And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
Ver. 15. For that which is highly esteemed, &c.] A thing that I see in the night may shine, and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness. There may be malum opus in bona materia, as in Jehu's zeal. Two things make a good Christian, good actions and good aims. And though a good aim doth not make a bad action good (as in Uzzah), yet a bad aim makes a good action bad (as in Jehu, Hosea 1:4, whose justice was approved, but his policy punished).