Mar 7:22, Luk 12:15, Rom 1:29, 2Cor 9:5, Eph 5:3, Col 3:5, 1Th 2:5, 2Pe 2:3, 14 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 22. (1) "covetousness, wickedness" "wickednesses"

Mark 7:22

Verse 22.

(1) "covetousness, wickedness" "wickednesses"

Luke 12:15

Verse 15. Beware of covetousness. One of these brothers, no doubt, was guilty of this sin; and our Saviour, as was his custom, took occasion to warn his disciples of its danger.

Covetousness. An unlawful desire of the property of another; also a desire of gain or riches beyond what is necessary for our wants. It is a violation of the tenth commandment (Ex 20:17), and is expressly called idolatry (Col 3:5). Compare, also, Eph 5:3, Heb 13:5.

A man's life. The word life is sometimes taken in the sense of happiness or felicity, and some have supposed this to be the meaning here, and that Jesus meant to say that a man's comfort does not depend on affluence--that is, on more than is necessary for his daily wants; but this meaning does not suit the parable following, which is designed to show that property will not lengthen out a man's life, and therefore is not too ardently to be sought, and is of little value. The word life, therefore, is to be taken literally.

Consisteth not. Rather, dependeth not on his possessions. His possessions will not prolong it. The passage, then, means: Be not anxious about obtaining wealth, for, however much you may obtain, it will not prolong your life. That depends on the will of God, and it requires something besides wealth to make us ready to meet him. This sentiment he proceeds to illustrate by a beautiful parable.

(o) "Take heed" 1Timm 6:7-10 (p) "life consisteth" Job 2:4, Mt 6:25

Romans 1:29

Verse 29. Being filled. That is, the things which he specifies were common, or abounded among them. This is a strong phrase, denoting that these things were so often practised as that it might be said they were full of them. We have a phrase like this still, when we say of one that he is full of mischief, etc.

Unrighteousness, αδικια. This is a word denoting injustice, or iniquity in general. The particular specifications of the iniquity follow.

Fornication. This was a common and almost universal sin among the ancients, as it is among the moderns. The word denotes all illicit intercourse. That this was a common crime among the ancient heathen it would be easy to show, were it proper, even in relation to their wisest and most learned men. They who wish to see ample evidence of this charge may find it in Tholuck's "Nature and Moral Influence of Heathenism," in the Biblical Repository, vol. ii. pp. 441--464.

Wickedness. The word used here denotes a desire of injuring others; or, as we should express it, malice. It is that depravity and obliquity of mind which strives to produce injury on others. Calvin.

Covetousness. Avarice, or the desire of obtaining that which belongs to others. This vice is common in the world; but it would be particularly so where the other vices enumerated here abounded, and men were desirous of luxury, and the gratification of their senses. Rome was particularly desirous of the wealth of other nations, and hence its extended wars, and the various evils of rapine and conquest.

Licentiousness, κακια. This word denotes evil in general; rather the act of doing wrong than the desire, which was expressed before by the word wickedness.

Full of envy. "Pain, uneasiness, mortification or discontent, excited by another's prosperity, accompanied with some degree of hatred or malignity, and often with a desire or an effort to depreciate the person, and with pleasure in seeing him depressed." Webster. This passion is so common still, that it is not necessary to attempt to prove that it was common among the ancients. It seems to be natural to the human heart, it is one of the most common manifestations of wickedness, and shows clearly the deep depravity of man. Benevolence rejoices at the happiness of others, and seeks to promote it. But envy exists almost everywhere, and in almost every human bosom: "All human virtue, to its latest breath

Finds envy never conquered but by death."

Pope.

Murder. "The taking of human life, with premeditated malice, by a person of a sane mind." This is necessary to constitute murder now; but the word used here denotes all manslaughter, or taking human life, except that which occurs as the punishment of crime. It is scarcely necessary to show that this was common among the Gentiles. It has prevailed in all communities, but it was particularly prevalent in Rome. It is necessary only to refer the reader to the common events in the Roman history of assassinations, deaths by poison, and the destruction of slaves. But in a special manner the charge was properly alleged against them, on account of the inhuman contests of the gladiators in the amphitheatres. These were common at Rome, and constituted a favorite amusement with the people. Originally, captives, slaves, and criminals were trained up for combat; but it afterwards became common for even Roman citizens to engage in these bloody combats; and Nero at one show exhibited no less than four hundred senators and six hundred knights as gladiators. The fondness for this bloody spectacle continued till the reign of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, by whom they were abolished about six hundred years after the original institution. "Several hundred, perhaps several thousand, victims were annually slaughtered in the great cities of the empire," Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. ,xxx., A.D. 404. As an instance of what might occur in this inhuman spectacle, we may refer to what took place on such an occasion in the reign of Probus, (A.D. 281.) During his triumph, near seven hundred gladiators were reserved to shed each other's blood for the amusement of the Roman people. But "disdaining to shed their blood for the amusement of the populace, they killed their keepers, broke from their place of confinement, and filled the streets of Rome with blood and confusion," Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xii. With such views and with such spectacles before them, it is not wonderful that murder was regarded as a matter of little consequence, and hence this crime prevailed throughout the world.

