A Romans 1 World Pt. 15 Whispering, Backbiting and Haters of God
Whispering secret slanders
Romans 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
The word translated "whisperers" means to secretly slander someone behind their back. It is a person with a poisonous tongue who secretly attacks another persons character in a malignant manner.
Psalm 41:5-7 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish? 6) And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it. 7) All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.
Psalm 31:13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
King David suffered many attacks upon his character during the years that he reigned. He describes a "whisperer" very accurately in Psalm 41. A "whisperer" speaks evil of other people but they do it secretly and gather other like minded people to whisper together as they seek to impugn the victim's character.
In Psalm 31 King David spoke of what the whisperers did. They slandered the king by spreading lies and assassinating his character. Their goal was to weaken the king politically, perhaps hoping to cause the king to be overthrown.
Whisperers spread damaging rumors or innuendo against a victim while the source seeks to remain undetected.
We see this in the sphere of politics all too frequently. During 2017 and 2018 there were at least 208 leaks of classified information from various government agencies. The leaks were clearly done to inflict political damage.
"Whispering" campaigns were used against President Grover Cleveland in 1884. The rumors falsely said that he fathered an illegitimate child. John McCain was the target of a whispering campaign during the 2000 Republican primaries.
Ezekiel 7:26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
The prophet Ezekiel spoke of the end Times when false rumors would be widespread and commonplace. People will listen to them but ignore the Word of God. This certainly reflects the culture that we live in today.
Backbiters attack behind the victim's back.
Romans 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Next on the list of a Romans 1 culture are "backbiters." A "backbiter" is very similar to a "whisperer" in that he talks against someone with slanderous words. This word is only used one time in the Bible so it is somewhat difficult to find a relevant context to help us understand it better.
However, Greek lexicons indicate that this is outspoken slandering that is done behind the victim's back without any attempt to hide the source. The backbiter says insulting things and makes false accusations, often blaspheming God in the process.
Colossians 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Paul has another relevant "put off" for us to consider. Notice that there are four elements that go into backbiting. Anger and wrath; malice and blasphemy. What comes out of the mouth is called filthy communication in this text. No child of God should ever engage in whispering or backbiting that culminates in filthy communication.
I have mentioned that before I was saved I had a terrible swearing problem and that God caused it to stop in the process of making old things pass away and making all things new (2 Corinthians 5:17). It would be horrendous and despicable for such filthy communication to come out of my mouth again.
Haters of God
The phrase "haters of God" is only found in this text. It means that those whom God gave over to a reprobate mind turn against God and their conscience is void of any sensitivity toward God. We see this in our culture today in the left wing extremist movements that seek to "cancel culture" or "rewrite history."
Actually, all of the individual elements we are studying that make up a Romans 1 culture are individual expressions of haters of God. There is no poll to tell us how many Americans are God haters but based upon the violence, rioting, vile speech, sexual perversion, lying, cheating, stealing, and other societal ills, there must be a large number of them.
John 15:18-25 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19) If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20) Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21) But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22) If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. 23) He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24) If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25) But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God in the flesh (John 1:1-14). The name Jesus means "Jehovah Saves" and this tells us that Jesus is Old Testament Jehovah born in a human body. The world hated the Lord Jesus Christ because He exposed sin and demanded repentance.
Psalm 69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
The Lord told His disciples that they would be persecuted because they persecuted Him due to their hatred of Christ. The 69th Psalm is a Messianic Psalm that prophesied about Christ. The hatred of the world toward Jesus Christ was predicted hundreds of years before Jesus was born in a manger. Jesus connects this Psalm to His earthly ministry in John 15.
God haters have no rational reason for hating God. They have life that came from God. They live in a world that can sustain them and this is from God. They live in a time where God's attitude toward mankind is grace driven and they can hear the gospel and be born again. They have skills, abilities, likes and dislikes that are from God. He send sunshine and rain upon both good and bad people. He sends times of harvest and provides for our needs. Truly, people hate God without a cause.
Thoughts to Ponder...
So much of our culture is drowning in unauthorized leaks or secret slander from "unnamed sources", and backbiting speech.
Filthy communication is being spewed out of many mouths today and through keyboard clicks on social media.
Evidence of God haters is shocking and pervasive.
A Romans 1 culture will destroy any culture. The purpose of these studies is to help believers see what the spiritual issues are, so that they can anchor to what God promised us in Christ. There is no hope in the world or the government. They will ultimately array themselves against God, as we learned in our End Times studies.
Christians, do not let filthy communication be a part of your life. It dishonors God and detracts from His glory. It pulls you away from God instead of drawing you closer to Him. Put off vile speech and put on the new man in Christ and seek a renewed mind through the Word of God.
I pray that the Lord will help us as the Romans 1 culture spreads its tentacles around us seeking to draw all people into its net of depravity.
Bob
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