who speak perversely and lead others into darkness (2:12–13). These are men who delight in evil, rejoice in wickedness, and twist everything for their own gain (2:14–15). Scripture consistently warns us against false prophets and false teachers who promise life but lead to ruin. Why would they do this? Because deceiving others is profitable to them; it builds their own kingdoms, even if it costs people their souls.

Wisdom also delivers from the “strange woman” (2:16), a picture of seduction and unfaithfulness. She flatters with words, forsakes her covenant, and leads to death (2:17–18). Those who follow her rarely find their way back to life (2:19). This applies both to sexual immorality and to spiritual unfaithfulness; turning away from God’s covenant to embrace another path.

The contrast becomes clear at the end of the chapter: wisdom keeps you walking in the way of the good, in the company of the righteous (2:20). The upright will dwell securely in the land and remain in God’s blessing (2:21). But the wicked will be cut off, uprooted, and destroyed (2:22).

The lesson is sharp and urgent: preserving God’s commandments is life itself. To alter them is to lead people to destruction. Those who treasure His Word find safety, stability, and blessing, while those who despise it will be uprooted. Proverbs 2 shows us that wisdom is both a treasure to be sought and a shield to be trusted. She leads to life; but rejecting her leads only to ruin.

Proverbs chapter 3 begins with a simple but urgent command: “My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments” (3:1). This is not about outward religion or traditions of men; it is about holding fast to God’s eternal Word (to Christ). The promise that follows is striking: long life, peace, and blessing belong to those who guard His commandments (3:2). Kindness and truth are to be bound around the neck and written on the heart (3:3). The result is favor with both God and man (3:4).

And here we must pause. How much more proof do people need to see that God’s commandments were never meant to be tampered with? From the beginning they were given as eternal truth. Yet history shows us how men in authority altered them; removing the second commandment against idols, splitting another to keep the number at ten, shifting the Sabbath rest from the seventh day to the first. But God’s Word is unchanged. Revelation itself points to the saints as “they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

Even the New Testament affirms the Sabbath. Hebrews 4:9 in the Greek reads: ἄρα ἀπολείπεται σαββατισμὸς τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ; “There remaineth therefore a sabbatismos [Sabbath-keeping] to the people of God.” The inspired word here is not “rest” in general, but a specific kind of rest: Sabbath-keeping. This was written long after the resurrection, showing that God’s rhythm of rest still stands.

And the same book of Hebrews later warns: “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:5–6). If Christ is truly the God of the Old Testament made flesh; and He is; why would His followers claim His commandments no longer matter? His correction comes precisely because His commandments still stand. To say otherwise is to build a faith on sand.

The chapter continues by describing wisdom as priceless. To find her is to find true happiness (3:13). She is better than silver, gold, or rubies (3:14–15).She brings life, honor, and peace (3:16–17). She is described as a “tree of life” to all who take hold of her (3:18). This tree reminds us of Eden and also of the eternal life promised in Christ. In contrast to fleeting wealth, wisdom sustains forever.

By wisdom the LORD founded the earth, by understanding He established the heavens (3:19–20). To walk in wisdom is to walk in harmony with the Creator’s design.

We are then told to keep sound wisdom and discretion ever before our eyes (3:21). She becomes life to the soul and grace to the character (3:22). She gives stability, safety, and protection (3:23). She brings sweet rest, peace of mind, and courage even in fearful times (3:24–25). And here lies a great promise: “For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken” (3:26).

What does this mean? It means the Lord Himself holds and seals His people. The Holy Spirit places His seal upon believers (Ephesians 1:13), and that seal is not weak or temporary. It keeps us from being taken, from falling utterly, from being lost to sin and death. This stands in sharp contrast to teachings of “do penance” as though repeated rituals could preserve us. The apostles taught repentance; a turning of the heart back to God; not human works of penance. If the Spirit seals the believer, there is no room for ideas like the treasury of merit, purgatory, or the categories of venial and mortal sin. The Lord’s keeping is perfect, not partial. His Spirit preserves us so that our confidence is in Him, not in our performance.

