Ungodliness, ungodly (763) asebeia

Ungodliness (763) (asebeia from a = w/o + sébomai = worship, venerate) means want or lack of reverence or piety toward God (which speaks of one's heart attitude) speaks of a want of reverence and as used in the NT describes those living without regard for God. They conduct themselves in such a way as to effectively deny God's existence and right as Supreme Ruler and Authority. BDAG adds that in general asebeia... is understood vertically as a lack of reverence for deity and hallowed institutions as displayed in sacrilegious words and deeds: impiety; its corollary adikia refers horizontally to violation of human rights (Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature) Asebeia is used 6 times in the NT... Romans 1:18 (note) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, Romans 11:26 (note) and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." 2 Timothy 2:16 (note) But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, Titus 2:12 (note) instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, Jude 1:15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." Jude 1:18 that they were saying to you, "In the last time there shall be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts." Asebeia is found some 73 times in the Septuagint (LXX). (9.4-Deut.9.29" class="scriptRef">Deut. 9:4f; 18:22; 6" class="scriptRef">6" class="scriptRef">19:16; 25:2; 11" class="scriptRef">1 Sam. 24:11; 35.8" class="scriptRef">Job 35:8; 36:18; Ps. 5:10; 32:5; 65:3; 73:6; Prov. 1:19, 31; 17" class="scriptRef">4:17; 11:5; 28:3f, 13" class="scriptRef">13" class="scriptRef">13; 29:25; Eccl. 8:8; Isa. 59:20; Jer. 5:6; 6:7; Lam. 1:5; 12.19" class="scriptRef">Ezek. 12:19; 14:6; 16:43, 58; 18:28, 30f; 21:24; 22:11; 23:27, 29, 35, 48f; 33:9; Hos. 10:13; 11:12; Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6; 3:14; 5:12; Obad. 1:10; Mic. 1:5, 13; 3:8; 6:7, 12; 7:18; Hab. 1:3; 2:8, 17; Zeph. 1:9; Mal. 2:16) Asebeia suggests a disregard of the existence of God, a refusal to retain Him in knowledge and a habit of mind that leads to open rebellion. It is a general reference to all that is "anti-God". Robert Leighton wrote that... The carnal mind sees God in nothing, not even in spiritual things. The spiritual mind sees him in everything, even in natural things. Hiebert adds that ungodliness is suggestive of the whole inner and outer life of the one who lives without God and in opposition to His law. Augustine concurs noting that... No man says, 'There is no God' but he whose interest it is there should be none. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia adds that ungodliness can be a state of mind in which a person actively opposes and struggles against God or passively disobeys and remains indifferent. Yet “ungodliness” is not only a state of mind; it refers to one’s actions and manner of life. Asebeia describes the spiritual condition of those alienated from God as Paul describes in (see note Romans 1:18) where he explains that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" John MacArthur commenting on this verse writes that "Ungodliness refers to lack of reverence for, devotion to, and worship of the true God, a failure that inevitably leads to some form of false worship...Unrighteousness encompasses the idea of ungodliness but focuses on its result. Sin first attacks God’s majesty and then His law. Men do not act righteously because they are not rightly related to God, who is the only measure and source of righteousness. Ungodliness unavoidably leads to unrighteousness. Because men’s relation to God is wrong, their relation to their fellow men is wrong. Men treat other men the way they do because they treat God the way they do. Man’s enmity with his fellow man originates with his being at enmity with God. (MacArthur, J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press) Trench says that the idea of active opposition to religion is involved in the adjective "ungodly" (and the noun ungodliness) , and represents a deliberate withholding from God of His dues of prayer and of service. Ungodliness pictures a standing, so to speak, in battle array against God and His claims to respect, reverence and obedience! Not regarding man's impiety toward His Name and His character while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (see note Romans 5:6). Ungodliness is the attitude and action that describes every sinner who has not trusted the Lord Jesus for salvation. Ungodliness means lack of love or total disregard for God. Believers must refuse any action that lacks reverence for God. We live in an age when many totally reject God’s influence in every area of their life but we as new creations in Christ must firmly renounce that attitude. John Calvin rightly declared that... There is no stupidity more brutish than forgetfulness of God. Adam Clarke defines ungodliness as All things contrary to God; whatever would lead us to doubt His being, deny any of His essential attributes; His providence or government of the world, and His influence on the souls of men. Everything, also, which is opposed to His true worship; theoretical and practical atheism, deism, and irreligion in general. (Clarke's Commentaries) Matthew Poole says that ungodliness is living without regard to any Divine Being, or according to our own erroneous and superstitious conceits and opinions of him. Anomia (literally "without law" or "lawless") is disregard for, or defiance of, God’s laws whereas asebeia is the same attitude towards God’s Person. Ungodliness is usually the root of all other sins. The irreligious contempt for God in our day is astounding. We can be certain that the person who has not denied ungodliness does not know the grace of God and is certainly not living in the light of Christ’s imminent return. John MacArthur agrees adding that the person whose life is characterized by ungodliness cannot be truly saved, no matter how vocal and orthodox his profession of Christ may be. (MacArthur. Titus: Moody Press) Life Application Bible Commentary has an interesting note on "saying no", writing that we can do nothing to earn our salvation through any service we give