29 being filled with all injustice, immorality, greed, malice; full of envy, murder
Next full of strife
eris strife, discord, contention, quarrels, dissension;
great enemy of peace
& almost always the forerunner of ruin!
This one is amazing: for while it is characteristic of depraved mind it is also characteristic of born again believers.
The body of Christ…it is full of division, & strife!
Churches divided over strife
Christians who would never commit overt murder are full of strife
1Cor. 1:11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels/strife among you.
But strife is always justified,
This is fundamental to those who cause strife – this issue is important
The Greek word starts in the soul –
expressed among bels. by verbal strife
where each strive against the other by use of their logic, their understanding of bible, of doctrine as they understand it…
angry striving with others in respect to matter of opinion or interpretation or understanding…
this has split the church almost from the beginning
A quarrel---usually reveals itself when one has a complaint against another …
& strife is the outcome.
1 Cor. 3:3 2 Cor. 12:20
The early church of Corinth was characterized by strife and division.
Phil. 1:15-17
1 Tim. 6:3-5
1. There will almost always be at least one who will try to cause strife, discord, contention, quarrels, dissension. This is true in family, among friends, at work and of course in local church
2. be aware of these & do not allow their strife to enter into your soul.
3. If you are the one who is seeking to cause strife, learn to listen to your self, pay attention to what is going on in your mind, listen, then stop listening… set your mind on the things above, get into F/HS by faith, and seek peace.
Next: full of deceit
dolos deceit, fraud
This one ought to be easy for you, if you remember about 5 characteristics of flesh nature:
Continually being corrupted & from Jere.
Deceitful above all else
So, it should not surprise us that when we are in flesh:
We are full of deceit
We know this is true of all of the depraved mind
We know this is true of each one of us.
But a word on bels, being deceitful
Little hurts worst than being deceived by another believers
One who portrays himself as supportive, & even a friend only to betray
But I want to draw your attention to the greatest deceiver of all
One who is saved by grace through faith but lives as though he were saved by works.
One saved by grace through faith but lives by law
This is the greatest deceiver of all!
Next: full of malice
What in the world is malice?
This is a person who devices to cause pain, distress, even injury to another; many by their gossip, by their deceiving cause pain, injury & distress, but they in final analysis regret it, that was not their intent, they simply did not look into the future at the results of their gossip, their deception etc.
but malice intends to cause pain, distress, injury on others…
generally the object of their distain, their jealousy, their hatred, their crusade, their moral purity
Two things are essential with the inclusion of this vice:
1st malice is fundamental to the ways of Satan!
He entered the garden with malice intent—to murder
Adam & Eve
He entered into Cain, with malice intent of murder
He deceives nations with malice intent
He accuses believers with malice intent
Always to hurt, cause pain, distress & injury!
Therefore whenever you seek to cause pain, distress, hurt on another you are doing the pleasure of Satan!
2enly malice is the very opposite of Spiritual Love
for SpLove always seeks the benefit of the object of love.
SpLove seeks to restore, SpLove seeks to ease pain, remove distress & restore to health.
Next: they are gossips & slanderers
The Tongue: an unbelievable weapon:
The tongue is a knife that can cut deeply
A gun that can kill
A match that can set forest on fire
The tongue can divide families, end marriages, divide friends,
& split churches!
The tongue can hurt others, cause distress
& everyone has a tongue & everyone learns at a young age how they can get their way, by lying, or get even by hurting others with the tongue.