Bible Synapse
Is a good name a blessing?
Hard question · Psalms, wisdom and the prophets · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour than silver and gold.
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.
A good name is better than precious ointment.
A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
Jesus calls his followers blessed when men cast out their name as evil for his sake.
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!”, for so their fathers treated the false prophets.
Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
The objection
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes prize a good name above great riches and precious ointment (Proverbs 22:1; Ecclesiastes 7:1). Jesus says, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!” (Luke 6:26).
The answer
The sayings are about different kinds of reputation. Proverbs 22:1 speaks of the name a person earns by integrity; the Hebrew says simply ‘a name’, meaning a reputation worth having, and pairs it with “loving favour”. A good name of that kind is a gift, and Proverbs promises those who keep mercy and truth “favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man” (Proverbs 3:4).
Jesus warns against something else: being praised by everyone, and the key word is ‘all’. Anyone who tells the truth will offend someone, and the people of old spoke well of the false prophets because they said what the people wanted to hear (Luke 6:26; compare Jeremiah 5:31). In the verses just before, Jesus calls his followers blessed when men “cast out your name as evil” for his sake (6:22). A good name among good people is worth more than riches; a name won by pleasing everyone is a warning sign. John Gill drew the same line on Proverbs 22:1: a good name with some people is no credit, but ‘a good name among good men’ is better than riches.
From the classic commentators
for to have a good name with some turns to a man's reproach rather than to his credit; but a good name among good men, a name in the house of God, which is better than sons and daughtersJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Proverbs 22:1
Here is a woe to them whom all men speak well of, that is, who make it their great and only care to gain the praise and applause of men, who value themselves upon that more than upon the favour of God and his acceptanceMatthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Luke 6:26