Debate. Our word debate does not commonly imply evil. It denotes commonly discussion for elucidating truth; or for maintaining a proposition, as the debates in Congress, etc. But the word in the original meant also contention, strife, altercation, connected with anger and heated zeal, Rom 13:13, 1Cor 1:11, 3:3, 2Cor 12:20, Gal 5:20. Php 1:15, 1Timm 6:4, Tit 3:9. This contention and strife would, of course, follow from malice and covetousness, etc.

Deceit. This denotes fraud, falsehood, etc. That this was common is also plain. The Cretians are testified by one of the Greek poets to have been always liars. (Tit 1:12.) Juvenal charges the same thing on the Romans. (Sat. iii. 41.) "What, says he, should I do at Rome? I cannot lie." Intimating that if he were there, it would follow, of course, that he would be expected to be false. The same thing is still true. Writers on India tell us that the word of a Hindoo, even under oath, is not to be regarded; and the same thing occurs in most pagan countries.

Malignity. This word signifies here, not malignity in general, but that particular species of it which consists in misinterpreting the words or actions of others, or putting the worst construction on their conduct.

Whisperers. Those who secretly, and in a sly manner, by hints and innuendoes, detract from others, or excite suspicion of them. It does not mean those who openly calumniate, but that more dangerous class who give hints of evil in others, who affect great knowledge, and communicate the evil report under an injunction of secrecy, knowing that it will be divulged. This class of people abounds everywhere, and there is scarcely any one more dangerous to the peace or happiness of society.

2 Corinthians 9:5

Verse 5. Therefore I thought it necessary, etc. In order to secure the collection, and to avoid all unpleasant feeling on all hands.

That they would go before unto you. Before I should come.

And make up beforehand your bounty. Prepare it before I come. The word "bounty" is in the Marg. rendered "blessing." The Greek (ευλογιαν) means, properly, commendation, eulogy. Then it means blessing, praise applied to God. Then that which blesses--a gift, donation, favour, bounty--whether of God to men, or of one man to another. Here it refers to their contribution as that which would be adapted to confer a blessing on others, or fitted to produce happiness.

That the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty. That it may truly appear as a liberal and voluntary offering, as an act of generosity, and not as wrung or extorted from you. That it may be truly a blessing--a thank offering to God, and adapted to do good to men.

And not as of covetousness. "And not like a sort of extortion, wrung from you by mere dint of importunity."--Doddridge. The word here used (πλεονεξιαν) means usually covetousness, greediness of gain which leads a person to defraud others. The idea here is, that Paul would have them give this as an act of bounty or liberality on their part, and not as an act of covetousness on his part, not as extorted by him from them.

(1) "bounty" "blessing" (2) "whereof ye had notice" "which hath been so much spoken of before"

Ephesians 5:3

Verse 3. But fornication. A common vice among the heathen then as it is now, and one into which they were in special danger of falling. Rom 1:29; 1Cor 6:18.

And all uncleanness. Impurity of life. Rom 1:24. Comp. Rom 6:9, Gall 5:19, Eph 4:19, Col 3:5.

Or covetousness. The connexion in which this word is found is remarkable. It is associated with the lowest and most debasing vices, and this, as well as those vices, was not once to be named among them. What was Paul's estimate, then, of covetousness? He considered it as an odious and abominable vice; a vice to be regarded in the same light as the most gross sin, and as wholly to be abhorred by all who bore the Christian name. See Eph 5:5. The covetous man, according to Paul, is to be ranked with the sensual, and with idolaters, (Eph 5:5,) and with those who are entirely excluded from the kingdom of God. Is this the estimate in which the vice is held now? Is it the view which professing Christians take of it? Do we not feel that there is a great difference between a covetous man and a man of impure and licentious life? Why is this? Because

(1.) it is so common;

(2.) because it is found among those who make pretensions to refinement and even religion;

(3.) because it is not so easy to define what is covetousness, as it is to define impurity of life; and

(4.) because the public conscience is seared, and the mind blinded to the low and groveling character of the sin. Yet is not the view of Paul the right view? Who is a covetous man? A man who, in the pursuit of gold, neglects his soul, his intellect, and his heart. A man who, in this insatiable pursuit, is regardless of justice, truth, charity, faith, prayer, peace, comfort, usefulness, conscience; and who shall say that there is any vice more debasing or degrading than this? The time may come, therefore, when the covetous man will be regarded as deserving the same rank in the public estimation with the most vicious, and when TO COVET will be considered as much opposed to the spirit of the gospel as any of the vices here named. When that time shall come, the world's conversion will probably be not a distant event.

