The Impact and Application of the Psalms in the New Testament

This is a passage I read that is really excellent on the implications of the Psalms as they are used in the New Testament. As we strive to understand the relevance and application of the Old Testament books on the writers of the New Testament and accordingly on the practical application of such into our own lives, writers delving fruitfully into the topic such as we see here are entirely worth our time to read.

Their New Testament use
Our Lord, at the beginning of His ministry, made a pointed omission from an Old Testament passage, by closing the book before the phrase 'the day of vengeance of our God' (Isa. 61:1f.; Luke 4:18-20). This, taken with His teaching on repaying evil with good, might suggest His discarding of the whole concept of judgment; but it soon becomes clear that matters are not as simple as this. He has come with salvation, yet its very approach brings judgment all the closer. The 'wicked husbandmen' in the parable are brought to a final, and as it turns out, a fatal decision when the son of the house confronts them; the small towns of Galilee, having had their taste of heaven, now face a deeper hell than Sodom's.

This paradox has its bearing on the psalms of imprecation. The psalmists in their eagerness for judgment call on God to hasten it; the Gospel by contrast shows God's eagerness to save, but reveals new depths and immensities of judgment which are its corollary. 'Now they have no excuse for their sin.'

In its quotations and echoes of the Psalter on this theme the New Testament sometimes speaks with less severity than its source, sometimes with more, but never with mere personal rancour. We... can note, as samples, that God's wrath and the Messiah's 'rod of iron', which are prominent in Ps. 2, are prominent in Revelation; that the 'day of His wrath' (110:5) finds its echo in Rom. 2:5, and the anger called down on those 'who do not know' God (79:6) is confirmed in 2 Thess. 1:8 (where, however, the offense is clarified as refusal to acknowledge Him, not mere ignorance).

Occasionally the New Testament breaks off a quotation at the point where retribution is threatened in the Psalter, but this is usually for reasons of relevance rather than any reservations of doctrine. For example in Jn. 10:34 the point at issue has been fully made with the words 'I said, you are gods'; nothing would be gained by completing the quotation: 'nevertheless you shall die like men' (Ps. 82:7). Much the same is true of 1 Pet. 3:12, quoting only half of Ps. 34:16. Again, in Rom. 3:19 the phrase, 'that every mouth may be stopped', concludes the case against man which has been built up in the previous chapters, so that he falls silent. There is no need here of the sanctions which loom up behind Ps. 63:11. On the other hand the silence is significant in Jn. 13:18, where our Lord quotes Ps. 41:9 on the friend 'who ate my bread' and 'lifted his heal against me', but forbears to pray, as David prayed, for the opportunity to requite him. He has something better to offer him.

At the same time there is 'sorer punishment' revealed in the New Testament than in the psalms, simply because the whole scale of human destiny has come into sight. This is very clear from a comparison of Ps. 6:8 with Matt. 7:23, where the words 'Depart from me, all you workers of evil' are transformed from a cry of relief by David into a sentence of death by Christ. The principle is the same truth and lies cannot live together. 'Outside' will be 'every one who loves and practices falsehood'. But it is one thing to be driven off by David; quite another by Christ, to the final exclusion which is also the climax of almost every parable in the Gospels.

The New Testament, then, so far from minimizing the role of judgment, increases its gravity at the same time as it removes it from the sphere of private reprisal. This is illustrated by its use of two of the most heated outbursts in the Psalter, in Ps. 69 and 109. Each of them is treated as prophecy, and taken to be the sentence of God on invincible impenitence. Peter quotes Ps. 69:25 and 109:8 of Judas, in the spirit of our Lord's sorrowful but unquestioning references to his perdition. Paul has a similar tenderness for Israel (for whom he could wish himself accursed) when he sees them inheriting the doom of Ps. 69:22f.; 'Let their feast become a snare... let their eyes be darkened... and bend their backs forever' (Rom. 11:9f.) - but he clearly regards the clause 'for ever' as revocable if they will repent, as indeed he expects them to do. So we gain the additional insight into these maledictions, that for all their appearance if implacability they are to be taken as conditional, as indeed the prophets' oracles were. Their full force was for the obdurate; upon repentance they would become 'a curse that is causeless', which, as Pro. 26:2 assures us, 'does not slight'.

