Only Two Paths

“In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.” (Pr 12:28 AV)

If we are not careful here, we will assume something that is not true.  We might assume Solomon is saying if we lived in righteousness, we would never die.  This is actually factually true.  If Adam and Eve had never sinned, they would have had access to the tree of life and lived forever.  Solomon is not speaking to a child who has never sinned in hopes he will live without sin.  He is speaking to children who have sinned and have the nature to sin handed down to them from Adam.  So, is Solomon giving a hopeless objective to fallen children, or is there more going on here than meets the eye?

We could look at this as a foreshadowing of the righteousness of Christ as provided at Calvary.  In a doctrinal sense, the verse above makes perfect sense.  There may be physical death because of our sins, but there is no eternal death if we are covered by the righteousness of Christ.  Perhaps this is what Solomon was pointing at.  However, I think he is talking a bit more pragmatically here.  Perhaps another way of looking at it is to assume Solomon is speaking of premature death.  Or, if we live in the way of righteousness, we can look forward to long life.  There is no consequence of death for living in righteousness.  God will not punish us with death because we chose to live in righteousness.  Now, persecution would be an exception.  We could suffer a martyr's death because we did the right thing.  The thing about Proverbs is they are general principles and not absolutely applied regardless of circumstances.  They are general principles of life without consideration of conflicting circumstances than may negate the principle at hand.  So, when Solomon says there is no death in the way of righteousness, he is not suggesting if we live in righteousness, we will never physically die.

The point is actually very simple.  There are blessings for living right and one of those may be a prolonged life.  However, there is an absolute principle of death if we choose to live in unrighteousness.  Solomon is encouraging his children to choose a path of life, increase, and blessings.  He is encouraging them through life’s experience that doing right is always more profitable than not doing right.  Perhaps it was his thousands of wives and concubines.  Perhaps it was his failure to exclusively worship the God of his fathers.  Perhaps it was other indulgences and missteps that led him to conclude the above observation.  Regardless, Solomon is right.  If we want a life that is blessed, we have to live right.  If we are not concerned with the consequences of our choices, then we have inherited a life of death.  There are only two paths to take.  The right one and the wrong one.  In one there is life.  On the other is death.  The choice is ours.