or even by living morally upright. However, once we have accepted God’s salvation, His grace makes ethical demands of us both outwardly and inwardly. Grace teaches and enables us to say no outwardly to non-Christian activities and inwardly to non-Christian desires. Some people talk as if they were hypnotized and helpless victims of their own desires. But Christians are expected and enabled to just say no. (Barton, B, et al: The NIV Life Application Commentary Series: Tyndale) AND WORLDLY DESIRES: kai tas kosmikas epithumias: (1Jn 2:15, 16,17, 2Ti 2:22,1Pet 2:11,1Ti 6:9, Jas 4:4, cf Gal 6:14) A W Pink says that worldly desires... are those affections and appetites which dominate and regulate the man of the world. It is the heart craving worldly objects, pleasures, honors, riches. It is an undue absorption with those things which serve only a temporary purpose and use. Worldly lusts cause the things of Heaven to be crowded out by the interests and concerns of earth. This may be done by things which are quite lawful in themselves—but through an immoderate use they gain possession of the heart. Worldly lusts are the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1Jn 2:16-notes). Now Divine grace is teaching the Christian to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. It does this by putting upon him "the fear of the Lord," so that he departs from evil (cp Job 1:1). It does this by occupying the heart with a superior Object—when Christ was revealed to the heart of the Samaritan woman—she "left her waterpot" (Jn 4:28, cp Jn 14:15, 21). It does this by supplying powerful motives and incentives to personal holiness (cp 2Co 5:9, 10). It does this by the indwelling Spirit resisting the flesh (Gal 5:17-note). It does this by causing us to subordinate the interests of the body unto the higher interests of the soul. (Grace Preparing for Glory) Worldly desires as discussed in more detail below are those sinful impulses that express themselves through the "instruments" (Ro 6:12, 13-see notes Ro 6:12; 13) of a believer's physical body. They are those overpowering attractions for the secular world. Worldly desires include selfishness, pride, seeking after status and power, greed, lust, and living for sinful pleasure rather than finding pleasure in God above all else. Grace trains you to say no to these things, because God and His grace are far sweeter than anything the world can offer. John addressed these impulses in his first epistle, warning saints Do not love (present imperative + a negative particle ["not"] means to stop doing this or do not have the habit of showing affection and devotion for) the world (kosmos - seductive Satan steered system of values, priorities, beliefs that excludes and actively opposes God and subtly attracts one's affection, participation and loyalty), nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification proceeding from our flesh = the sin nature of man, that rebellious self dominated by sin, in opposition to God. Satan uses the evil world system to incite the flesh] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind - Satan uses the eyes as a strategic avenue to incite wrong desires, eg Ge 3:6 Josh 7:20, 21] and the boastful pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things; arrogance over one’s circumstances, which produces haughtiness or exaggeration, parading what one possesses to impress others] ("the infernal trinity"), is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. (1John 2:15-17) Thomas Constable has a succinct summary of John's warning: The lust of the flesh is the desire to do something apart from the will of God. The lust of the eyes is the desire to have something apart from the will of God. The pride of life is the desire to be something apart from the will of God. The first desire appeals mainly to the body, the second to the soul, and the third to the spirit. Perhaps the most common manifestation of the lust of the flesh in modern western civilization is illicit sex (hedonism, idolizing pleasure). Perhaps the most common manifestation of the lust of the eyes is excessive buying (materialism, idolizing possessions). Perhaps the most common manifestation of the pride of life is trying to control (egoism, idolizing power). (Titus Notes) (Bolding added) C H Spurgeon writes that... We next deny “worldly lusts:” that is, the lusts of the present world or age, which I described to you just now as coming in between the two appearings. This present age is as full of evil lusts as that in which Paul wrote concerning the Cretans. The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life are yet with us. Wherever the grace of God comes effectually, it makes the loose liver deny the desires of the flesh; it causes the man who lusted after gold to conquer his greediness; it brings the proud man away from his ambitions; it trains the idler to diligence, and it sobers the wanton mind which cared only for the frivolities of life. Not only do we leave these lusts, but we deny them. We have an abhorrence of those things wherein we formerly placed our delight. Our cry is, “What have I to do any more with idols?” To the worldling we say, “these things may belong to you; but as for us, we cannot own them; sin shall no more have dominion over us. We are not of the world, and therefore its ways and fashions are none of ours.” The period in which we live shall have no paramount influence over us, for our truest life is with Christ in eternity; our conversation is in heaven. The grace of God has made us deny the prevailing philosophies, glories, maxims, and fashions of this present world. In the best sense we are nonconformists. We desire to be crucified to the world and the world to us. This was a great thing for grace to do among the degraded sensualists of Paul’s day, and it is not a less glorious achievement in these times. (From Spurgeon's sermon Two Appearings & the Discipline of Grace) "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/titus_212.htm#Ungodliness%20(763)%20asebeia

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Ungodliness, ungodly (763) asebeia

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