Biblical quote..........?

Question

Can you interpret this quote from the Bible? "Be wise as a serpent, and harmless as a dove".

Answer 1

Wise as a serpent......so no one will deceive you.  

You will be able to recognize  when someone is trying to deceive you, and in that area, we need to be wise.

Harmless as a dove...........the dove  represents the Holy Spirit....gentle, pure, sensitive, and will harm no one.

Answer 2

Keep your heart open but also your eyes.

Answer 3

Look at it in a fuller context.

Matthew 10:16  "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  17  But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.  18  You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.  19  But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak;  20  for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

Jesus was sending his disciples out to preach a controversial message to potentially hostile Jewish people who were known to stone people who taught things that went against their beliefs. The serpent in the garden of Eden was described this way.

Genesis 3:1  Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"

So Jesus was telling them to be wise in how they spoke but unlike the wicked serpent they were to be as harmless and inoffensive as doves so that when they did suffer the inevitable persecution the people doing it would have no justifiable basis for their actions.

Here's how Peter expressed a similar sentiment after Jesus had gone back to Heaven.

1 Peter 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;  16  having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.  17  For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Answer 4

Always be kind, gentle, peaceful, but keep both eyes open for pitfalls. Don't let yourself be fooled.

Answer 5

Serpents are said to be wise because they are cunning and doves are harmless creatures. Basically be smart and kind.