The chapter then turns to practical wisdom in how we live with others. Do good when you can; don’t withhold kindness when it is in your power to act (3:27–28). Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, and don’t pick unnecessary fights (3:29–30). Don’t envy oppressors or imitate their ways (3:31). Wisdom is not only about personal blessing but about how we treat others with integrity and peace.

The destinies are contrasted. The crooked are an abomination to the LORD, but the righteous share His intimate friendship (3:32). The wicked and unrepentant live under a curse, but the just are blessed (3:33). God resists the proud mockers but gives grace to the humble (3:34). The wise inherit glory, but fools end in shame (3:35).

The thread running through it all is this: wisdom is inseparable from keeping God’s commandments. It is foolishness to believe they could be rewritten or abolished. The blessings described in Proverbs 3; life, peace, security, favor, and glory; flow from honoring what God has spoken from the beginning. To forsake His commandments is to forsake wisdom herself. To keep them is to walk in life.

Proverbs 4 opens with a father’s urgent plea: “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding” (4:1). The very first word is hear. Wisdom begins not with inventing our own ideas, not with following traditions of men, but with listening; to God’s Word, to what He has passed down faithfully from generation to generation.

Then comes the core: “For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law” (4:2). God Himself calls His Word good doctrine. It is life-giving truth, not to be abandoned. The command is simple and direct: do not forsake it.

In verse 4, Solomon recalls his own father’s words: “Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.” This is not symbolic, not optional. God ties obedience directly to life itself. To forsake His commandments is to forsake life.

And yet the Roman Catholic Church has claimed the right to alter what God gave. They merged the second commandment against idolatry into the first, split the tenth commandment in two to keep the number intact, and shifted the Sabbath command from the seventh day to the first. But who gave them this authority? Not God. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the LORD, I change not.” Jesus said plainly, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law… Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law” (Matthew 5:17–18). Revelation 14:12 describes the end-time saints as those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” The last book of the Bible reaffirms what Proverbs began: keep His commandments, do not forsake them.

History tells us: in the 4th century, the Council of Laodicea outlawed Sabbath-keeping, declaring Christians must instead honor Sunday. This was not divine authority but political maneuvering, aligning Christianity with the empire’s sun-worship. The same empire that crucified the Messiah wrapped itself in Christian garments and declared itself the Church. Pagan feasts were baptized into Marian festivals, pomp thrones were erected when the New Testament “thrones” simply meant authority or responsibility, papal infallibility was later claimed on the basis of forged documents, and doctrines like perpetual virginity were pressed even when early writers such as Hegesippus mention the Desposyni ; the family of Christ, descended from His brother Jude.

History records that Domitian emperor of Rome, feared this family, for they bore testimony to a coming Messiah greater than himself. James the Just, the Lord’s brother, was murdered by the religious establishment in Jerusalem. The apostles and Christ’s own kin sealed their testimony with blood. Yet later men claimed to be successors of Peter while constructing an institution more Roman than apostolic. When do we see through this? When do we admit that altering the commandments, elevating men to thrones of power, and mingling Christianity with empire was not faithfulness but rebellion?

Proverbs 4 warns: do not forsake God’s law. Yet Rome did. Do not add or subtract from His Word (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18–19). Yet Rome did. Why? Because the commandments of God give life, while the commandments of men exalt human pride. To forsake the Father’s doctrine is to choose ruin.

Wisdom is supreme;she must be sought above everything else (4:5–7). Wisdom exalts and honors those who embrace her (4:8–9). Wisdom lengthens life, keeps the path safe, and prevents stumbling (4:10–12). And so the plea is repeated: “Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life” (4:13).

That is the dividing line. God’s commandments are life. Man’s alterations are death. The challenge of Proverbs 4 is simple: which will you hold fast to? The good doctrine of the LORD, or the traditions of men who claimed authority to rewrite what He never permitted?