Their present relevance
As a preliminary to this question there are two further elements in the New Testament to take into account... The first is the plea of God's elect for vindication..., a plea which our Lord accepts in Lu. 18:7f., and which is echoed in the martyrs' cry in Rev. 6:10: 'How long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?' What seems to be meant in both cases is the accusing fact of innocent blood, 'crying' like Abel's 'from the ground' to God. It can hardly mean the conscious prayer of the martyrs, for in reality the example of Stephen set the tone for his successors (as his Master's did for him), ending the old tradition of indignant protest (cf. 2 Chr. 24:22; Jer. 18:23). But Stephen's prayer for his enemies could be answered only through their repentance, as indeed it was the case of Saul. Otherwise, in the sight of heaven this blood would still be on their heads. Even the atoning blood of Christ, although 'it speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel', becomes damning evidence against those who abuse it.

The second element is the occasional equivalent of cursing in the New Testament. The Lord Himself led the way with His acted and spoken oracles of judgment on unfruitful Israel (Mk. 11:14; 12:9) and on unfaithful churches (Rev. 2f.). In the age of the apostles, if the fate of Ananias and Sapphira was not actually invoked, the temporary blinding of Elymas was; so too was the handing over of the Corinthian offender to satan (1 Cor. 5:5). The future requital of Alexander the coppersmith is stated in terms of Ps. 62:12 in 2 Tim. 4:14 (but note the prayer of verse 16). What is common to all these cases is concern for the welfare of the kingdom or of the offender himself (including Alexander, it may be, while there was yet hope of repentance: 1 Tim. 1:20). The personal interests of those who call down these judgments have nothing of the prominence which they appear to have in the psalms. The fewness of these prayers or oracles of judgment, and the absence of bitterness, are proof enough of the new thing that has happened; but their presence at all in the New Testament confirms its continuity with the Old.

We conclude, then, that it is not open to us to renounce or ignore the psalmists, part of whose function in God's economy was to make articulate the cry of 'all the righteous blood shed on the earth' (to borrow our Lord's phrase). But equally it is not open to us simply to occupy the ground on which they stood. Between our day and theirs, our calling and theirs, stands the cross. We are ministers of reconciliation, and this is a day of good tidings.

To the question, Can a Christian use these cries for vengeance as his own? the short answer must surely be No; no more than he should echo the curses of Jeremiah or the protests of Job. He may of course translate them into affirmations of God's judgment, and into denunciations of 'the spiritual hosts of wickedness' which are the real enemy. As for the men of flesh and blood who 'live as enemies of the cross of Christ' or who make themselves our enemies, our instructions are to pray not against them but for them; to turn them from the power of satan to God; to repay their evil with good; and to choose none of their ways. 'As men in need, who may yet be rescued, they are to be loved and sought; as men who have injured us, they must be forgiven. But as men to follow or to cultivate' - and here the psalms and the New Testament speak with one voice - 'they are to be rejected utterly, as are the principalities and powers behind them'.

If these passages in the psalms open our eyes to the depths and just deserts of evil, and to the dangers of borrowing its weapons, they have done their work. To say that theirs is not the last word on the subject is no reproach: more work first needed to be done. That work and final word belonged to Christ, and we are its inheritors. (Derek Kidner, IVP Academic, TOTC, vol. 15, pp 43-47)

Psalm 5:5

Note: You will notice in vs. 5 that depending on which version you are reaching for you will see primarily the verse begin either with “The boastful” or “The foolish.” Now we may say boasting is foolishness but one can possibly be foolish without boasting so that they are not necessarily the same thing. Franz Delitzsch addresses the proper use here and says, “Now there [are] specific designations of the wicked… [they] are the foolish, and more especially foolish boasters; the primary notion of the verb is not being hollow, but that of sounding, then of loud boisterous, nonsensical behavior.” With that understanding I think it would appear the NIV has this word translated most accurately into our English language when it uses “The arrogant” to translate the Hebrew word halal. The others aren’t too far off base but neither really gets the entire meaning either. These are men who are fools and are proud to tell the world they are so. Matthew Poole captures this sentiment when he says, “The foolish; or, the madmen, as the word properly signifies.”

