“He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.”
The specification that the qualified person does not slander with his tongue and does not do evil to his neighbor establishes restraint in speech as criterion. The prohibition on slandering suggests that the qualified person refrains from spreading falsehood and damaging reputation, a discipline crucial in community life. The refusal to do evil to neighbor suggests that righteousness extends to interpersonal relationships and excludes willful harm. This verse emphasizes that holiness involves refraining from specific behaviors that damage community.
Church Fathers on Psalms 15:3
A psalm of David himself. 1. Touching this title there is no question. “O Lord who shall sojourn in Your tabernacle?” Psalm 14:1. Although tabernacle be sometimes used even for an everlasting habitation: yet when tabernacle is taken in its proper meaning, it is a thing of war. Hence soldiers are called tent-fellows, as having their tents together. This sense is assisted by the words, “Who shall sojourn?” For we war with the devil for a time, and then we need a tabernacle…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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