Psalm 15

A Psalm of David.

1 LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness,
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue,
nor doeth evil to his neighbour,
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned;
but he honoureth them that fear the LORD.
He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
5 He that putteth not out his money to usury,
nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

JW: The scope of this short, but excellent psalm, is to shew us the way to heaven. Here is a question posed, ver. 1. The answer to it, ver. 2-5.

[On verse 1:] 'Who' - who shall so dwell in thy church here, as to dwell with thee for ever in heaven.

[On verse 2:] 'Uprightly' - Loving, and serving God, and loving his neighbour not in word only, but in truth; and this constantly. 'Worketh' - makes it his business to do justly, to give every one his due, first to God, and then to men. 'Speaketh' - his words and professions to God and men, agree with the thoughts and purposes of his heart.

[On verse 4:] 'Honoureth' - He highly esteems and loves them, though they be mean [i.e., average] as to their worldly condition, and though they may differ from him in some opinions or practices of lesser moment. 'Sweareth' - a promissory oath. 'Hurt' - to his own damage. As if a man solemnly swear, that he will sell him such an estate at a price below the full worth; or that, he will give a poor man such a sum of money, which afterwards he finds inconvenient to him. 'Changeth not' - his purpose, but continues firm and resolved to perform his promise.

In addition to the selected insights from Wesley (above), two statements from a couple of Church Fathers are pertinent for this Psalm. Athanasius said: "If you wish to learn what sort of person is a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, sing Psalm 15." The other (from Jerome) is more commentary than a simple quip about the Psalm. It's on the idea of 'justice' (or righteousness, verse 2) and that it serves as the mother of all virtues:

Justice alone is the great virtue and mother of them all. Someone may ask, 'How is justice greater than all the other virtues?' The other virtues gratify the one who possesses them; justice does not give pleasure to the one possessing it but instead pleases others...Of what avail is my wisdom to the poor person? Of what avail my courage? My chastity, how does it help the poor person? Justice is the virtue that benefits him...Justice knows no brother, it knows no father, it knows no other; it knows truth; it is not a respecter of persons; it imitates God.

So what are we to make of the whole issue of depravity and the inability of people to save ourselves? Has Wesley (and David, perhaps for that matter) gone Pelagian here? It drives me crazy sometimes when people react negatively to a word or phrase because it has all sorts of negative associations with it. [I can't claim innocence altogether here, so I'm pointing the finger at myself for doing such things from time to time. So yeah, I drive myself crazy.] Like 'works' and 'righteousness.' Since the days of the Reformation, we Protestants have too easily fallen prey to a spirit of looking for a demon of 'works righteousness' under any bush that puts the two together in a positive light. If that's true of us then this Psalm should cause some friction with our approach. Sure our righteousness is as 'filthy rags,' so does that mean we shouldn't try? That we shouldn't let God actually make us righteous? "You can't do anything to please God so stop trying!" Okay then, I guess we should do nothing. And justice is...? Just something for a future judgment?

Wesley's assessment that this psalm "shews us the way to heaven" was not a suggestion that we earn our salvation. It was and is a recognition that the faith that God accounts as righteousness does not come alone. Any notion of 'faith' that does not 'work by love' falls short of any Pauline or biblical notion of 'faith.' This psalm reflects that. This psalm shows us the way to heaven. A way that we are unable to attain on our own, and that needed a pioneer in Christ. But this Author of our faith is also the Perfecter of our faith and enables us to walk the path that He walked. The path of righteousness.

So I'll keep throwing up my filthy rags, because God is transforming them (and so long as I let Him, me) into something pure.