“The arrogant shall not stand in your sight.”
¨      […] it is a very just inference from this, that iniquity is hateful to God, and that, therefore, He will execute His just punishment upon all the wicked. He calls those fools, according to a frequent use of the term in Scripture, who, impelled by blind passion, rush headlong into sin. Nothing is more foolish, than for the ungodly to cast away the fear of God, and suffer the desire of doing mischief to be their ruling principle: yea, there is no madness worse than the contempt of God, under the influence of which men pervert all right. JC
¨      Folly is the designation of boasting; and of sin generally, with the additional idea of high-mindedness here, which is especially offensive to God. JFB, A.R. Fausset
¨      Oh, how foolish are we if we attempt to entertain two guests so hostile to one another as Christ Jesus and the devil! Rest assured, Christ will not live in the parlor of our hearts if we entertain the devil in the cellar of our thoughts… A little sin is a great folly, and the greatest of all folly is great sin. Such sinful fools as these must be banished from the court of heaven. Earthly kings were wont to have fools in their trains, but the only wise God will have no fools in His palace above. CHS
¨      […] wicked men…, who are indeed morally and really madmen, in fighting with the Lord God Almighty, and exposing themselves to such dreadful hazards and mischiefs for such mean and monetary advantages. [They cannot stand in thy sight] either in battle against thee… or in judgment at thy tribunal… MP
¨      [These men] are not able to maintain their position when they become manifest before the eye of God. K&D, Franz Delitzsch

“[…] you hate all workers of iniquity.”
¨      The verbal phrases “[you are not a God] who takes pleasure” (vs. 4), “you hate” (vs. 5), and “the Lord abhors” (vs. 6) affirm three times God’s absolute hatred of evil. In Malachi’s days some argued that God “delights” in evildoers (Mal. 2:17). But in response, the Lord revealed how He will quickly judge the unfaithful people... Similarly, the negative statements “cannot dwell” (vs. 4) and “cannot stand” (vs. 5) are completed by the phrase “you destroy,” having the same root as the verb in 1:6: “but the way of the wicked will perish.” God hates both sin and those who sin against Him. EBC, W. VanGemeren
¨      It is not a little dislike, but a thorough hatred which God bears towards workers of iniquity. To be hated of God is an awful thing. O let us be very faithful in warning the wicked around us, for it will be a terrible thing for them to fall into the hands of an angry God. CHS
¨      Such men Jehovah hates; for if He did not hate evil, His love would not be a holy love. K&D, Franz Delitzsch
¨      [God has a] continued aversion to them, denying them His grace and favor, and rejecting them from all nearness to Him and communion with Him; and may include the everlasting punishment of them, by which His discipline and hatred will be made manifest: and He is impartial in it, without any respect to persons, high or low, rich or poor; indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, will come upon every soul of man that does evil. God's love to His own people was antecedent to sin, and was placed upon them in Christ, in whom their persons are always well pleasing to Him; and though they sinned in Adam, and became actual transgressors of His law, yet such was His love to their persons, that He saves them from their sins by the blood and righteousness of His son. JG
¨      The workers of iniquity are very foolish. Sin is folly, and sinners are the greatest of all fools; not fools of God’s making (those are to be pitied), for He hates nothing that He has made, but fools of their own making, and those He hates. Wicked people hate God; justly therefore are they hated of Him, and it will be their endless misery and ruin. MH

Personal Summary:

I think it may be wise to consider the biblical concept of godly hate. I remember a few years ago hearing a pastor, in a Reformed church, try and pawn off Rom. 9:13 as “Jacob have I loved, Esau have I loved less.” I also remember a fellow Reformed Christian trying to explain to me how God loves all men indiscriminately regardless of if they are saved or not by the fact that He has not immediately destroyed them. All of us at some point or another have heard this argument proposed.

