Council and Counsel

“A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of "rise"), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two and too.” “Council” and “Counsel” are homophones. It seems, though, that they have something to do with each other. 

Psalm 1 famously begins: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel/council of the wicked.” Which is it? According to context, it would make sense to think “council,” that is, the committee that gives really bad advice. Eugene Peterson’s Message paraphrases this verse as follows: “How well God must like you - you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon, you don’t slink along Dead-End Road, you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.” Taking rather breath-taking liberties with the text, he frames all three phrases as shaped by the crowd you hang with - your council. But the word used in that first phrase is actually “advice,” or “counsel.” Watch the advice that you receive, and then, tangentially, watch the crowd you hang with (council), and from whom you get advice (counsel). Or, to put it differently, your council (crowd) will counsel you. 

Which council have you made yourself a party to, from whom you receive advice? We can think of councils that are heavenly, or earthly. 

Psalm 89 points to a heavenly council: “A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him?” (Psalm 89:7 NAS95). We don’t know a lot about this. None of us has been there, though Scripture gives us a few glimpses. It’s a meeting of the minds, though the Mind that leads and guides is that of the Sovereign God, and those in attendance bow in wonder. 

God in His grace has extravagantly shared the insights of this Heavenly Council with us, in Scripture, and we are to take our counsel from this council. Jeremiah says of prophets: “if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people.” But alas, most were standing in the wrong councils, earthly ones, and thus giving bad advice. 

God has spoken, not on cable news shows or on Facebook, but in Scripture. He gives us heavenly counsel, good advice in Scripture, through Christ, by His Spirit, though we may have to turn off the TV and computer to hear Him.