Romans 16:18

Paul exposes such people as serving their own appetites rather than Christ, deceiving the naive with smooth and flattering speech. It teaches that false teachers are driven by self-interest and use charm to mislead.

Cross-references · 40

• Col 2:4I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.
• Matt 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
• Mic 3:5This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:
• 1 Tim 6:5and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.
• Phil 3:19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
• 2 Pet 2:3In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
• 2 Tim 3:2–6For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
• Jude 1:16These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
• 2 Th 2:10and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
• 2 Pet 2:18–20With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
• Gal 1:10Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
• Hos 4:8–11They feed on the sins of My people and set their hearts on iniquity.
• Titus 1:10–12For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision,
• 2 Cor 11:13–15For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
• Matt 24:24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
• Jude 1:12These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.
• 2 Tim 2:16–18But avoid irreverent, empty chatter, which will only lead to more ungodliness,
• Isa 30:10–11They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
• Ezek 13:19You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to My people who would listen, you have killed those who should not have died and spared those who should not have lived.
• Isa 56:10–12Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
• Prov 22:3The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.
• Jer 8:10–11Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
• Phil 2:21For all the others look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
• 2 Pet 2:10–15Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.
• Jer 28:15–17Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you, but you have persuaded this people to trust in a lie.
• Ps 119:130The unfolding of Your words gives light; it informs the simple.
• 2 Chr 18:12–17Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah instructed him, “Behold, with one accord the words of the prophets are favorable to the king. So please let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.”
• Rom 16:19Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.
• Ezek 13:16those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw a vision of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.’
• 1 Sam 2:12–17Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
• Prov 8:5O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding.
• Col 3:24because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
• 1 Jn 4:1–3Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
• 2 Chr 18:5So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and God will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
• John 12:26If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, My servant will be as well. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
• Matt 24:48–51But suppose that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master will be away a long time.’
• 1 Sam 2:29Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’
• Ps 19:7The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.
• 2 Cor 2:17For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.
• Jer 28:1–9In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, near the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people:

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