3
They also do no iniquity;
They walk in His ways.
My Thoughts
Psalm 119 is an acrostic pattern. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Today we’re looking at the 3rd verse in the section of ALEPH. Matthew Henry was introduced to Psalm 119 as a child. His father, Philip Henry, told his children to take one verse of Psalm 119 every morning to meditate on, and thereby go through the entire psalm twice in the year. Philip said to his children, “That will bring you to be in love with all the rest of the Scriptures.”
Psalm 119:3 highlights a key principle of the righteous: they do no iniquity and walk in God’s ways. The commentaries below emphasize that while believers are not free from sin, they do not habitually engage in wrongdoing, instead striving to remain righteous. The essence of their character is one of intention towards good, showing commitment to both avoiding evil and actively pursuing righteousness. The verse illustrates that as true followers of God, despite our imperfections, we aspire to live moral lives through adherence to divine precepts, experiencing divine blessing.…..Bill
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Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
They also do no iniquity. Blessed indeed would those men be of whom this could be asserted without reserve and without explanation: we shall have reached the region of pure blessedness when we altogether cease from sin. Those who follow the word of God do no iniquity, the rule is perfect, and if it be constantly followed, no fault will arise. Life, to the outward observer, at any rate, lies much in doing, and he who in his doings never swerves from equity, both towards God and man, has hit upon the way of perfection, and we may be sure that his heart is right. See how a whole heart leads to the avoidance of evil, for the Psalmist says, “That seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity.” We fear that no man can claim to be absolutely without sin, and yet we trust there are many who do not designedly, willfully, knowingly, and continuously do anything that is wicked, ungodly, or unjust. Grace keeps the life righteous as to act even when the Christian has to bemoan the transgressions of the heart. Judged as men should be judged by their fellows, according to such just rules as men make for men, the true people of God do no iniquity: they are honest, upright, and chaste, and touching justice and morality, they are blameless. Therefore, are they happy.
They walk in his ways. They attend not only to the great main highway of the law, but to the smaller paths of the particular precepts. As they will perpetrate no sin of commission, so do they labor to be free from every sin of omission. It is not enough to them to be blameless, they wish also to be actively righteous. A hermit may escape into solitude that he may do no iniquity, but a saint lives in society that he may serve his God by walking in his ways. We must be positively as well as negatively right: we shall not long keep the second unless we attend to the first, for men will be walking one way or another, and if they do not follow the path of God’s law they will soon do iniquity. The surest way to abstain from evil is to be fully occupied in doing good. This verse describes believers as they exist among us: although they have their faults and infirmities, yet they hate evil, and will not permit themselves to do it; they love the ways of truth, right, and true godliness, and habitually they walk therein. They do not claim to be absolutely perfect except in their desires, and there they are pure indeed, for they pant to be kept from all sin, and to be led into all holiness.
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Enduring Word
They also do no iniquity: The idea from Psalm 119:1-2 is repeated; these ones keep His testimonies, they are undefiled in the way, and they also do no iniquity. There is a purity and goodness that marks their lives.
They walk in His ways: They have learned His ways from the written revelation, but with His word, God also gives grace and power to walk in His ways.
(David Guzik)
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Albert Barnes
They also do no iniquity – See the notes at 1 John 3:9. The meaning is that they are righteous; their character is that they do that which is right. It cannot mean that all persons who are religious are actually and absolutely perfect, for no man would hold this opinion; no one does hold it. It is general language, such as is commonly used to describe an upright or righteous man. The declaration is true of all who are the friends of God, or who are truly religious, in the following senses:
(1) That they are habitually and characteristically righteous;
(2) That they intend to do right-for a man who deliberately purposes to do wrong, to lead a life of sin and disobedience, cannot be a pious man.
(3) That when they do err, it is not the result of intention, or the design of their life, but because they are tempted; are overcome with passion; are led by the power of their native corruption of heart to act contrary to their better judgment and their true character.
See Romans 7:14-17. On the other hand, it is true that a man who is not characteristically righteous, who is not an upright man in his dealings; who is not true, and honest, and temperate, and just, and benevolent, cannot be a child of God and heir of heaven. No exactness of orthodoxy, and no fervour of emotion, and no zeal in the cause of religion, can constitute true piety without this.
They walk in his ways – Habitually, constantly, characteristically. They are not merely honest, upright, and just in their dealings with men, but they walk in the ways of God; they are religious.
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John Gill
They also do no iniquity,…. Not that they are free from indwelling sin, nor from the acts of sin, nor that what they do are not sins; but they do not make a trade of sinning, it is not the course of their lives; nor do they do iniquity with that ease and pleasure, without reluctance and remorse, as others do: or rather as new creatures, as born again, they do not and cannot commit sin; for the new man is pure, spiritual, and holy; and nothing can come out of that, or be done by it, which is the contrary. This is a distinction I from the old man, or corrupt nature, to which all the actions of sin are to be ascribed; see 1 John 3:9;
they walk in his ways; in the ways of God and Christ, into which they are guided and directed, and where they are kept, and in which they find both pleasure and profit. Here end the descriptive characters of good and happy men.
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Matthew Henry
Who carefully avoid all sin (v. 3): They do no iniquity; they do not allow themselves in any sin; they do not commit it as those do who are the servants of sin; they do not make a practice of it, do not make a trade of it. They are conscious to themselves of much iniquity that clogs them in the ways of God, but not of that iniquity which draws them out of those ways. Blessed and holy are those who thus exercise themselves to have always a conscience void of offense.
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Miscellaneous Quotes
They also do no iniquity. That is, they make not a trade and common practice thereof. Slip they do, through the infirmity of the flesh, and subtlety of Satan, and the allurements of the world; but they do not ordinarily and customarily go forward in unlawful and sinful courses. In that the Psalmist setteth down this as a part (and not the least part neither) of blessedness, that they work none iniquity, which walk in his ways: the doctrine to be learned here is this, that it is a marvelous great prerogative to be freed from the bondage of sin.
—Richard Greenham.
They walk in his ways. Not in those of his enemies, nor even in their own.
—Joseph Addison Alexander, 1860.
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Cross-References
1 John 1:8 (KJV )
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:9 (KJV )
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 3:9 (KJV )
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 5:18 (KJV )
18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
Jeremiah 7:23 (KJV )
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
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Closing Thoughts
Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You. Psalm 143:8 NKJV
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:1-5 NKJV
Meditations on the Excellencies of the Word of God
א ALEPH
119
Blessed are the undefiled in the way,
Who walk in the law of the Lord!
2
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the whole heart!
3
They also do no iniquity;
They walk in His ways.
4
You have commanded us
To keep Your precepts diligently.
5
Oh, that my ways were directed
To keep Your statutes!
6
Then I would not be ashamed,
When I look into all Your commandments.
7
I will praise You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
8
I will keep Your statutes;
Oh, do not forsake me utterly!
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