The Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible podcast titled, "The Reprobate Mind" provided me the following insights while running on the treadmill.
Romans 1:29
They were filled with... deceit
The Greek word here translated as "deceit" is dolos which literally means "bait." This is insightful and helps us understand the nature of deceit. It is like a shiny hook made to look attractive and resembling something otherwise desirable. But it is in all actuality a snare designed to entrap. It is ugly and something altogether undesirable. Deceit knows its target. It has studied it and applied itself to the work of luring its prey. It is more than merely lies, it is more deadly than a simple mirage. It is not just over-promising and under-delivering, it is bidding and begging one otherwise disinterested to engage for the sole purpose of abducting and imprisoning.
It reminds me of a word I added to my vocabulary as a result of a word-of-the-day calendar Amy Duvick got me for Christmas one year, "meretricious." It means deceptively attractive, gussying up with intention of assuaging guilt. It is worse than an average looking lady applying make-up to look nicer or adding sugar to a bland morsel to make it sweeter. It is the idea of dusting powdered sugar over poison to conceal its deadliness or painting blush on cheeks incapable of blushing.
Romans 1:29
They are gossips
The Greek word here translated as "gossips" is psithuristés which is fashioned from onomatopoeia for the sound a secret slander makes, "pssstttt..." Whisperers secretly slander and sabotage others by tickling the ears of their hearers with the sound of a snake, "pssssttttt." They spew poison from their tongues and hook their hearers with their fangs.
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