A Review of What a Reviler is

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. (1Co 5:11)

The “R” in our acronym RASN stands for “reviler.” It is important that we know who a reviler is and what reviling consists of. Domestic abusers are inevitably revilers. In fact, all RASNs reviler. Abusers, sociopaths, and narcissists use this evil tactic.

“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” (Rom 3:13-14)

To revile is to curse someone. It is to assault with words. It contains the stem shared in other words such as villain and vilify. The reviler accuses, blames, and generally speaks words which are designed to paint the target as the villain, when in fact the reviler is the villain.

Revilers may do their evil-speak openly, but often they are more cunning. They imply. They use innuendo. They want to maintain “plausible deniability” in case someone calls them on it. They are so crafty that quite often the one who is being reviled doesn’t fully realize what is happening. You know what that is like – that feeling in your gut that you just got hit with a verbal missile but you can’t quite nail it down.

Revilers are some of the devil’s favorites for his attacks on Christ’s people:

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
(Mat 5:11)

There it is. Uttering evil against someone falsely. A genuine Christian will experience this kind of attack. It is a certainty. They hate Christ. His enemies reviled Him, and they continue to revile His people. But the Lord counts it as a blessing to us because it identifies us as being His true people.

I mentioned that revilers are cunning. Especially the ones who disguise themselves as “saints” in the church. Most local churches have revilers in the camp. Through their evil words, revilers seek power and control. They put others down so that they can be put “up.” Once you get wise about this wickedness, you will get free of it and you will become a real threat to the reviler. “I know what you are. I know what you are doing. God hates what you are doing. In fact, He hates you!” At that point someone is going to “go.” Either the reviler, or if he has allies enough, the victim will be driven out.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (Joh 3:19)