Proverbs 6:12-15 outlines the anatomy of a bad person.
It begins with a general description of him:
A scoundrel and villain…
The Hebrew words underlying scoundrel and villain are beliya‘al and ’aven, respectively. (If you have a Strong’s concordance of the Bible, look up Hebrew entries 1100 and 205.) The first word connotes something that has no value, something that is worthless. The second word connotes something that is done in vain. And that’s a pretty good description of bad people. Their actions don’t add value to themselves or others. In the long run, they amount to nothing.
Proverbs goes on to talk about the body parts of the bad person:
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
who winks with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers…
Obviously, bad people don’t look any different than other people. Their mouths aren’t crooked, their eyes aren’t shifty, their feet aren’t cloven, and their hands aren’t twitchy. Bad people look like everyone else. You can’t pick them out of a crowd on the basis of their physiology.
But have you ever noticed how a man who’s lying to you can’t look you in the eye? How two women gossiping about yet another woman will point and nod in her direction at a party? People’s bodies don’t tell us whether they’re bad, but they’re body language often does.
More important than body language, however, is heart reality. A bad person
plots evil with deceit in his heart
In Luke 6:45, Jesus taught that the heart is the ultimate source of our actions, whether good or bad. “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” No wonder, then, that Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
What are the effects of a bad person’s actions?
he always stirs up dissension.
A bad person sows the seeds of broken relationships. He destroys families, friendships, churches, businesses, and even nations. If good people are uniters, bad people are dividers.
Thankfully, bad people won’t be around forever. In Proverbs, bad people ultimately come to a bad end.
Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed — without remedy.
This verse articulates an important, though often neglected, biblical theme: the judgment of sinners. If God is a just God, he cannot allow bad people to divide and destroy with impunity. At some point, he must intervene and stop the madness. And when he does, there will be no remedy.
But the Bible says there is a remedy now. In Proverbs, the remedy is wisdom. In the New Testament, the remedy is Jesus Christ “has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).
Only a fool rejects the remedy of grace.
GeorgePWood.com 