After urging us to hold fast to God’s good doctrine, Solomon turns to the danger of abandoning it. He warns: “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men” (4:14). The picture is stark; there are only two paths. The way of wisdom, built on God’s commandments, and the way of the wicked, built on rebellion. To step onto the wrong path is not harmless curiosity; it is the beginning of destruction.

He presses the point further: “Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (4:15). Notice the intensity; don’t just resist evil, but flee from it. Proverbs leaves no room for compromise. Why? Because the wicked cannot rest unless they do evil; sin is their food and drink (4:16–17). To walk with them is to join their appetite for destruction.

By contrast, “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (4:18). Obedience to God’s law brings clarity, direction, and increasing brightness. The way of the wicked, however, is darkness; they stumble without even knowing why (4:19). Here again we see why altering God’s commandments is so disastrous. To change His law is to take people off the shining path into blindness. And when people stumble in spiritual darkness, they don’t even recognize the reason: they have been led away from the Word of God.

The father then pleads again: “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings” (4:20). Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh (4:21–22). God’s Word is described as medicine, as life itself. Why would any true shepherd want to withhold such life? Why would they replace it with traditions, relics, or man-made rules? The answer is clear: because man’s pride enslaves the soul, but God’s Word sets people free.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (4:23). To guard the heart is to guard the seat of devotion and loyalty. If the commandments are stored in the heart, life flows rightly. If they are forsaken, corruption flows out instead.

Next, wisdom addresses speech: “Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee” (4:24). Words reveal the heart. Corrupt teaching, false doctrine, blasphemous claims of authority; all are exposed by Proverbs as the lips of folly. How different is this from the boast of papal infallibility, the claim that a man can speak without error when history itself shows the power was established through forged documents? A perverse claim, standing in opposition to the God who alone is infallible.

The passage continues: “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee” (4:25). Wisdom demands focus; a single-hearted devotion to God’s Word, not distracted by the pomp and glitter of man’s religion. Pagans built temples with thrones, crowns, and processions. The church of Rome borrowed the same pomp and clothed it with Christian language. But Proverbs calls us to a straight gaze, not dazzled by spectacle, but fixed on the Word that never changes.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

(John 1:1–5, KJV)

Solomon concludes: “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil” (4:26–27). Life is a path, and every step matters. We are commanded not to wander, not to innovate God’s truth, not to drift into additions or subtractions. To walk the narrow path means refusing to be swayed by human traditions.

God’s law is life, wisdom, and health. Forsaking it; whether by following wicked companions or by exalting man’s authority above God’s Word; leads only to darkness and ruin. The Roman empire may have merged its power with religion, but the empire’s pomp and pride will not stand before the eternal Word of God. Proverbs 4 leaves us with no excuse. God gave good doctrine. He said, “Forsake not my law.” Those who listen will live. Those who change His Word will stumble in darkness.

This is exactly where Proverbs 4’s path imagery meets the earliest Christian teaching we read yesterday in the Didache: there are two ways; one of life, one of death; with a great difference between them. That is the same binary Proverbs insists on: the way of the wicked, which we are told not even to step toward (4:14–15), and the path of the just, which grows brighter to the perfect day (4:18). There is no third road, no spiritual shoulder to pull over on and idle safely; your feet are either moving toward life under God’s commandments (4:1–2, 4:4) or drifting into darkness (4:19, 4:27).

So at what point; if there are only two paths; do any sins not lead to spiritual death? Scripture’s logic is uncompromising. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Break one point of the law and you are a lawbreaker (James 2:10). Desire conceives, sin is born, and when sin is full-grown it brings forth death (James 1:14–15). Sin isn’t merely a list of isolated infractions; it’s a direction of travel. Even “small” sins are not safe; they are seeds with a trajectory. “Avoid it… turn from it… pass away” (4:15). Why such urgency? Because every step forms a habit, every habit shapes a heart, and “out of the heart are the issues of life” (4:23). If the heart drifts from God’s law, the feet will follow (4:26–27).

