📖 Biblical Definition
Contempt is settled disdain — the disposition that treats another as beneath notice. Scripture names it as a serious sin both vertically and horizontally. Paul charges the sinner who ignores grace: "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (Romans 2:4). He warns Timothy against the contempt younger men sometimes show older brothers and authorities: "Let no man despise thy youth" (1 Timothy 4:12; cf. Titus 2:15). In marriage contempt corrodes faster than anger — researchers and Scripture agree; in worship, it grieves the Spirit. Christian men cannot afford reserves of contempt in their hearts. Every image-bearer is to be honored, even when corrected.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
CONTEMPT', n.
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1. The act of despising; the act of viewing or considering and treating as mean, vile and worthless; disdain; hatred of what is mean or deemed vile. 2. The state of being despised. 3. In law, disobedience of the rules and orders of a court.
📖 Key Scripture
Romans 2:4 — "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering?"
1 Timothy 4:12 — "Let no man despise thy youth."
Psalm 123:3 — "We are exceedingly filled with contempt."
Hebrews 12:2 — "Endured the cross, despising the shame."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Marriage researchers call contempt the divorce-predictor; Scripture called it that first.
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John Gottman's decades of marriage research isolate one variable above all others as a divorce-predictor: contempt. The eye-roll, the dismissive sigh, the talking-past, the assumed superiority. Scripture diagnosed this three thousand years ago. Contempt is the slow acid that dissolves a covenant from the inside — in marriage, in church, between generations, between brothers.
Christ took the opposite posture. Hebrews 12:2 says He despised the shame — literally, He held the shame in contempt, and held us in honor. The cross is the great contempt-reversal: the One we despised honored us by absorbing the despising. The cure for contempt in your home is not technique; it is the gospel reaching deep enough to weep at the One who refused to despise you.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew buz (H937); Greek kataphroneo (G2706).
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H937 — buz — contempt; to despise
G2706 — kataphroneo — to think down upon, despise
G1848 — exoutheneo — to set at nothing, treat with contempt
Usage
"Contempt is acid — it dissolves marriages, fathers, churches, and friendships."
"You cannot honor your wife and despise her in the same hour; the heart picks one."
"Christ despised the shame so He could honor the despicable; the cross runs in reverse."