Mat 15:19, Luk 2:35, 1Cor 3:20 | JFB | STEP | 19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts-- "evil reasonings"; referring here more immediately to those corrupt reasonings which had stealthily introduced and gradually reared up that hideous fabric of tradition which at length practically nullified the unchangeable principles of the moral law. But the statement is far broader than this; namely that the first shape which the evil that is in the heart takes, when it begins actively to stir, is that of "considerations" or "reasonings" on certain suggested actions. murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies-- detractions, whether directed against God or man; here the reference seems to be to the latter. Mark ( ) adds, "covetousnesses"--or desires after more; "wickednesses"--here meaning, perhaps, malignities of various forms; "deceit, lasciviousness"--meaning, excess or enormity of any kind, though by later writers restricted to lewdness; "an evil eye"--meaning, all looks or glances of envy, jealousy, or ill will towards a neighbor; "pride, foolishness"--in the Old Testament sense of "folly"; that is, criminal senselessness, the folly of the heart. How appalling is this black catalogue!

‏ Matthew 15:19

19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts--"evil reasonings"; referring here more immediately to those corrupt reasonings which had stealthily introduced and gradually reared up that hideous fabric of tradition which at length practically nullified the unchangeable principles of the moral law. But the statement is far broader than this; namely that the first shape which the evil that is in the heart takes, when it begins actively to stir, is that of "considerations" or "reasonings" on certain suggested actions.

murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies--detractions, whether directed against God or man; here the reference seems to be to the latter. Mark (Mr 7:22) adds, "covetousnesses"--or desires after more; "wickednesses"--here meaning, perhaps, malignities of various forms; "deceit, lasciviousness"--meaning, excess or enormity of any kind, though by later writers restricted to lewdness; "an evil eye"--meaning, all looks or glances of envy, jealousy, or ill will towards a neighbor; "pride, foolishness"--in the Old Testament sense of "folly"; that is, criminal senselessness, the folly of the heart. How appalling is this black catalogue!

‏ Luke 2:35

34-35. set--appointed.

fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against--Perhaps the former of these phrases expresses the two stages of temporary "fall of many in Israel" through unbelief, during our Lord's earthly career, and the subsequent "rising again" of the same persons after the effusion of the Spirit at pentecost threw a new light to them on the whole subject; while the latter clause describes the determined enemies of the Lord Jesus. Such opposite views of Christ are taken from age to age.

‏ 1 Corinthians 3:20

20. Quotation from Psa 94:11. There it is of men; here it is "of the wise." Paul by inspiration states the class of men whose "thoughts" (or rather, "reasonings," as suits the Greek and the sense of the context) the Spirit designated in the Psalm, "vanity," namely, the "proud" (Psa 94:2) and worldly-wise, whom God in Psa 94:8 calls "fools," though they "boast themselves" of their wisdom in pushing their interests (Psa 94:4).