The teaching of Hebrews 12:15 is much broader than just the emotion of bitterness…
Hebrews 12:1 “…let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”
Hebrews 12:14-17 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root4491 of bitterness4088 springing5453 up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. [NAS]
- 4491 οὐ ῤίζαν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, spoken of one who has but a superficial experience of divine truth, has not permitted it to make its way into the inmost recesses of his soul, Matthew 13:21; Mark 4:17; Luke 8:13; in figurative discourse, ῤίζα πικρίας (see πικρία) of a person disposed to apostatize and induce others to commit the same offence, Hebrews 12:15;
- 4088 ῤίζα πικρίας (references as above), a bitter root, and so producing bitter fruit, Hebrews 12:15 (from Deuteronomy 29:18, the Alex. manuscript), cf. Bleek at the passage;
- 5453 intransitive, to shoot forth, spring up: Hebrews 12:15
Hebrews 12:28 “…offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;”
Here are some other translations of Hebrews 12:15 that support this view…
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. [New International Version(©1984)]
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, or many of you will become defiled. [International Standard Version(©2008)]
Looking with care to see that no man among you in his behaviour comes short of the grace of God; for fear that some bitter root may come up to be a trouble to you, and that some of you may be made unclean by it; [Bible in Basic English]
Be carefully on your guard lest there be any one who falls back from the grace of God; lest any root bearing bitter fruit spring up and cause trouble among you, and through it the whole brotherhood be defiled; [Weymouth New Testament]
Hebrews 12:15 alludes to Deuteronomy 29:18 and the Hebrew idiom of bitter poison as in the following verses…
This bitterness is also translated as bitter food, bitter poison, disaster, and poisoned water feeding the body, soul, and spirit of someone who turns their heart away from the LORD..
Deuteronomy 29:18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
Deuteronomy 29:19 When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.” This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
Deuteronomy 32:32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness.
Jeremiah 8:14 “Why are we sitting here? Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.
Jeremiah 9:15 Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
Jeremiah 23:15 Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: “I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
The teaching of Hebrews 12:15 is not limited to just the emotion of bitterness.
There are many more sins that spring up from a root in us to defile many, including all corrupting sins and influences that will have a bitter poisonous effect on our lives, as in the following verses…
Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Ephesians 5:5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God
Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
1 Timothy 1:10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine
1 John 3:7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Christians have had the power of the old sinful nature stripped off them, so they don’t have to be ruled by that nature anymore. Christians don’t have to be controlled by their sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. They don’t have to have any poisonous roots of bitterness from any sins in their lives. Christians can have a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Christians can put on their new nature and be renewed.
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