Jehovah will cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaketh proud things,
Psalm 12 opens with an alarm. The godly man is gone, the faithful have vanished, and words between neighbours no longer carry truth. Verse 3 is the answer of faith to that world — a word aimed straight at smooth lips and a boasting tongue.
The verse does not stand alone. It follows a picture of a whole society gone false, and it names what God will deal with.
Here the mass are all alike. There is no godly man left. The faithful are gone from among the children of men. Their mouth is full of falsehood, they have the smoothest of lips, and a double heart. Jehovah will show Himself against all such, and against the tongue that speaks great things.
The "double heart" is the root the verse cuts at: one thing said, another thing meant.
Flattering lips are not just polite lips. They are lips used against their purpose, and each person props up the other's pride.
People flatter others because they like to be flattered themselves. So they build up one another's pride. Their tongues can twist the truth to please themselves. They forget that the Lord gave men tongues so that they may speak truth.
So flattery is not a harmless habit. It damages the person who receives it.
I am sure you will feel this, my dear friend and brother. One man cannot do a greater harm to another than by praising him and feeding his pride. "A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet," and a flattering mouth works ruin.
The verse pairs flattery with big talk, and the psalm goes on to show why the two belong together. Both are ways of putting self at the centre.
The words of man show their true character: self-exaltation and self-will. They seek to lift themselves up by flattering others and boasting of themselves — speaking proud things. They express their self-will by refusing all authority: they say "who is lord over us?" As always, the man who is loudest in claiming freedom of speech and freedom of action for himself is the first to refuse freedom to others. He is the oppressor of the godly.
Translations differ here. Some read the line as a prayer — "May the LORD cut off." Others read it as a statement of what God will do, and older translations render it that way: "Jehovah will cut off." Either way, the outcome is certain. The psalm also gives the reason God acts.
They are not blind to the evil, but they can bring it to the Lord. This is the subject of Psalm 12, "Help, Jehovah, for the godly man ceases." Jehovah will cut off the proud and deceitful lips. This is the character of the wicked. He accepts no check and no restraint on his will. He says, "Who is lord over us?" But it is just for his oppression of the poor that Jehovah arises.
The psalm answers with a different speech. Flattering lips have a deadline; the words of the Lord do not.
In contrast to the empty, flattering and boastful words of men, the godly have the pure words of the Lord, with no impurity mixed in. Resting on these pure words, the righteous are sure that God will keep and preserve them from this generation — those marked by the lawless spirit of the age.
A believer cannot treat his speech as his own property. The reason is a price already paid.
Every Christian should realize that his lips are not his own for he is bought with a price. It is this precious redeeming blood of Christ that has purchased us for Himself... He purchased us for Himself by His blood, and that blood gives Him a definite claim on our lips. So we have no moral right to use them for any speech that displeases Him.
- A double heart. Flattering lips and a double heart are one sin seen twice. The words please the ear; the meaning underneath is different.
- Flattery injures. Praise that feeds pride is the greatest harm one person can do another; a flattering mouth works ruin.
- The boast behind it. Pride in speech and self-will in life go together. They end in "who is lord over us?" and in oppressing the godly.
- God arises. He cuts off the proud and deceitful lips, and it is the oppression of the poor that moves Him to act.
- Purchased lips. The believer was bought with a price. His lips belong to Christ, so he has no right to speech that displeases Him.
Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail, our lips are our own who [is] lord over us?
Here is a boast that few people would ever say out loud. It is the creed of the proud, and it lies under a great deal of ordinary talk: a refusal to answer to anyone.
The three phrases of the boast fit together as one attitude. Older translations read the middle phrase as "our lips are our own," and the writers below quote it that way. Edward Dennett, writing about people who reject all authority, hears the same voice:
This is self-will in man fully grown. He asserts himself and his rights, and at the same time refuses to acknowledge any authority above him. The passage does not ask which rule or "lordship" is meant. What it condemns is the spirit of these dreamers — a spirit that will not submit to anything. It is the spirit of rebellion, the growing spirit of the world today... It gives full licence to the tongue of those who have no reverence for God or man, and who disown all allegiance. They are the ones who say, in the words of the Psalmist, "With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is Lord over us?"
A. Pridham sets the boast against the confession of Christian faith, and shows what it shuts out:
Verse 4 stands in striking contrast to the saving confession of Christian faith. When rebellious nature puts into words the folly of its secret thought, it speaks like this: "Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" In doing so it proudly shuts the gates of righteousness against itself... This plain claim to be independent of the Creator, who formed man as the work of His own hands, seals the destruction of the lawless one and his associates in the day of wrath.
Boasting of this kind sounds strong. F. W. Grant weighs it and finds almost nothing there:
Lips and heart here have broken loose from the restraint of divine authority: "who is lord over us?" is the cry. What more than a mere puff of breath is this, except for its wickedness?
He adds that few would ever put the thought into words. But a man may fairly be said to speak it when his life makes this folly his own.
Leslie Grant traces the boast back to why God gave people tongues, and to the flattery that feeds pride:
People flatter others because they like to be flattered themselves, and so they build up each other's pride. They can twist the truth to please themselves. They forget that the Lord gave people tongues so that they would speak truth. Instead of recognising God, they think their tongues are their own, and use them to serve lies, as though they could make truth out of falsehood. This horrible doctrine is popular today, because people do not want any lord over them.
The psalm does not leave the boast standing. It sets God's words beside man's, and shows which of them will last:
Yet meanwhile, "the words of the Lord are pure words" for those who simply bow to His will... His word is "like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times." His word needs no purifying, of course, but silver needs seven purifyings just to be a picture of the word of God. Seven speaks of completeness, showing that God's Word is completely pure. What a contrast to the contemptible words of boastful men! Men's words soon perish, but God's words are kept forever.
One writer answers the boast head-on: a Christian's lips belong to the One who bought him.
The wicked say, "Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?" (Ps. 12:4). Every Christian should realize that his lips are not his own, for he is bought with a price (see 1 Cor. 6:20)... His blood bought us for Himself, and it gives Him a clear title to our lips. So we have no moral right to use them for any speech that displeases Him.
- The claim — "Who is master over us?" is self-will fully grown. A person asserts his rights and refuses every authority above him.
- The offence — It claims independence from the Creator, who formed man as the work of His own hands.
- The emptiness — Lips cut loose from God's authority are no more than a puff of breath. Only their wickedness gives them weight.
- The misuse — God gave tongues so that people would speak truth. Calling them our own turns them into tools for lies.
- The reply — God's words are pure, and they are kept forever. Boastful words soon perish, and the blood that bought us gives Him title to our lips.