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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Mark 7:22 - 7:22
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Wickedness (πονμρίαι)
Plural. Rev., wickedness. From πονεῖν, to toil. The adjective πονμρός means, first, oppressed by toils; then in bad case or plight, from which it runs into the sense of morally bad. This conception seems to have been associated by the high-born with the life of the lower, laboring, slavish class; just as our word knave (like the German knabe from which it is derived) originally meant simply a boy or a servant-lad. As πόνος means hard, vigorous labor, battle for instance, so the adjective πονμρός, in a moral sense, indicates active wickedness. So Jeremy Taylor: “Aptness to do shrewd turns, to delight in mischiefs and tragedies; a loving to trouble one's neighbor and do him ill offices.” Πονμρός, therefore, is dangerous, destructive. Satan is called ὁ πονηρός, the wicked one. Κακός, evil (see evil thoughts, Mar 7:21), characterizes evil rather as defect: “That which is not such as, according to its nature, destination, and idea it might be or ought to be” (Cremer). Hence of incapacity in war; of cowardice (κακία). κακὸς δοῦλος, the evil servant, in Mat 24:48, is a servant wanting in proper fidelity and diligence. Thus the thoughts are styled evil, as being that which, in their nature and purpose, they ought not to be. Matthew, however (Mat 15:19), calls these thoughts πονηροί, the thoughts in action, taking shape in purpose. Both adjectives occur in Rev 16:2.
Lasciviousness (ἀσέλγεια)
Derivation unknown. It includes lasciviousness, and may well mean that here; but is often used without this notion. In classical Greek it is defined as violence, with spiteful treatment and audacity. As in this passage its exact meaning is not implied by its being classed with other kindred terms, it would seem better to take it in as wide a sense as possible - that of lawless insolence and wanton caprice, and to render, with Trench, wantonness, since that word, as he remarks, “stands in remarkable ethical connection with ἀσέλγεια, and has the same duplicity of meaning” (“Synonyms of the New Testament”). At Rom 13:13, where lasciviousness seems to be the probable meaning, from its association with chambering (οίταις), it is rendered wantonness in A. V. and Rev., as also at 2Pe 2:18.
Evil eye (ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρὸς)
A malicious, mischief-working eye, with the meaning of positive, injurious, activity. See (above) on wickednesses.
Blasphemy (βλασφημία)
The word does not necessarily imply blasphemy against God. It is used of reviling, calumny, evil-speaking in general. See Mat 27:39; Rom 3:8; Rom 14:16; 1Pe 4:4, etc. Hence Rev. renders railing.
Pride (ὑπερηφανία)
From ὑπέρ, above, and φαίνεσθαι, to show one's self. The picture in the word is that of a man with his head held high above others. It is the sin of an uplifted heart against God and man. Compare Pro 16:5; Rom 12:16 (mind not high things); 1Ti 3:6.