He that speaks first in his own cause seems just; until his neighbor comes and examines him.
All Commentaries on Proverbs 18:17 Go To Proverbs 18
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Let us who are free from sin, purchased, as it were, by the price of Christ’s blood, let us not be subject to the slavery of people or of passion. Let us not be ashamed to confess our sin. See how free is the one who could say, “I have not been afraid of a very great multitude, so that I would not confess my sin in the sight of all.” One who confesses to the Lord is freed from his slavery: “The just is the accuser of himself in the beginning of his speech.” He is not only free but just, for justice is in liberty, and liberty in confession, and as soon as one has confessed he is pardoned.
