WORD STUDY - 'Wicked'

NewWay

WORD STUDY

'Wicked' - Part 1

"If I say to a *wicked man, 'You shall die,' and you do not warn him - you do not speak to warn the *wicked man of his *wicked course in order to save his life - he, the *wicked man, shall die for his iniquity, but I will require a reckoning for his blood from you. But if you do warn the *wicked man, and he does not turn back from his wickedness and his *wicked course, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your own life." - Ezekiel 3:18 & 19 (Tanakh The Holy Scriptures - The New JPS Translation)

* 'wicked': (1) HEBREW - Strong's 7563 = RASHA = "morally wrong"; "an (actively) bad person".

(2) GREEK LXX - Strong's 459 = ANOMOS = "lawless, i.e. (neg.) not subject to (the Jewish) law; (by impl. a Gentile), or (pos.) wicked".

Compare the use of the Greek word 'anomos' in this New Testament extract:

"Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless [Greek = 'anomos'] and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators [Greek = 'pornos' = 'a (male) prostitute'], sodomites [Greek = arsen+koite = 'male'+'by impl. the male sperm'; hence modern 'coitus' = 'sexual intercourse'], slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me." - 1 Timothy 1:8-11 (New Revised Standard Version). (To be continued...)
(Edited because certain special letters were lost and had to be replaced)

Edited by - NewWay on 22 July 2002 13:43:9

Vivamus

If I say to a *wicked man, 'You shall die,' and you do not warn him

Just wondering... If Jehovah TELLS the Wicked man he is gonna die. Why would I need to say it as well??? Can't Jehovah make it clear himself?

NewWay

Vivamus, that thought had crossed my mind! However, I've learned that these ancient languages can sometimes seem like they contradict or sound strange when put into English. A case in point is when Jesus tells his disciples to pick out a house and "stay there until you leave" (NWT). That sounds pretty obvious to me! However, the sense is that the disciples would find a home to stay for the duration of their ministry in that area, and not move about from home to home staying at different places until they left. I'm afraid we'll have to wait until there's a study on the word 'TELL'! ;o)

NewWay

WORD STUDIES

'Wicked' - Part 2

"Therefore, if you, although being *wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so will your Father who is in the heavens give good things to those asking him?" - Matthew 7:11 (New World Translation)

* 'wicked':

GREEK - Strong's 4190 = PONEROS = "hurtful", "evil", "fig. calamitous", "diseased", "derelict, vicious, facinorous", "mischief, malice", "sinners".

Notice, however, these definitions from J. H. Thayer's 'Greek-English Lexicon Of The New Testament':

"1. full of labors, annoyances, hardships; a. pressed and harassed by labors; thus Hercules is called ponerotatos kai aristos, Hes, frag. 43, 5. b. bringing toils, annoyances, perils: (kairos, Sir. li. 12); hemera ponera, of a time full of peril to Christian faith and steadfastness, Eph. v. 16; vi. 13, (so in the plur. hemerai pon. Barn. ep. 2, 1); causing pain and trouble [A. V. grievous], helkos, Rev. xvi. 2. ... 2. ... b. in an ethical sense, evil, wicked, bad, etc. ["this use of the world is due to its association with the working (largely the servile) class; not that contempt for labor is thereby expressed, for such worlds as ergates, draster, and the like, do not take on this evil sense, which connected itself only with a word expressive of unintermitted toil and carrying no suggestion of results"...]; of persons: Mt. vii. 11; ..."

Compare the use of the Greek word 'poneros' in this New Testament extract:

"The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil [Greek = poneros] person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." - Matthew 12:35-37 (New Revised Standard Version) (To be continued...)

NewWay

WORD STUDIES

'Wicked' - Part 3

"When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen [Greek = 'georgos' = literally 'workers of the land']? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those *wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons." - Matthew 21:40 & 41 (Authorised Version)

* 'wicked':

GREEK - Strong's 2556 = KAKOS = "worthless", "depraved", "injurious".

Compare the use of the Greek word 'kakos' - marked with an asterisk (*) - in this New Testament extract:

"Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay *evil for *evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called - that you might inherit a blessing. For 'Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from *evil and their lips from speaking deceit; let them turn away from *evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do *evil.'" - 1 Peter 3:8-12 (New Revised Standard Version) (End)

NewWay

Any further constructive comments, insights, views, etc are welcome.

Bleep

Abusive language not taught in the Bible... Ephesians 4:31,32.

Read whole chapter. A whole new personality will happen when applied.

jgnat

To summarize Wickedness that leads to death, then,

Wickedness, anomos, is the of the lawless. The law is needed for these ones to show that acts like murder and greed are wrong and leads to death. Jesus came for these wicked ones to show the way to life.
Wickedness, poneros, are acts that have a hurtful, injurious, diseased result. If I sin, poneros, against my brother, I must go and make amends.
Wickedness, kakos, is intrinsically depraved and injurious.

I am studying apostacy and shunning. The scriptures often referenced are Titus 3:9-11, 1 Corinthians 5:11 and 2 John 8-11. I wondered; what kind of sin or wickedness would cause us to avoid and turn away from these people? At Titus 3:9-11, the harm is heresy, hairesis. Such a man is sinful, hamartano. defined as to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), that is, (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin: - for your faults, offend, sin, trespass.

(Strongs)

The prodigal sun admitted to his father this sin,

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned hamartano against heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Luke 15:21 -24 ASV

Interestingly, the good but jealous son, complained that he had never sinned like his brother, but use the word parerchomai (neglected, passed by). The only other NT use of this word in relation to sin is,

But woe unto you Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God: but these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Luk 11:42 ASV

So we sin against God by passing over love, in our zeal to follow every other law.

jgnat

1 Corinthians 5:11

(poneros)

"But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an Idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat."

So if someone is claiming to be a brother but openly conducts in acts that have a hurtful, injurious, diseased result, I should avoid him.

NewWay

jgnat: An excellent summary and comments! Thank you for arranging the 'raw material' I posted into such a coherent way. Your post shows how 'wickedness' is to be understood as it relates to Christian life.

Kind regards.

WORD STUDY - 'Wicked'

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