distinction

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.
Proverbs 8:13

Wisdom calls for a distinct commitment to the LORD Who gives it. True wisdom is a holy life. It cannot tolerate evil. It hates what is wrong. Notice that the language is quite clear. It hates evil. It hates what is bad that causes people to do what is wrong in the sight of God. Several attitudes and actions are mentioned to define this.

It starts with pride. Pride was Satan's original sin. Pride is a selfish attitude that disregards God and does not heed His wisdom. Pride led Adam and Eve to eat what was forbidden because they believed the lie that they should be like God. And these days in particular, pride is viewed as a "celebration" of what a person is, sins and all, even if what that person does is a deviation from surrendering the will in love to God. Pride now celebrates sin. That is a celebration of evil... the opposite of the fear of the Lord.

A second attitude is arrogance. This is pride that believes itself to be above God altogether. Arrogance is self-indulgence and self-inflation. It will drive rich and successful sinners as well as the poorest people on earth. Arrogance is behind racism and holier-than-thou Pharisee-ism. Arrogance steps on others to get what I want. Arrogance is the result of pride running unchecked. And arrogance will refuse to acknowledge God.

The third thing mentioned that is opposed to the fear of the LORD is labeled generically as "the way of evil". Sin has a path it takes every one of us. It is familiar. Jesus called it the "broad road that leads to destruction" and said there were many people on it. Those who fear God should not go this way of the world. But this is very difficult, because our default settings want us to be in with the comfortable crowd who seem to be fine walking the way of evil.

But those who are in the way of evil will show it most by their words. They will speak against God or His Wisdom. There is perverse speech both inside and outside the church that does this. What God says sets the standard to evaluate the words of others. Those whose speech defies God will be known and should never be emulated by those who fear God. They can be church leaders or politicians. They can claim to be Christian. But if their words do not square with God's Words, they are giving us perverted (twisted) speech. Words will show allegiances.