Reference: Shame
Hastings
1. In the first Biblical reference to this emotion (Ge 2:25; cf. Ge 3:7) 'shame' appears as 'the correlative of sin and guilt'; it is 'the overpowering feeling that inward harmony and satisfaction with oneself are disturbed' (Delitzsch, Com., in loc.). From the OT point of view the crowning shame is idolatry: 'As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they say to a stock, Thou art my father' (Jer 2:26; cf. Isa 41:11; 42:17). The all-inclusive promise to those who trust in God is 'none that wait on thee shall be ashamed' (Ps 25:3 RV; cf. Ps 119:8,30; Isa 45:16 f., Isa 49:23; 54:4 f., Jer 17:13; Joe 2:25 f., Ro 5:5; 9:33; 10:11). The absence of shame is always regarded as an aggravation of sinful conduct: Job (Job 19:3) reproaches his friends because they are 'not ashamed' of dealing hardly with him; the climax of Jeremiah's complaint (Jer 6:15) against those who had 'committed abomination' is that 'they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush' (cf. Jer 8:12; Zep 3:5,11). The culmination of shamelessness is seen in those 'whose glory is in their shame' (Php 3:19); but in this passage, as elsewhere (Isa 50:3; cf. Pr 10:5; 25:3), 'shame' is, by a natural transference of ideas, applied not to the inward feeling, but to its outward cause. The degradation of those 'whose god is their belly' is seen in their boasting of conduct which ought to have made them ashamed of their perversion of gospel liberty into sinful licence. The return of shame is a sign of true repentance: 'then shalt thou remember thy ways and be ashamed' (Eze 16:61, cf. Ezr 9:6).
2. The consciousness of shame varies with the conventional standards adopted in any society. For example, poverty (Pr 13:18), leprosy (Nu 12:14), widowhood (Isa 54:4) may be viewed as involving 'shame,' though there is no blame. In the sense of violation of propriety St. Paul applies the word to men who wear their hair long and to women who wear it short (1Co 11:6,14, cf. 1Co 6:5; 14:35); by an analogous adaptation of its meaning he describes God's ideal 'workman' as one 'that needeth not to be ashamed' (2Ti 2:15).
3. In the NT sin is pre-eminently the shameful thing (Ro 6:21; Php 3:19; Eph 5:12; Jude 1:13; 1Jo 2:28; cf. 1Jo 3:6). But the distinguishing characteristic of the early 'Christian use of the word is' the trans valuation of values.' 'Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And they were either of them naked, both Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.
And the eyes of both them were opened, that they understood how that they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together and made them aprons.
And the LORD said unto Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the host seven days, and after that let her be received in again."
and said, "My God, I am ashamed, and dare not lift up mine eyes unto thee my God: for our wickednesses are grown over our head, and our trespasses are waxen great unto the heaven.
Lo, ten times have ye reproved me: are ye not ashamed, for to laugh me to scorn?
For all they that hope in thee shall not be ashamed; but such as transgress without a cause shall be put to confusion.
I will keep thy statutes; O forsake me not utterly.
I have chosen the way of truth, thy judgments have I laid before me.
Whoso gathereth in summer is wise; but he that is sluggish in harvest, bringeth himself to confusion.
He that thinketh scorn to be reformed, cometh to poverty and shame; but whoso receiveth correction, shall come to honour.
The heaven is high, the earth is deep, and the kings' heart is unsearchable.
Behold, all they that resist thee, shall come to confusion and shame: and thine adversaries shall be destroyed and brought to naught.
And therefore let them convert, and be ashamed earnestly, that hope in Idols and say to fashioned images, "Ye are our gods."
Confounded be ye, and put to dishonour: go hence together with shame, all ye that be workmasters of error: that is, worshipers of Idols.
For kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and Queens shall be thy nursing mothers. They shall fall before thee with their faces flat upon the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet: that thou mayest know, how that I am the LORD. And who so putteth his trust in me, shall not be confounded.
As for heaven, I clothe it with darkness, and put as it were a sack upon it.
Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded. Be not ashamed, for thou shalt not come to confusion. Yea, thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the dishonour of thy widowhood.
Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded. Be not ashamed, for thou shalt not come to confusion. Yea, thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the dishonour of thy widowhood.
Like as a thief that is taken with the deed cometh to shame, even so is the house of Israel come to confusion: the common people, their kings and rulers, their priests and prophets.
Therefore they must be ashamed, for they have committed abomination. But how should they be ashamed, when they know nothing, neither of shame nor good nurture? And therefore they shall fall among the slain; and in the hour when I shall visit them, they shall be brought down," sayeth the LORD.
Fie! For shame! How abominable things do they? And yet they be not ashamed; yea, they know of no shame. Wherefore in the time of their visitation, they shall fall among the dead bodies, sayeth the LORD.
Thou art the comfort of Israel. All that forsake thee, shall be ashamed. And they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth. For they have lost the LORD that is the fountain of the water of life.
So that thou also remember thy ways, and be ashamed of them. Then shalt thou receive of me thy elder and younger sisters, whom I will make thy daughters: and that beside thy covenant.
And I will restore you again, with my great power which I have sent unto you, the years which the locusts and caterpillars have devoured.
But the just LORD that doth no unright, was among them, every morning showing them his law clearly, and ceased not. But the ungodly will not learn to be ashamed.
In that time shalt thou no more be confounded, because of all thy imaginations, wherethrough thou hadst offended me: for I will take away the proud boasters of thine honour from thee, so that thou shalt no more triumph because of my holy hill.
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words, among this adulterous and sinful generation: of him shall the son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels."
For whosoever is ashamed of me, and of my sayings: of him shall the son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in his own glory, and in the glory of his father, and of the holy angels.
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God unto salvation to all that believe; namely to the Jew, and also to the gentile.
and hope maketh not ashamed: for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the holy ghost, which is given unto us.
What fruit had ye then in those things, whereof ye are now ashamed. For the end of those things is death.
As it is written, "Behold I put in Zion a stumbling stone, and a rock which shall make men fall. And none that believe on him, shall be ashamed."
For the scripture saith, "Whosoever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed."
This I say to your shame. Is there utterly no wise man among you? What, not one at all? That can judge between brother and brother?
If the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. If it be shame for a woman to be shaven or shorn, let her cover her head.
Or else doth not nature teach you, that it is a shame for a man, if he have long hair:
If they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for women to speak in the congregation.
God forbid that I should rejoice but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified as touching me, and I as concerning the world.
For it is shame even to name those things which are done of them in secret:
whose end is damnation, whose God is their belly and whose glory is to their shame, which are worldly minded.
whose end is damnation, whose God is their belly and whose glory is to their shame, which are worldly minded.
Be not ashamed to testify our Lord, neither be ashamed of me, which am bound for his sake: but suffer adversity with the gospel also through the power of God,
for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed, and am sure that he is able keep that which I have committed to his keeping against that day.
The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:
Study to show thyself laudable unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, dividing the word of truth justly.
Forasmuch as he that sanctifieth, and they which are sanctified, are all of one. For which cause's sake he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
But now they desire a better, that is to say a heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed of them, even to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, which for the joy that was set before him, abode the cross, and despised the shame, and is set down on the righthand of the throne of God.
If any man suffer as a Christian man, let him not be ashamed: but let him glorify God on his behalf.
And now babes, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be made ashamed of him at his coming.
All that abide in him, sin not: And all that sin hath not seen him, neither hath known him.
They are raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. They are wandering stars, to whom is reserved the mist of darkness forever.