But where is hope if sin’s inherent wage is death? Proverbs has already answered: “Keep my commandments, and live” (4:4). The way of life is not sinlessness by human effort; it is repentant obedience under God’s unchanging Word (Malachi 3:6; Matthew 5:17–19). The gospel does not create a grey zone where sin becomes harmless; it gives a living Redeemer who rescues sinners from the path of death and sets them on the path of life. That is why Hebrews calls God’s discipline an act of love (Hebrews 12:5–6). The Father disciplines His children because the path matters. If you belong to Him, He does not leave you to wander; He corrects you back to the way of life.

This also clarifies a frequent confusion: the Spirit’s seal versus the idea of “safe sins.” The promise “the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken” (3:26) means God Himself secures His people. The Holy Spirit seals believers (Ephesians 1:13), not to grant permission for sin, but to keep them from being finally snared by it. The seal produces repentance, not presumption (Acts 17:30; 2 Corinthians 7:10). Therefore, teachings that suggest ritual penance can manage sin, or that some sins are essentially nonfatal because they’re labeled differently, collapse under the two-paths logic of Proverbs and the Didache. There is no “safe” rebellion; there is only confessed sin brought to Christ and forsaken; and that is the way of life (1 John 1:9). Anything else is the way of death.

And this brings us back to “forsake not my law” (4:2) and “keep my commandments, and live” (4:4). If leaders add to or subtract from God’s Word, they are not creating a harmless middle; they are redrawing the signposts so travelers miss the narrow road (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18–19).

Idolatry rebranded as devotion remains idolatry;

altering the Sabbath remains alteration;

enthroning men as infallible teachers only displaces the One whose Word cannot change. The result is not a kinder path but a darker one (4:19).

So when, exactly, would any sin not lead to spiritual death?

In itself; never. Sin always tends toward death (Romans 6:23; James 1:15). But under Christ’s lordship, confessed and forsaken sin is interrupted by mercy, and the traveler is turned back to the way of life (4:26–27; Hebrews 12:5–6). That is not a grey area; that is a change of roads. The Two Ways remain. Proverbs 4 won’t let us pretend otherwise. Keep His commandments (4:4). Guard your heart (4:23). Fix your gaze straight ahead (4:25). Ponder your steps and remove your foot from evil (4:26–27). This is the Way of Life; exactly as the apostles taught from the beginning, and exactly as wisdom still calls today.

So.......

If Christ is the Source of all truth, then everything downstream must be tested by what He has already revealed (Acts 17:11; Galatians 1:8–9). The apostolic witness, with Christ as cornerstone, is a finished foundation (Ephesians 2:20; Jude 3). The Spirit does not create new doctrine but illuminates and preserves the truth Christ gave (John 14:26; 16:13). Because God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8), His truth cannot be revised without implying change in Him. Leaders are only stewards of this deposit, never authors of it (1 Timothy 6:20; 1 Corinthians 4:1–2). Binding and loosing means applying what Christ already revealed, not legislating new standards. And since there is only one Mediator, one Head, and one ultimate Teacher (1 Timothy 2:5; Colossians 1:18; Matthew 23:8–10), the claim of papal infallibility contradicts the very logic of the gospel. Christ’s once-delivered Word rules His church, and every other voice must be judged by it. If a pope merely repeats what Scripture already says, then infallibility is redundant. The Word of God is already infallible; repeating it does not transfer that quality to the man who echoes it. At best, he is only a mouthpiece, and his authority rises no higher than the text he cites. But if he claims to go beyond what Scripture has revealed, then infallibility becomes impossible, because he is now speaking without the warrant of the Source of truth. To assert infallibility in that moment is to elevate human words to the level of divine revelation; which is itself a contradiction, for the very act of adding to God’s Word is the mark of error (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18–19).

Christ’s Word was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). It is the foundation upon which the church is built (Ephesians 2:20), unchanging because the God who spoke it does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). That Word rules His church. Every other voice must be judged by it, corrected by it, and if necessary silenced by it. To claim an authority above or beside Christ’s Word is not to guard the flock, but to rival the Shepherd. And if Christ is the Truth itself, how could any human institution presume to add truth to Him? That is not authority, but contradiction; and contradiction cannot be divine.