Yet neither of these things is the biblical concept being discussed in this verse or in others such as Rom. 9:13. The word actually means God hates them! Not loves less and not dislikes, hates. Let’s look at the original words used in both passages. In Ps. 5:5 the Hebrew word is שׂנא sane’ which literally means to hate, be hateful; hater, one hating, enemy; to be hated; hater. This is the same word used in Mal. 1:3 which is what Romans 9:13 references. In the verse in Romans the meaning hasn’t changed from the Hebrew to the Greek either, the Greek word is μισεω miseo which means to hate, pursue with hatred, detest; to be hated, detested; if anything the word may have gotten stronger, not weaker. Neither are given in uncertain terms or application.

You see, the problem is that we view the clear evidence of Scripture as revealing either a flawed God or a God we are not willing to defend. The problem is not that the word of God is not clear on the matter or that the language left us was somehow too ambiguous for us to determine what is being said. It accomplishes all of that easily. The problem is that our sinful hearts cannot fathom the thought that God hates someone and we don’t feel capable of reconciling that He can both perfectly hate one and perfectly love another; as if the two stand opposed to each other, which they do not. A holy God must hate sin or He fails to be holy. To be actually holy He must hate sin as a personal affront to His very being and accordingly He must hate those who frolic in sin in opposition to His declared will and His holy nature. But God, through His Son, took pity on some that His mercy and love might shine forth in those whom He saves. That doesn’t mean those men weren’t filthy sinners as well, they were and are, but they are no longer viewed in light of their own depraved hearts but through the prism of the imputed righteousness of Christ. As such they cease to be hated by God for they are no longer wretched sinners that hate God in His eyes, but justified saints being sanctified until He calls them home in glory.

The one attribute and action of God does not threaten or contradict the other. The two work in perfect harmony and put the holy loving God of heaven on full display for the world to see. We do not need to be apologists for who He is, we do not need to rewrite His inerrant word to make it fit our sinful sensibilities; we need to proclaim Him just as He has revealed Himself to us and glorify Him for who He actually is. When we start trying to manipulate the God of the Bible into a god made in our own image, a god without offense or opposition to sin and sinners alike, we cease to worship the God of the Bible and it is certain not one man guilty of this has ever made God more perfect than He already is. In other words, you have accomplished nothing except sin itself. Is it not enough that He has saved us from our sin and given us the immense honor to proclaim Him to the world? Can we not rest easy there and bathe in the warm glow of His holy character?

Understand the actions and attributes of God all work together in one cognitive holy theme. Just as God hates both the sin and the sinner He likewise, as Francis Turretin says, justly, “[imposes punishment] not only on sin but also on the very person of the sinner… Justice demands necessarily that all sin should be punished, but does not equally demand that it should be punished in the very person sinning or at such a time and in such a degree.” (Institutes 1.19) Here we see the theme is constant and steady regardless of how we approach it (or from what point the matter is being considered from). God hates sin and thus He has to punish sin. God hates the sinner who commits sin and thus justice determines that the sinner be punished as well. In the case of the elect their sins have been equally punished, and more so, through Christ who was the propitiation for their sin. He stood in our place, but our sin was still punished. Justice suffered nothing; in fact justice got more than it ever deserved in the person of Christ Himself who knew no sin. Accordingly, there is no confusion between a God that shows mercy through His Son and a God that punishes the wicked for their evil, all sins have or will be paid for in time.

