Mark 7:22

Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) Covetousness, wickedness.—The Greek words for these are, like the preceding, in the plural, as pointing to the manifold forms in which the sins show themselves.

An evil eye.—As explained by Matthew 20:15 (where see Note), the “evil eye” is that which looks askance on the good of others—i.e., envy in its most malignant form.

Pride.—Better, perhaps, haughtiness. This is the only passage in the New Testament where the word so translated occurs. The cognate adjective meets us in Romans 1:30; 2Timothy 3:2.

Foolishness.—This, again, is a rare word in the New Testament, meeting us only in 2Corinthians 11:1; 2Corinthians 11:17; 2Corinthians 11:21. As interpreted by Proverbs 14:18; Proverbs 15:21, it is the folly which consists in the absence of the fear of God, the infatuation of impiety.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:14-23 Our wicked thoughts and affections, words and actions, defile us, and these only. As a corrupt fountain sends forth corrupt streams, so does a corrupt heart send forth corrupt reasonings, corrupt appetites and passions, and all the wicked words and actions that come from them. A spiritual understanding of the law of God, and a sense of the evil of sin, will cause a man to seek for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to keep down the evil thoughts and affections that work within.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hat which cometh out of the man - His words; the expression of his thoughts and feelings; his conduct, as the development of inward malice, anger, covetousness, lust, etc.

Defileth the man - Makes him really polluted or offensive in the sight of God. This renders the soul corrupt and abominable in his sight. See Matthew 15:18-20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 7

Mr 7:1-23. Discourse on Ceremonial Pollution. ( = Mt 15:1-20).

See on [1450]Mt 15:1-20.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 7:22"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thefts,.... These also are mentioned in Matthew, but Mark omits "false witnesses", and adds the following; which, excepting "blasphemy", are not taken notice of by the other evangelists;

covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; See Gill on Matthew 15:19.

Geneva Study Bible

Thefts, {i} covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an {k} evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

(i) All types of craftiness by which men profit themselves at other men's losses.

(k) Corrupted malice.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. covetousness] “avarices,” Wyclif. The original word denotes more than the mere love of money, it is “the drawing and snatching to himself, on the sinner’s part, of the creature in every form and kind, as it lies out of and beyond himself.” Hence we find it joined not only with “thefts” here and with “extortion” in 1 Corinthians 5:10, but also with sins of the flesh as in 1 Corinthians 5:11; Ephesians 5:3; Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5. “Impurity and covetousness may be said to divide between them nearly the whole domain of human selfishness and vice.” “Homo extra Deum quaerit pabulum in creatura materiali vel per voluptatem vel per avaritiam.” See Canon Lightfoot on Colossians 3:5wickedness] or wickednesses The word thus translated occurs in the singular in Matthew 22:18, “but Jesus perceived their wickedness,” and again in Luke 11:39; Romans 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:8; Ephesians 6:12. In the plural it only occurs twice, here and in Acts 3:26, where we have translated it “iniquities.” It denotes the active working of evil, “the cupiditas nocendi,” or as Jeremy Taylor explains it, an “aptness to do shrewd turns, to delight in mischief and trajedies; a love to trouble our neighbour and to do him ill offices; crossness, perverseness, and peevishness of action in our intercourse.” Trench’s N. T. Synonyms, p. 36.

lasciviousness] The word thus rendered is of uncertain etymology, and in our Version is translated generally “lasciviousness,” as here and 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 4:19; 1 Peter 4:3; sometimes (2) “wantonness,” as in Romans 13:13; 2 Peter 2:18. The Vulgate renders it now “impudicitia,” now “lascivia.” “Wantonness” is the better rendering. In Classical Greek it signifies “lawless insolence” or “boisterous violence” towards another; in later Greek “sensuality.”

an evil eye, blasphemy] Of these the first denotes concealed, the second open enmity. The evil eye is notorious in the East; here it is the description of an envious look; “invidia et de malis alienis gaudium.” Bengel.

pride] The substantive thus translated only occurs here in the N. T., its adjective occurs in Luke 1:51, “He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts;” Romans 1:30, “proud, boasters;” 2 Timothy 3:2, “proud, blasphemers;” James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5, “God resisteth the proud,” The true seat of this sin, the German “Hochmuch,” is within, and consists in comparing oneself secretly with others, and lifting oneself above others, in being proud in thought. foolishness] only occurs here in the Gospels, and three times in the Epistles of St Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Corinthians 11:17; 2 Corinthians 11:21. “Causa cur insipientia extremo loco ponatur: quae etiam reliqua omnia facit incurabiliora. Non in sola voluntate est corruptio humana.” Bengel.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 7:22. Πλεονεξίαι) Πλεονεξία, πλεονέκτης, πλεονεκτέω, as involving the comparative by implication, denote a kind of mean between theft and rapine, viz., when you aim by various artifices to effect, that your neighbour of himself, but with injury to himself, may unwittingly or unwillingly offer, concede, and assign to you some possession which it is not right you should receive. Yet it approaches nearer to theft, and is more opposed to rapine or open violence; and it is a sin chiefly characteristic of the rich, as the two former are sins of the poor; 1 Corinthians 6:10; 1 Corinthians 5:10.—ἀσέλγεια) a diffuse wantonness [lasciviousness] of mind. Comp. the Syr[50] Version. This and an evil eye are contrary to the ninth and tenth commandments.—ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρὸς, an evil eye) envy and joy at the misfortunes of others.—ἀφροσύνη, foolishness) under which they were labouring, who are refuted in this passage: with this comp. Ye fools, Luke 11:40. This is the reason why foolishness is placed last of all, inasmuch as being that which renders even all the rest incurable. Human corruption has its seat not merely in the will [but in the understanding also. Comp. Mark 7:18.]

[50] yr. the Peschito Syriac Version: second cent.: publ. and corrected by Cureton, from MS. of fifth cent.

Mark 7:22

Vincent's Word Studies

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, Mark 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 Matthew 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 (Matthew 15:19), calls these thoughts πονηροί, the thoughts in action, taking shape in purpose. Both adjectives occur in Revelation 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 Romans 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 2 Peter 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 Matthew 27:39; Romans 3:8; Romans 14:16; 1 Peter 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 Proverbs 16:5; Romans 12:16 (mind not high things); 1 Timothy 3:6.