Verse 16
16. Profess… know God Rather, they confess; the verb implying the truth of what they acknowledge. They are monotheists, acknowledging the holy God of Israel.
But Contrastive. There is a contradiction between their confession and their conduct.
Works… deny Their actions ignore the God who requires holiness of life.
Abominable The Greek rendering of that most expressive Hebrew term by which the Old Testament designates that horrible blend of sexual licentiousness with religious worship of which the Phenician Sidon was the apparent centre, and Ashtoreth (the Ishtar of the Babylonian tablets and the Astarte of Greek literature) the idol goddess, against which all the force of the Jehovah worship was for ages arrayed. This was that “goddess of the Zidonians,” denounced 1 Kings 11:5, And the present gainsayers were the true successors of the old abominable sensualists against whom St. Paul true successor of the prophets of old arrays all the force of Jehovah-Jesus.
Disobedient To the true decalogue which the holy Jehovah, whom they profess, enjoins.
Reprobate Cannot stand the test of scrutiny as to being real doers of any good work. The word has no reference to an eternally predestined reprobation. See notes on 1 Corinthians 9:27; and 2 Corinthians 13:5, where the same Greek word occurs.
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