ROMANS ROAD
to RIGHTEOUSNESS |
Romans
1:18-3:20
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Romans
3:21-5:21 |
Romans
6:1-8:39 |
Romans
9:1-11:36 |
Romans
12:1-16:27 |
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SIN
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SALVATION
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SERVICE |
NEED
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SALVATION |
WAY
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God's Holiness
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Condemning
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Justifying
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IMPUTED |
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OBEYED |
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DISPLAYED |
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Slaves to Sin |
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Slaves Serving God |
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Life by Faith |
Service by Faith |
WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING:
on to stoma aras kai pikrias gemei (3SPAI):
(Psalms
10:7; 59:12; 109:17,18; James 3:10)
Here is a list
of the Old Testament passages which Paul quotes from
Romans 3:10-12 from Psalm 14:1-3
and Psalm 53:1-3
Romans 3:13 from Psalm 5:9 and Psalm 140:3
Romans 3:14 from Psalm 10:7
Romans 3:15-17 from Isaiah 59:7-8 and see Isaiah 48:22
Romans 3:18 from Psalm 36:1
Psalms
10:7 His mouth is
full of curses and deceit and oppression, under his tongue is
mischief and wickedness.
Septuagint (LXX)
of Ps 10:7 = οu aras to stoma autou gemei (3SPAI) kai
pikrias kai dolou, hipo ten glossan autou kopos kai ponos.
Mouth (4750)
(stoma) refers to the bodily organ for eating and speaking.
Full of (1073)
(gemo) means to be stuffed or filled full. To be full of
something. The
present tense
pictures their being
filled with cursing as a continuous process.
Cursing
(685) (ara) (only here in the NT)
originally it meant a wish, a petition, a prayer, but from the time of
Homer it came to mean a prayer or invocation for
harm or injury to come upon one, an imprecation (invocation of evil upon
another), a curse which the deity was to execute. Eventually ara
came to mean a malediction, the evil invoked, the mischief itself, the realized curse.
In Greek mythology Ara was personified as the goddess of
destruction and revenge.
Cursing refers to wanting the worst for someone and publicly expressing
that desire in caustic, derisive language. It represents open, public
expression of emotional hostility against one’s enemy.
Full of
cursing pictures constant cursing, as if ready to be spilled at
the least provocation.
Preacher's
Bible Commentary notes that...
The “curse” in New Testament times
was not so much a “swear word” as we would think of it. It meant the use
of words which of themselves held the power to bring about the desired
effect of their malediction. Springing from a bitter root, this practice
was prevalent enough to strike fear in the hearts of all, even to the
point of death in some. (Briscoe,
D. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. The Preacher's Commentary Series, New
Testament. 2003; Thomas Nelson)
Newell says
"To prove this, you need only take
your stand upon any street, and strike upon the mouth a passerby. As
well strike a hornets' nest! How men do curse others! Bitterness is ever
ready! What fearful folly for a race speaking thus to imagine that by
"being baptized, " and "joining the church" they are ready to "go to
heaven, " and be in the holy company on high, with the meek and lowly
Son of God and the holy angels, -and all this without a thought of being
forgiven, washed, born again!" (Romans 3: Devotional
and Expositional)
Spurgeon comments on
Psalm 10:7
writing that
"Out of his own mouth he will be condemned. There is
not only a little evil there, but his mouth is full of it. There is
cursing which he spits against both God and men, deceit with which
he entraps the unwary, and fraud by which, even in his common dealings,
he robs his neighbors. Beware of such a man. Under his tongue. Deep in
his throat are the unborn words which shall come forth as mischief and
iniquity." (Treasury of David).
The Apostle James says that
“The
tongue is set on fire of hell.”
Ray Stedman
comments that...
"Cursing is blaming God;
that is profanity. Bitterness is reproaching God because of the
way he has run your life. This is what we hear all the time, even from
Christians. We hear complaints about your circumstances, where God has
placed you, and what he is doing with your life -- cursing and
bitterness." (Read the full text of the sermon
Total Wipeout)
AND BITTERNESS: kai pikrias:
Bitterness
(4088) (pikría
from pikrós from
pik-
= to cut, prick) originally meant pointed or sharp, e.g., of
arrows then more generally of what is “sharp” or “penetrating” to the
senses, a bitter, pungent taste or smell and then what is “painful” to the
feelings.
Pikria was used
literally to describe plants that produced inedible or poisonous fruit.
Greeks defined this word as long-standing resentment, as the spirit
which refuses to be reconciled. So many of us have a way of nursing our
wrath to keep it warm, of brooding over the insults and the injuries
which we have received.
In the NT
pikria is used in a metaphorical sense to describe
animosity, resentfulness, harshness or an openly-expressed emotional
hostility against an enemy. Pikria defines a settled hostility that
poisons the whole inner man. Somebody does something we do not like, so
we harbor ill will against him. Bitterness leads to wrath, which is the
explosion on the outside of the feelings on the inside.
Pikria is
found 4 times in the NAS (Acts 8:23; Rom. 3:14; Eph. 4:31; Heb. 12:15)
Pikria is used 27 times in the
Septuagint (LXX)
(Exod 15:23; Deut 29:18; 32:32; Job 3:20; 7:11; 9:18; 10:1; 21:25; Ps
10:7; 14:3; Isa 28:21, 28; 37:29; Jer 2:21; 15:17; Lam 3:15, 19; Ezek
28:24; Amos 6:12)
In the first use of pikria in
the OT Moses records...