God hates sin and therefore we too must hate sin, especially in our own lives. God loves His children because of Christ, not because of something special in them. This causes no contradiction to how He relates to the reprobate and we cannot be found in contempt for having convinced the world it does through our repeated attempts to make them think God loves them when He does not. It is better for us to proclaim the actual message of this verse and others like it: “God hates your sin and He hates you; in fact, He hates you so much that He will not even allow you stand in His presence. Repent wicked man! You have lived your life as an affront to a holy God and He has no choice but to punish you for your sin! Repent wicked man! Put your faith in Christ who died on the cross for the elect and is risen from the dead seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Anything less will assure you of facing God’s wrath and in that you are to be pitied, in that you stand no chance, in that you will perish in your sins and spend eternity in hell.” Woe to the man that faces the wrath of God! But in your empathetic outreach, in your obedience to the Great Commission to gather the elect, you cannot step outside the parameters we have been given and make God into something He is not. Proclaim His word bluntly and allow the Spirit to work in whom He will according the to will of God and may the sinner be saved with truth.

Dear Lord I pray:

“Be thou my breastplate, sword for the fight;

Be thou my dignity, thou my delight;
Thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower:
Raise thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.”

Men may reject you, ridicule you, persecute you for the truth, but may we stand sure and unwavering regardless of what the cost may be. May the richness of God’s glory shine forth forever more!

Psalm 5:4

“For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness…”
¨ Here David makes the malice and wickedness of his enemies an argument to enforce his prayer for the divine favor towards him… His reasoning is grounded upon the nature of God. Since righteousness and upright dealing are pleasing to Him, David, from this, concludes that He will take vengeance on all the unjust and wicked. And how is it possible for them to escape from His hand unpunished, seeing He is the judge of the world? This passage is worthy of our most special attention. For we know how greatly we are discouraged by the unbounded insolence of the wicked. If God does not immediately restrain it, we are either stupified and dismayed or cast down into despair. But David, from this, rather finds matter of encouragement and confidence. The greater the lawlessness with which his enemies proceeded against him, the more earnestly did he supplicate preservation from God, whose office it is to destroy all the wicked, because He hates all wickedness. Let all the godly, therefore, learn, as often as they have to contend against violence, deceit, and injustice, to raise their thoughts to God in order to encourage themselves in the certain hope of deliverance. JC
¨ The basing of the prayer [is] on God’s holiness… [and] the light of the divine holiness is to sinners a consuming fire, which they cannot endure. K&D, Franz Delitzsch
¨ [This is] the ground of his hope. Deliverance from his enemies is the object of his prayer. His enemies are wicked therefore God will deliver him, as being a sincere worshipper, from them. JFB, A.R. Fausset
¨ And now the Psalmist having thus expressed his resolution to pray, you hear him putting up his prayer. He is pleading against his cruel and wicked enemies. He uses a most mighty argument. He begs of God to put them away from him, because they are displeasing to God Himself. CHS
¨ Sin, ungodliness; it is contrary to His nature, who is holy, just, and good; and to His will revealed in His law, which is the same with His nature; and sin is a transgression of it. God is so far from taking pleasure in sin, that it is the abominable thing which His righteous soul hates; though this hinders not His voluntary permission of sin, or His decree of it; which He has willed, though He does not delight in it, in order to magnify the riches of His grace and mercy in the salvation of His people: nor is this contrary to the delight and pleasure which He takes in the persons of His elect in Christ, though they are sinners in themselves, and were so when He so loved them as to give His Son for them, and who died for them while they were yet sinners; and when He sends His Spirit to regenerate and sanctify them, and are after conversion guilty of many sins: for, though He delights in their persons, He has no pleasure in their sins; nor is it consistent with the holiness of His nature to take pleasure in wickedness, let it be committed by whomsoever. JG
¨ Seeing that God of nature hateth wickedness, He must needs punish the wicked, and save the godly. 1599 GB
¨ David [takes notice that God is a sin hating God and is encouraged in his prayers] against his enemies; they were wicked men, and therefore enemies to God, and such as He had not pleasure in. See… the holiness of God’s nature when he says, thou art not a god that hath pleasure in wickedness, he means, “Thou art a God that hates it, as directly contrary to thy infinite purity and rectitude, and holy will...” God has no pleasure in wickedness though covered with a cloak of religion. Let those therefore who delight in sin know that God has no delight in them… MH

