Proverbs 29:18

I have been wanting to bring up this topic for a while now, but have been hesitant, because this is a very controversial post – in that it will likely offend some people. I make no apologies, however, as the truth must be made known, no matter how offensive it may be. What I want to talk about is one of the most abused and misinterpreted passages in Scripture. The passage I am referring to is Proverbs 29:18. Out of the KJV, the passage reads as follows: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Upon this single verse, entire sermons have been preached, and even entire books written. In and of itself, this would not be a problem, but it is often done at the neglect of the gospel. Furthermore, the passage is almost always taken out of context to say nothing more than: “ Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Taking verses out of context is bad enough, but to not even quote an entire verse is a terrible misuse of God's word – and in doing so, completely distorts the meaning of the whole passage.

If one, maybe two pastors had misused this verse in a sermon, I would not be making this a big issue. But I hear this passage misused time and time again, by pastor after pastor in sermon after sermon. And the interpretation is always the same. “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” the pastor says. And then he, without fail, goes on to say that this means we all must have a “vision”, a “dream” that we must have for our lives. In other words, we must all have a plan for our lives – a vision for our lives that God has “downloaded” into us. And such a message is often preached without a single mention of Christ, the cross, the atonement, salvation, grace or anything else that would have hope of saving sinners. We are in no danger of hell because we have no plan for our lives, or because we lack vision, or because we aren't dreaming dreams. We are in danger of hell because by nature we are wretched sinners who have transgressed God's holy law and are now under His wrath. Yet, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (See Romans Ch. 3 and Ch. 5).

So much is made about man and what he can do in these sermons. It's all about man and what he can imagine. Pastors will encourage people to “dream big dreams”, as though imagination was the key to eternal life and the key to evangelism, rather than Christ and Him crucified along with knowledge of the Scriptures. To preach such trivial and pointless garbage at the expense of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ is nothing short of heresy; not only that, but a betrayal of Christ, an abuse of teaching position and mockery of those who have suffered and died preaching the gospel to the lost.

Worse still, congregations are often asked about “how big is your God”. Such things are idolatry of the worst sort. What is really being said is “how big is your idol that you call 'God'”. God is not one to be imagined, but one who is clearly revealed in Scripture. It is not about how big we believe God to be, but rather that we believe what Scripture testifies about Him – the unimaginable Deity who can only be revealed by faith and knowledge of the Scriptures. To put measure on any of God's attributes is only to detract from the revelation of God's limitless glory.

Having said this, now let us return to Proverbs 29:18. Note the second part of the verse: “but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Why is this always left out? Perhaps because it would detract from what those who are making a perversion of this verse are trying to say? One very important thing to note is that this verse, when misused, is always taken from the KJV, even in churches that would normally use a text like the NIV and would never even touch the KJV otherwise. Why is this? If we look at the NIV, the verse is rendered: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” In the ESV, it reads: “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” Even in the NKJV, it reads: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.” Now things begin to look suspicious. What does this verse really mean?

In order to better understand this verse, we must note few things. First, the KJV is 400 years old, and words used then sometimes do not have the same exact meaning that they do in contemporary English. Secondly, the Hebrew word hazôn, which is rendered as “vision” in the KJV, has multiple meanings. Take a look at this excerpt by Dr. Claude Mariottini of Northern Baptist Seminary:

The primary reason for this misuse of Proverbs 29:18 is because of the translation of this verse as it appears in the King James Version of the Bible. The KJV translates Proverbs 29:18 as follows:

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV).

Now, compare the KJV with the translation that appears in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV): “Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint, but happy are those who keep the law.”

The reason for this difference is that the Hebrew word for vision, hazôn, is generally used to designate the revelation of God’s will to prophets. The word hazôn is used to describe the visions of Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1) and of Nahum (Nahum 1:1).

What the wiseman is trying to communicate to his audience is that without prophetic revelation and without the preaching of the prophets calling the people into a faithful relationship with God and obedience to his word, people lose restraint and abandon God’s law.

Source 

Furthermore, the Amplified Bible states it this way: “Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]--blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.” In the 1599 Geneva Bible, it states: “Where there is no vision [where there are no faithful ministers of the word of God], the people decay; but he that keepeth the law is blessed.” It can clearly be seen by studying the context and the original language that the writer of Proverbs 29 in no way intended it say that we must dream dreams and have visions. Rather, it speaks of the prophetic revelation of God and His word. The Scriptures, the written Word, contain the prophetic revelation of God in its fullest. In other words, where God's word is not revealed (and preached), the people perish. Which is exactly what these pastors are failing to do. As they neglect God's word, the people under them perish in their sin. Yet those who hear God's word and are saved by grace, these are found to be in keeping with God's law, having been declared righteous by the merit and shed blood of Jesus Christ. For them:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3-10)

Lastly, let me say this, and I do not say this lightly. If anyone preaches a perversion of Proverbs 29:18 and does so at the expense of Christ and his glorious death on the cross, they are preaching a different gospel. Let the Bible itself be a warning to those who preach something other than Christ and Him crucified:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:6-9)

A harsh warning, yes. But not without hope. Repent and believe the gospel, the one true gospel, and you shall be saved. May God have mercy on those who have so distorted the gospel and bring them to repentance and saving faith.

Amen.