“Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” Romans 3:13, 14 KJV

“Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” Romans 3:13,14 NASB

“His lips like lilies dropping sweet smell myrrh … His mouth is most sweet. Yea, He is altogether lovely” Song of S 5:13,16 KJV

“His lips are lilies dripping with liquid myrrh…His mouth is full of sweetness. And he is wholly desirable.” Song of S 5:13,16 NASB

When we consider and compare the Lord Jesus Christ with the best of men, there is an abundance of contrasts. In the Scriptures cited above, we are only looking at one aspect, one small detail of His moral beauty — if any aspect of His moral greatness can be labeled as small.

In cataloging the sin of humanity, Paul, by the Spirit of God, performs an autopsy of humanity in our deadness. Among the members he examines is our mouth. The tongue, the vehicle employed by our mouths, has been guilty of deceit. A superficial survey of Scripture readily reveals this.

Whether we look at Simeon and Levi (Gen 35), the ten brothers (Gen 37),  Judah (Gen 38), or the ten again (Gen 50), the consistent testimony of Scripture from the dawn of time has been that we have employed our tongues deceitfully. Only one Man was free of this: “He had done no violence neither was any deceit in His mouth” (Isa 53:9).

As though to intensify the depravity and heighten the guilt, the Spirit of God adds that death-dealing poison lurks behind the lips of men, and that our mouths call down curses upon others. Our self-centered lives lead to what Paul writes in Titus, “Hateful and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).  The pathology report reveals that sin, like a malignant disease, has invaded every part of our anatomy. We are by nature, morally bankrupt.

In contrast, His lips are marked by a fragrance and a sweetness. Elsewhere we are told, “Grace is poured into Thy lips” (Ps 45:2). Here is a Man Whose lips were never marked by deceit. No bitterness or malice ever crossed His lips. They marveled at the grace of His words. They marveled at the wisdom of His words.

In an artless manner, He defused the most explosive of questions; He answered the thorniest of problems, and He refuted the arguments of the scholars of His day. Yet His words were always with that element of grace; words that, if allowed, would have led to repentance and salvation to even His most adamant foe.

He did pronounce woes. He did condemn hypocrisy. Yet every word of His, every utterance of His mouth, was intended to result in spiritual awakening. He never manipulated by His words. He never coerced or needlessly embarrassed.

His silence and His speech when the adulterous woman was brought to Him (John 8) is an insight into the sensitivity and control of His mouth. No doubt the woman who heard those words, “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more” would be among the first to agree that “His mouth is most sweet.”

Consider

Look at other contrasts between Romans 3 and Song of S 5 as well as other portions that tell of His moral beauty as a Man.

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