Proverbs 12:1

Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid. (Proverbs 12:1)

Three points:

1. Love

Love is the deep, emotional bound of tenderness and care. It is a thing placed higher in our priorities than other things. Here it is to love instruction, to learn, but the learning is not in the sense of learning secular topics; it is learning by correction, rebuke, and experience. Knowledge is skill as in one who has learned something and is an expert. Instruction has the idea of being corrected by constructive criticism, chewed out, even including physical punishment.

2. Hate

The absence of love as cold is the absence of heat and dark is the absence of light. It is a despising and acting out in mockery or verbal abuse. Correction means to correct with words, talking to someone to show them the facts and experience of a certain course of action.

3. Stupid

Brutish in the King James Version. It has the idea of being thinking like an animal. No one can sit and rationally discuss issues with an animal, so the comparison. In God's eyes we need to be open to rebuke especially when it is the plain, normal reading and understanding of the Scripture.