Influence
Scripture treats influence as a directional force — one party shapes another's heart, conduct, or fate by example, speech, marriage, leadership, or a small ingredient inserted in a mass. The first instance is at the gate of Eden, where the serpent moves Eve and Eve moves Adam (Gen 3:1-6), and the pattern recurs across kings, prophets, apostles, and ordinary householders. Influence in the biblical idiom is rarely neutral: it is graded as evil or good by where it pulls the heart, and it can outlive the person who set it in motion.
The First Instance and the Direction of Pull
The serpent's question to Eve and Eve's gift to Adam place the umbrella's earliest case at the origin of human disobedience: "And the serpent said to the woman, You⁺ will not surely die... she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate" (Gen 3:4, 6). The pattern is two-step — outsider over Eve, insider over Adam — and it sets the question Scripture asks of every later case: which direction does the heart move under the pressure?
Marriage and Household as Channel
Solomon's reign supplies the paradigmatic Old Testament case of household influence. He took "seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart" (1Ki 11:3), so that "when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart wasn't perfect with Yahweh his God, as was the heart of David his father" (1Ki 11:4). The wives are the named agents and the heart is the field of effect, with David's perfect heart held up as the Davidic standard the influence broke.
Jezebel works the same pressure on her husband: "there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up" (1Ki 21:25). The Omride pattern then moves south through marriage — Jehoram of Judah "walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab as wife: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh" (2Ch 21:6) — naming the spouse as the explicit causal mechanism by which a northern apostasy reaches the Davidic throne.
Marriage runs the other way as well. Peter writes to wives whose unbelieving husbands "may without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives" (1Pe 3:1), and Paul holds out the same hope: "For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save the husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save the wife?" (1Co 7:16).
Companionship, Counsel, and the Wisdom Frame
The Wisdom literature names companionship as the channel by which character is acquired. "Make no friendship with a man who is given to anger; And with a wrathful man you will not go: Or else you will learn his ways, And get a snare to your soul" (Pr 22:24-25). Sirach extends the same warning: "From a spark, a charcoal increases; And [from] a worthless man, he lies in wait for blood" (Sir 11:32), and "Do not stick to the wicked or he will overthrow you; And he will turn you out of your house" (Sir 11:34). The wicked partner is exhibited not as a passive contaminant but as an active overthrower of the one who chose the attachment.
The same idiom grades good companionship by its protective effect: Jonathan "spoke good of David to Saul his father" and Saul "listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, As Yahweh lives, he will not be put to death" (1Sa 19:4, 6). Intercessory speech at the king's side moves the king off the kill-order.
Leadership Top-Down
Influence runs heavily top-down: from rulers to courts, from priests to people, from prophets to land. "If a ruler harkens to falsehood, All his ministers are wicked" (Pr 29:12). Hosea grades the priestly case: "And it will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them their doings" (Hos 4:9). Jeremiah extends the indictment to the prophets of the central city: "for from the prophets of Jerusalem has ungodliness gone forth into all the land" (Jer 23:15) — the named source is office-internal religious leadership at Jerusalem, the propagated content is ungodliness, and the scope is the whole land.
The Passion narrative names a pointed instance of priestly pressure on a crowd: "But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should rather release Barabbas to them" (Mr 15:11). The direction is top-down, and the outcome sought is the exchange of a murderer for Christ.
Political Access as Channel
Political influence in Scripture frequently works through access — through queen-mothers, prophets, courtiers, and intermarried nobles. Adonijah approaches Bathsheba precisely because the king "will not say no to you" (1Ki 2:17). Elisha offers the Shunammite, "Would you be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?" (2Ki 4:13). The Babylonian queen brings Daniel's name into Belshazzar's banquet hall, where "an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding... were found in the same Daniel" (Dan 5:12), and on her testimony Daniel is summoned to the throne.
Wisdom watches the same dynamic from the outside. "Many will entreat the favor of the liberal man; And every man is a companion to him who gives gifts" (Pr 19:6); "Many seek the ruler's favor; But a man's judgment [comes] from Yahweh" (Pr 29:26). The proverb names favor-seeking as common practice and relativizes it against the higher court.
In Nehemiah's day political influence is exerted by an intermarried network: "Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and [the letters] of Tobiah came to them. For there were many in Judah sworn to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah... Also they spoke of his good deeds before me" (Ne 6:17-19). The marriage-network is the channel, and the work of intimidating the governor is the outcome.
The Leaven Cluster
A distinctive figure runs across the New Testament: a small ingredient transforms the whole mass. Paul applies it twice. "Your⁺ glorying is not good. Don't you⁺ know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" (1Co 5:6); "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (Gal 5:9). The countermeasure is purgation: "Purge out the old leaven, that you⁺ may be a new lump, even as you⁺ are unleavened... let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1Co 5:7-8).
Jesus' warning is in the same key: "Take heed to yourselves [and stay away] from the leaven which is the hypocrisy of the Pharisees" (Lu 12:1). Hebrews uses a parallel figure of mass-defiling growth: "lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble [you⁺], and by it many be defiled" (Heb 12:15). The instrument is small, the field is the whole, and the outcome is a thorough transformation of character.
