Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Untoward is said of anything which will not go toward, that is straight onwards, but will go now on this side, now on that, making a crooked path. The beast that rebels against the hand of its driver, pushes now in this direction, now in that, instead of that in which he is required to go. The slimy serpent that crawls along, never in one line, but from this side to that side. The man who knows not his road, takes a path now to the right hand, now to the left, and goes not straight forward. The drunkard who reels and staggers from side to side, instead of going forward. All these are examples of untowardness. And now is not sin untoward? The path of the commandments of God leads straightforward, but their transgressor is not found in that path. He has the wilfulness and rebelliousness of the beast that will not be driven. He is a true and close follower of the crooked ways of the old serpent, and walks in his slime of sin. He is ignorant and blind with vanity, and chooses:his own crooked road. He is drunk with pride and evil desires, and cannot keep the straight paths of godliness. Such is the character of an untoward generation. In it are found the drunkard, the unchaste, the swearer, the Sabbath-breaker, the thief, the covenant-breaker, the forswearer; and not only these, but all who hold not the truth in righteousness, all who abide in any practice which (they know) is not according to the will of God; all who continue in the neglect of any known duty, all who give God but lip-service instead of life-service, all the careless, all the indifferent, all the selfish. (R. W. Evans, B.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. |
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