Let it not be once named among you. That is, let it not exist; let there be no occasion for mentioning such a thing among you; let it be wholly unknown. This cannot mean that it is wrong to mention these vices for the purpose of rebuking them, or cautioning those in danger of committing them--for Paul himself in this manner mentions them here, and frequently elsewhere--but that they should not exist among them.

As becometh saints. As befits the character of Christians, who are regarded as holy. Literally, "as becometh holy ones"--αγιοις.

Colossians 3:5

Verse 5. Mortify therefore your members. Since you are dead to sin and the world, and are to appear with Christ in the glories of his kingdom, subdue every carnal and evil propensity of your nature. The word mortify means, to put to death, Rom 8:13; Gall 5:24; and the meaning here is, that they were entirely to subdue their evil propensities, so that they would have no remains of life; that is, they were not at all to indulge them. The word "members" here refers to the different members of the body--as the seat of evil desires and passions. Comp. Rom 6:13. They were wholly to extirpate those evil passions which he specifies as having their seat in the various members of the earthly body.

Fornication. Rom 1:29.

Uncleanness. Rom 1:24.

Inordinate affection. παθος. Rendered in Rom 1:26, "vile affections." Rom 1:26. In 1Thes 4:5, the word is rendered lust--which is its meaning here.

Evil concupiscence. Evil desires; licentious passions, Rom 1:24. Greek.

And covetousness, which is idolatry. It is remarkable that the apostle always ranks covetousness with these base and detestable passions. The meaning here is,

(1.) that it is a low and debasing passion, like those which he had specified; and

(2.) that it secures the affections which properly belong to God, and is therefore idolatry. Of all base passions, this is the one that most dethrones God from the soul. See this whole passage more fully explained Eph 5:3, Eph 5:4, Eph 5:5; Eph 5:6.

1 Thessalonians 2:5

Verse 5. For neither at any time used we flattering words. Job 32:21; Job 32:22; 2Cor 2:17. The word here rendered "flattering"--κολακεια--occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The meaning is, that the apostle did not deal in the language of adulation; he did not praise them for their beauty, wealth, talent, or accomplishments, and conceal from them the painful truths about their guilt and danger, He stated simple truth--not refusing to commend men if truth would admit of it, and never hesitating to declare his honest convictions about their guilt and danger. One of the principal arts of the deceiver on all subjects is flattery; and Paul says, that when preaching to the Thessalonians he had carefully avoided it. He now appeals to that fact as a proof of his own integrity. They knew that he had been faithful to their souls.

Nor a cloke of covetousness. The word rendered "cloke" here-- προφασις--means, properly, "what is shown or appears before any one;" i.e., show, pretence, pretext, put forth in order to cover one's real intent, Mt 23:14, Mk 12:40, Lk 20:47. The meaning here is, that he did not put on a pretence or appearance of piety for the sake of promoting the schemes of covetousness. The evidence of that was not only what their observed of the general spirit of the apostle, but also the fact that when with them he had actually laboured with his own hands for a support, 1Thes 2:9. It is obvious that there were those there, as sometimes there are now, who, under the pretence of great zeal for religion, were really seeking wealth; and it is possible that it may have been alleged against Paul and his fellow-labourers that they were such persons.

God is witness. This is a solemn appeal to God for the truth of what he had said. He refers not only to their own observation, but he calls God himself to witness his sincerity. God knew the truth in the case. There could have been no imposing on him; and the appeal, therefore, is to one who was intimately acquainted with the truth. Learn hence,

(1.) that it is right, on important occasions, to appeal to God for the truth of what we say.

(2.) We should always so live that we can properly make such an appeal to him.

(b) "neither at any time" 2Cor 2:17

2 Peter 2:3

Verse 3. And through covetousness. This shows what one of the things was by which they were influenced--a thing which, like licentiousness, usually exerts a powerful influence over the teachers of error. The religious principle is the strongest that is implanted in the human bosom; and men who can obtain a livelihood in no other way, or who are too unprincipled or too indolent to labour for an honest living, often turn public teachers of religion, and adopt the kind of doctrines that will be likely to give them the greatest power over the purses of others. True religion, indeed, requires of its friends to devote all that they have to the service of God and to the promotion of his cause; but it is very easy to pervert this requirement, so that the teacher of error shall take advantage of it for his own aggrandizement.