Example, Conscience, and the Stronger Brother
Influence travels by visible conduct as well as by speech. Paul names a particular instance: "if a man sees you who has knowledge sitting at meat in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?" (1Co 8:10). The instrument is observed example, the effect is on another's conscience, and the outcome is an imitative act the weaker brother could not safely make. The same logic governs his ruling on food: "if because of meat your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don't destroy with your meat him for whom Christ died" (Ro 14:15).
Insider conduct shapes outsider perception of God. "For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you⁺, even as it is written" (Ro 2:24). The inverse case is enjoined of believing slaves: "count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed" (1Ti 6:1) — and of the household of faith generally: "having your⁺ behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, in what they speak against you⁺ as evildoers, they may by your⁺ good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1Pe 2:12). Peter pairs it with the apologetic posture: "[being] ready always to give answer to every man who asks you⁺ a reason concerning the hope that is in you⁺, yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience; that, in what you⁺ are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your⁺ good manner of life in Christ" (1Pe 3:15-16).
Light, Salt, and Sounded-Forth Word
Good influence is given several stable figures. Salt-in-yourselves: "Salt is good: but if the salt has lost its saltness, how will you⁺ season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another" (Mr 9:50) — a seasoning quality held inward and exhibited outward, forfeitable if the character itself is lost. Lamp-on-lampstand: "Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, [and] not to be put on the lampstand?" (Mr 4:21). Lights-in-the-world: believers "are seen as lights in the world" amid "a crooked and perverse generation" (Php 2:15).
The Thessalonian church is graded as a sounding-forth: "you⁺ became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you⁺ has sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your⁺ faith toward God has gone forth; so that we don't need to speak anything" (1Th 1:7-8). Paul reports a similar provincial cross-effect at Corinth: "your⁺ zeal has stirred up very many of them" (2Co 9:2). The church's example is exhibited as a stirring force whose effect is registered on another church's giving.
False Teachers and the Bewitched Church
The New Testament era has a distinct category for influence exerted by false teachers, traced both to content and to source. The Epistle to the Greeks doubles the verdict — "these are absurdities, and error of impostors" (Gr 8:4) — so that both the teaching and the teacher are identified as agents of harm. Paul names two such teachers: "their word will eat as does a gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; men who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some" (2Ti 2:17-18). The Galatian case is described as bewitchment: "O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you⁺, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified?" (Gal 3:1) and as a wrong persuasion — "You⁺ were running well; who hindered you⁺ that you⁺ should not obey the truth? This persuasion [is] not from him who calls you⁺" (Gal 5:7-8).
Reform Instances
Scripture preserves a series of instances in which a single leader's conduct redirects the people. Ezra's confession draws an assembly: "while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very intensely" (Ezr 10:1). Nehemiah's oath against the creditor-class moves the assembly to remit debts: "all the assembly said, Amen, and praised Yahweh. And the people did according to this promise" (Ne 5:13). Hezekiah's temple-cleansing closes with king and people in joint joy: "And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of that which God had prepared for the people: for the thing was done suddenly" (2Ch 29:36). Josiah is rated at the unmatched register: "like him there was no king before him, that turned to Yahweh with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him did there arise any like him" (2Ki 23:25). Manasseh, having humbled himself, "took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Yahweh... and commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel" (2Ch 33:15-16) — the late-reign repentant king redirects national worship.
The pattern under each is the same: a single agent's posture (confession, oath, cleansing, reform, repentance) reorders the larger body's conduct.
Posthumous Influence
Influence in Scripture is not bounded by the influencer's death. Three figures hold the category. Abel: "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain... and through it he being dead yet speaks" (Heb 11:4). The medium is the offered sacrifice, the speaker is the dead Abel, and the speech is presented as live in the hearers' present.
Peter, on the verge of his own decease, makes a pre-death arrangement aimed past it: "I will be diligent that at every time you⁺ may be able after my decease to call these things to remembrance" (2Pe 1:15). The diligence is the apostle's, the temporal threshold crossed is "after my decease," the beneficiary-ability is recall of "these things" already taught.
Elisha's bones supply the most concrete instance. "As they were burying a man, that, look, they spied a band; and they hastily put the man into the tomb of Elisha. And they went [in], and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet" (2Ki 13:21). Posthumous influence is exhibited as the life-restoring power the prophet's very bones retain after burial — an Elisha-mediated resurrection running from beyond his death into the body of a stranger.
Generational Transmission
Jeremiah notes a lateral case of the same temporal extension — sin transmitted from one generation to the next: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, [and] with the point of a diamond: it is graven on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your⁺ altars; while their sons remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees on the high hills" (Jer 17:1-2). The idolatry of the parents persists in the children's memory and practice.
Summary of the Pattern
Influence in Scripture is named by its source (who exerts it), its channel (marriage, companionship, leadership office, observed conduct, leaven-figure, prayer, gift), its field of effect (heart, conscience, household, court, land), and its outcome graded against Yahweh. Evil influence is exhibited under the figures of leaven, gangrene, root of bitterness, bewitchment, and ungodliness gone forth from the prophets of Jerusalem. Good influence is exhibited under salt, lamp, light, sounded-forth word, intercessory speech at the king's side, and the example whose stirring carries across provinces. Posthumous influence is its temporal extension — Abel still speaking, the apostle's pre-death arrangement, the prophet's life-bearing bones.