29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,
evil-mindedness;
“Evil-mindedness” is maliciousness or bad character. These people operate with spite. This word is a combination of two words: evil (pernicious) and ethos (habit, custom). We get our English word “cacophony” from this Greek word. Cacophony is discordant sound. Putting the two words together, we get the idea of habitual evil, customary evil. An evil-minded person customarily seeks to harm other people.
This word for malice (different in the Greek than the word used previously in the same verse) occurs only here in the New Testament. This is a person who puts the worst slant on everything, who believes the worst about others.
PRINCIPLE:
Evil-mindedness believes the worst about people.
APPLICATION:
Evil-minded people suppose the worst about others. It is their nature to operate with evil intent. Their interpretation of fact is with malicious intent even concerning completely innocent actions.