Shall they with reigned words. Gr., formed, fashioned; then those which are formed for the occasion--feigned, false, deceitful. The idea is, that the doctrines which they would defend were not maintained by solid and substantial arguments, but that they would make use of plausible reasoning made up for the occasion.

Make merchandise of you. Treat you not as rational beings, but as a bale of goods, or any other article of traffic. That is, they would endeavour to make money out of them, and regard them only as fitted to promote that object.

Whose judgment. Whose condemnation.

Now of a long time lingereth not. Greek, "of old; long since." The idea seems to be, that justice had been long attentive to their movements, and was on its way to their destruction. It was not a new thing--that is, there was no new principle involved in their destruction; but it was a principle which had always been in operation, and which would certainly be applicable to them, and of a long time justice had been impatient to do the work which it was accustomed to do. What had occurred to the angels that sinned, (2Pet 2:4,) to the old world, (2Pet 2:5,) and to Sodom and Gomorrah, (2Pet 2:6,) would occur to them; and the same justice which had overthrown them might be regarded as on its way to effect their destruction. Comp. Isa 18:4.

And their damnation slumbereth not. Their condemnation, (1Cor 11:29,) yet here referring to future punishment. "Mr. Blackwell observes, that this is a most beautiful figure, representing the vengeance that shall destroy such incorrigible sinners as an angel of judgment pursuing them on the wing, continually approaching nearer and nearer, and in the mean time keeping a watchful eye upon them that he may at length discharge an unerring low." --Doddridge. It is not uncommon to speak of "sleepless justice;" and the idea here is, that however justice may have seemed to slumber or to linger, it was not really so, but that it had on them an ever-watchful eye, and was on its way to do that which was right in regard to them. A sinner should never forget that there is an eye of unslumbering vigilance always upon him, and that everything that he does is witnessed by one who will yet render exact justice to all men. No man, however careful to conceal his sins, or however bold in transgression, or however unconcerned he may seem to be, can hope that justice will always linger, or destruction always slumber.

(+) "feigned" "Smooth" (a) "judgment" Jude 1:1-4 (++) "damnation" "destruction"

2 Peter 2:14

Verse 14. Having eyes full of adultery. Marg., as in the Greek, an adulteress; that is, gazing with desire after such persons. The word full is designed to denote that the corrupt passion referred to had wholly seized and occupied their minds. The eye was, as it were, full of this passion; it saw nothing else but some occasion for its indulgence; it expressed nothing else but the desire. The reference here is to the sacred festival mentioned in the previous verse; and the meaning is, that they celebrated that festival with licentious feelings, giving free indulgence to their corrupt desires by gazing on the females who were assembled with them. In the passion here referred to, the eye is usually the first offender, the inlet to corrupt desires, and the medium by which they are expressed. Comp. Mt 5:28. The wanton glance is a principal occasion of exciting the sin; and there is much often in dress, and mien, and gesture, to charm the eye and to deepen the debasing passion.

And that cannot cease from sin. They cannot look on the females who may be present without sinning. Comp. Mt 5:28. There are many men in whom the presence of the most virtuous woman only excites impure and corrupt desires. The expression here does not mean that they have no natural ability to cease from sin, or that they are impelled to it by any physical necessity, but only that they are so corrupt and unprincipled that they certainly will sin always.

Beguiling unstable souls. Those who are not strong in Christian principle, or who are naturally fluctuating and irresolute. The word rendered beguiling means to bait, to entrap, and would be applicable to the methods practised in hunting. Here it means that it was one of their arts to place specious allurements before those who were known not to have settled principles or firmness, in order to allure them to sin. Comp. 2Ti 3:6.

An heart they have exercised with covetous practices. Skilled in the arts which covetous men adopt in order to cheat others out of their property. A leading purpose which influenced these men was to obtain money. One of the most certain ways for dishonest men to do this is to make use of the religious principle; to corrupt and control the conscience; to make others believe that they are eminently holy, or that they are the special favourites of heaven; and when they can do this, they have the purses of others at command. For the religious principle is the most powerful of all principles; and he who can control that, can control all that a man possesses. The idea here is, that these persons had made this their study, and had learned the ways in which men could be induced to part with their money under religious pretences. We should always be on our guard when professedly religious teachers propose to have much to do with money matters. While we should always be ready to aid every good cause, yet we should remember that unprincipled and indolent men often assume the mask of religion that they may practise their arts on the credulity of others, and that their real aim is to obtain their property, not to save their souls.

Cursed children. This is a Hebraism, meaning literally, "children of the curse;" that is, persons devoted to the curse, or who will certainly be destroyed.

(1) "adultery" "an adulteress" (+) "unstable souls" "minds"