“[…] neither shall evil dwell with thee.”
¨ Again, we may infer from this passage the common doctrine, that God, although He works by Satan and by the ungodly, and makes use of their malice for executing His judgments, is not, on this account, the author of sin, nor is pleased with it because the end which He purposes is always righteous; and He justly condemns and punishes those who, by His mysterious providence, are driven whithersoever He pleases… David declares simply, that there is no agreement between God and unrighteousness. JC
¨ […] neither shall evil be received by thee as a pilgrim, to sojourn even for a time in thy tabernacle. He who would dwell with God must be holy, as God is holy. JFB, A.R. Fausset
¨ Deeply ingrained in Israel’s belief system and developed in her Wisdom literature is the conviction that the God of Israel hates evil in any form. Whereas other religions brought together good and evil at the level of the gods, God had revealed that evil exists apart from Him and yet is under His sovereign control. The religion of Israel was revelatory. The psalmist shows a clear conviction that God hates in the most radical way any form of evil and denies lawless persons any (present or future) right to His presence. He who expects His own people to disassociate from evildoers and encourages righteous and holy living cannot betray them by having a double standard. EBC, W. VanGemeren
¨ That is, the evil man, who continues in a course of wickedness, and lives and dies in his sins. He has no communion with God here, nor shall he dwell with Him hereafter; but shall be bid to depart from Him, whether he be a profane sinner openly, or secretly a wicked professor of religion. The sense of the psalmist is, that since they were evil and wicked men, that were risen up against him, and gave him trouble, he entertained a strong confidence that God would hear him, for himself and his friends, whose cause was righteous; and appear against his enemies, who were wicked and ungodly men; and this he grounded upon the purity and holiness of God. JG

Personal Summary:

How important this Psalm is for us to know and to understand. How often have we made our plea to God when assaulted by the world, perhaps even assaulted by the Church, based upon our own merits and on the merits of our individual case? Yet when left alone, when judged by ourselves, we are just as guilty as the men against whom we are bringing before the Lord. It is our relationship with Christ and the fact that He has died on the cross for our sins and justified us that allows us to approach God and plead our case. It is on the merits of Christ that we rest and on the holiness of God that we make our plea. We are not comparing these men who persecute us to ourselves for therein they have good standing; we are pleading our case by comparing them to God. These men are not justified sinners such as the saints are; they are guilty sinners worthy of God’s wrath and that is the case that must be made.

God hates sin and He hates the sinner. Without Christ each and every man on the earth will pay a just punishment for their sin. When they have wronged us we have a right to take our complaint before God and expect that the sin they have committed against us is an affront to His holy nature and as such must and will be dealt with accordingly. In Christ our cause is righteous; but theirs can never be even when cloaked in the guise of Christianity. Cast your cares upon the Lord, share with Him the concerns of your heart, plead your case before him openly and often, but do so with the deciding factor resting with His character and never your own. The greater offense is not that they have sinned against you but that in so doing they have sinned against God and evil cannot dwell with Him. It is in this fact that we may entertain and rest in the blessed hope that we will be delivered from our troubles and the wicked will answer for their sins.

When we are assaulted it is natural to feel hurt, to feel the sting of the occasion. But let us discipline ourselves and train our hearts to be so firmly fixed on heaven and the glory of God that personal injury may be laid aside and the greater consideration will always be the sin they have committed against our Lord. And then when we come before Him we may say with David that we are making our case for the sin they have committed against us in light of the greater offense it is against a holy God who cannot suffer sin to be left unpunished.

I will leave you with the pious prayer of Martin Luther in dealing with Ps. 5. “Lord Jesus Christ, you are the light of the world and alone the way to eternal life. Restrain the corrupters of your word and all the enemies of your truth. Preserve the truth of your Gospel in these latter days and in faithful teachers who will lead us in the way everlasting. Grant us to serve you in steadfast faith and a good conscience to our end. Amen.” May it be so and may our end always be the glory of God no matter what the price. Soli Deo Gloria!