Reference: Vanity
American
Does not usually denote, in Scripture, self-conceit or personal pride, 2Pe 2:18, but sometimes emptiness and fruitlessness, Job 7:3; Ps 144:4; Ec 1. It often denotes wickedness, particularly falsehood, De 32:21; Ps 4:2; 24:4; 119:37, and sometimes idols and idol-worship, 2Ki 17:15; Jer 2:5; 18:15; Jon 2:8. Compare Paul's expression, "they turned the truth of God into a lie," Ro 1:25. "In vain," in the second commandment, Ex 20:7, is unnecessarily and irreverently. "Vain men," 2Sa 6:20; 2Ch 13:7, are dissolute and worthless fellows.
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For they had substituted a lie for the truth about God, and had reverenced and worshiped created things more than the Creator, who is to be praised for ever. Amen.
With boastful and foolish talk, they appeal to the passions of man's lower nature, and, by their profligacy, entice those who are just escaping from the men who live such misguided lives.
Hastings
The root-idea of the word is 'emptiness.' Skeat suggests that the Lat. vanus (perhaps for vac-nus) is allied to vacuus 'empty.' In English literature 'vanity' signifies (1) emptiness, (2) falsity, (3) vainglory. The modern tendency is to confine its use to the last meaning. But 'vanity' in the sense of 'empty conceit' is not found in the English Bible.
1. In the OT.
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But vainly do they worship me, For they teach but the precepts of men.'"
But vainly do they worship me, For they teach but the precepts of men.'
For Nature was made subject to imperfection-not by its own choice, but owing to him who made it so--
For Nature was made subject to imperfection-not by its own choice, but owing to him who made it so--
And it says again-'The Lord sees how fruitless are the deliberations of the wise.'
But it is through the love of God that I am what I am, and the love that he showed me has not been wasted. No, I have toiled harder than any of them, and yet it was not I, but the love of God working with me.
And, if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is without meaning, and our faith without meaning also!
And, if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is without meaning, and our faith without meaning also!
And, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is folly-your sins are on you still!
And, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is folly-your sins are on you still!
Therefore, my dear Brothers, stand firm, unshaken, always diligent in the Lord's work, for you know that, in union with him, your toil is not in vain.
This, then, as one in union with the Lord, I say to you and urge upon you: Do not continue to live such purposeless lives as the Gentiles live,
This, then, as one in union with the Lord, I say to you and urge upon you: Do not continue to live such purposeless lives as the Gentiles live, With their powers of discernment darkened, cut off from the Life of God, owing to the ignorance that prevails among them and to the hardness of their hearts.
But have nothing to do with foolish discussions, or with genealogies, or with controversy, or disputes about the Law. They are useless and futile.
When a man appears to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue, but imposes upon his own conscience, that man's religious observances are valueless.
Now do you really want to understand, you foolish man, how it is that faith without actions leads to nothing?
With boastful and foolish talk, they appeal to the passions of man's lower nature, and, by their profligacy, entice those who are just escaping from the men who live such misguided lives. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to corrupt habits; for a man is the slave of anything to which he gives way.