And when they came to Marah, they
could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter
(pikria); therefore it was named Marah. (Ex 15:23)
Bitterness reflects a smoldering resentment, a
brooding grudge–filled attitude, an unwillingness to forgive or a harsh
feeling. Bitterness is the opposite of sweetness and kindness (cf.
husbands toward wives in
Colossians 3:19 - see note). It harbors resentment and
keeps score of wrongs (cf
1Cor 13:5)
Pikría or
bitterness is It is the spirit of irritability that
keeps a person in perpetual animosity, making him sour and venomous.
Bitterness applies to the bitterness of spirit to which men give vent by
bitter words.
Barclay adds that
"the Greeks
defined (pikría ) as long-standing resentment, as
the spirit which refuses to be reconciled. So many of us have a way of
nursing our wrath to keep it warm, of brooding over the insults and the
injuries which we have received. Every Christian might well pray that
God would teach him how to forget." (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press)
Eadie says that pikria is...
A figurative term denoting that
fretted and irritable state of mind that keeps a man in perpetual
animosity, that inclines him to harsh and uncharitable opinions of men
and things, that makes him sour, crabby and repulsive in his general
demeanor, that brings a scowl over his face & infuses venom into the
words of his tongue.
Newell adds that their
"Bitterness is ever ready! What fearful
folly for a race speaking thus to imagine that by "being baptized, " and
"joining the church" they are ready to "go to heaven, " and be in the
holy company on high, with the meek and lowly Son of God and the holy
angels, -and all this without a thought of being forgiven, washed, born
again!" (Romans 3: Devotional
and Expositional)
Wiersbe has this practical comment on
"bitterness" to which even believers can fall prey
(although here in Ro 3:14, the reference is of course referring to an
unsaved individual):
"An unforgiving spirit is the devil’s playground
and before long it becomes the Christian’s battleground. If somebody
hurts us, either deliberately or unintentionally, and we do not forgive
him, then we begin to develop bitterness within, which hardens the
heart. We should be tenderhearted and kind, but instead we are
hardhearted and bitter. Actually, we are not hurting the person who hurt
us; we are only hurting ourselves. Bitterness in the heart makes us
treat others the way Satan treats them, when we should treat others the
way God has treated us. In His gracious kindness, God has forgiven us,
and we should forgive others. We do not forgive for our sake (though we
do get a blessing from it) or even for their sake, but for Jesus’ sake.
Learning how to forgive and forget is one of the secrets of a happy
Christian life." (Wiersbe,
W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
In Acts
Peter
confronts Simon the sorcerer declaring
"I see that you
(Simon) are in the
gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity" (Acts 8:23).
Comment:
Note in Acts 8:13 "Simon himself believed" but his subsequent actions
and Peter's assessment make it clear that this was not belief unto
salvation but was intellectual and/or a belief only in the signs and
wonders
Gall (chole
gives us our medical term cholecystitis for gallbladder disease) is a bitter ingredient or bile and with
pikría (bitterness), it conveys an extremely bitter, harsh,
and distasteful condition, vividly picturing the reality of one in the
bondage of iniquity. This verse then describes a spiritual poisoning—a
heart of great wickedness—in Simon the sorcerer. The sin of bitterness, like all sin, is a harsh taskmaster, Solomon
recording that a man's
"own iniquities will capture the wicked and he
will be held with the cords of his sin." (Proverbs 5:22-notes) (Comment: Sin’s built-in consequences are
inescapable)
Writing to the Ephesian saints
Paul exhorted them to
Let all bitterness
(pikria) and wrath and anger
and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice."
(Eph 4:31)
In the final use of pikría
in the NT, the writer of Hebrews exhorts his readers to
See to it (continually be on the lookout so) that no one comes short
(to come too late, to be left out = if an unbeliever dies before
trusting in Christ, he will be lost forever) of the grace of God;
that no root of bitterness (in context this is the attitude
of apostates within the church who are corruptive influences)
springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled" (Heb 12:15-note)
MacArthur writes that in this context
"The root of
bitterness refers to a person who is superficially identified
with God’s people, and who falls back into paganism. But he is no
ordinary apostate. He is arrogant and defiant concerning the things of
God. He thumbs his nose at the Lord. God’s response to such boastful
unbelief is harsh and final. “The Lord shall never be willing to
forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will burn
against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will
rest on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven”
(Dt 29:20)." (MacArthur,
John: Hebrews. Moody Press
)
David described cursing, bitter persons as those who
“have sharpened
their tongue like a sword ... aimed bitter speech as their arrow, to
shoot from concealment at the blameless; suddenly they shoot him, and do
not fear” (Ps 64:3-4).
Every age of mankind, our own
certainly included, has been characterized by people who use their
tongues as vicious weapons. Their attacks not only are against those
they know well enough to hate but sometimes, as David seems to intimate,
even against strangers, simply for the perverse pleasure of venting
their anger and hatred.
Torrey's Topic
Profane Swearing
Is desecration of God’s name and
forbidden -Ex 20:7; Mt 5:34, 35, 36; 23:21,22; Jas 5:12
THE WICKED
Addicted to -Psalms 10:7; Romans 3:14
Love -Psalms 109:17
Clothe themselves with -Psalms 109:18
Guilt of -Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11
Woe denounced against -Matthew 23:16
Nations visited for -Jeremiah 23:10; Hosea 4:1-3
Punishment for -Leviticus 24:16,23; Psalms 59:12; 109:17,18
Exemplified
Son of Israelitish woman -Leviticus 24:11
Gehazi -2Kings 5:20
Peter -Matthew 26:74