{"id":663,"date":"2017-11-05T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-05T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=663"},"modified":"2017-11-04T18:02:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T23:02:16","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-avoiding-the-appearance-of-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2017\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-avoiding-the-appearance-of-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about avoiding the appearance of evil?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cTest all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.\u201d 1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:21\u201322<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Growing up in 70\u2019s Christian culture just about every decision we made was weighed according to the way an action would appear to those around us. I am not sure if we were more afraid of the judgment of Christians or the opinions of the lost. We had a healthy fear of doing something that would mislead an unsaved person, especially the chance that they might think we were compromising the purity of the message of Christ, and take advantage of such an infraction to ignore the Gospel. We also had a parallel fear of making a choice that other Christians might frown upon. Some may call this heightened sensitivity legalism, but I would protest that label.<\/p>\n

At least the way I understood it, the admonition served as a guardrail to keep a believer on the \u201cstraight and narrow.\u201d It was not about smoothing the way to heaven for myself (spiritual legalism) as much as it was about smoothing the way for others to see Christ without any barriers from me (spiritual self-discipline).<\/p>\n

The purpose of this study is not to diminish Paul\u2019s instruction concerning the conscience of a weaker brother \u201c\u2026or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ\u201d (Romans\u00a014:3ff), or to ignore Peter\u2019s admonition \u201cbut as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct\u201d (1\u00a0Peter\u00a01:15f), or to miss a key application to Paul\u2019s words in 1\u00a0Corinthians\u00a09:19, 22, \u201cFor though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more\u2026to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the Gospel\u2019s sake\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

My concern is that the natural reading of 1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:22 suffers if it is automatically viewed as a warning to make deadly-sure the \u201coptics\u201d of your life cannot be in any way construed as evil. After all, the KJV translates verse\u00a022 \u201cabstain from the appearance of evil.\u201d Certainly, the Bible condemns every actual sin, but be careful not to trespass into spiritual legalism by claiming that something \u201cevil-looking\u201d actually becomes sin merely at the whim of someone else\u2019s judgment. Just how is a well-intended, conscientious Christian supposed to be omniscient about the reactions of others? There is actually a grander meaning that the context would have us observe and apply in our decision making.<\/p>\n

The final chapter of 1\u00a0Thessalonians closes with pithy and memorable instruction about commitment for every Church Age believer to take to heart. In light of the imminent Rapture of the Church (1\u00a0Thessalonians chapter\u00a04) and the coming Day of the Lord (1\u00a0Thessalonians chapter\u00a05), believers are pressed to renew their commitment to their spiritual leaders (1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:12\u201313), their fellow believers (1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:14\u201315), the will of God (1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:16\u201318), the Word of God (1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:19\u201322), and to the peace of God (1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:23\u201324).<\/p>\n

I believe 1 \u00a0hessalonians\u00a05:19\u201322 speak of the discernment for living that you gain through diligent study and practical application of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit works on your heart and leads you through the Word (verse\u00a019), you are to value the \u201cforth-telling\u201d of the Word in public and in private (verse\u00a020), you are to judge all things by the Word (verse\u00a021) and \u201cown\u201d what is good, and you are to shun every appearance that evil makes (verse\u00a022).<\/p>\n

The Bible is designed to function as a sourcebook to enable righteous judgment on the part of the believer. Everything must be tested and proved by it. All that passes the test is to be held fast. A particular word or deed once determined to be good (beautiful, worthy, honorable) and pleasing in God\u2019s sight must be faithfully guarded and maintained. All that flunks the biblical test and is determined to be evil (bad, wicked, malicious, slothful) separate far from you (hold back, keep off, be distant).<\/p>\n

Where the difficulty arises for us is found in our idea of what appearance, or form, means. It is the Greek word eidous<\/em>, meaning \u201cvisible form, shape, figure.\u201d The word appears five times in the New Testament (Luke\u00a03:22, \u201cin bodily form like a dove;\u201d Luke\u00a09:29, \u201cas He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered;\u201d John\u00a05:37, \u201cnor seen His form;\u201d and 2\u00a0Corinthians\u00a05:7, \u201cfor we walk by faith, not by sight\u201d). Each instance refers to visible form, manifestation, or visible reality.<\/p>\n

Webster\u2019s Dictionary illustrates the essential distinction between Paul\u2019s focus on evil (in and of itself) vis-\u00e0-vis \u201cassociational\u201d evil as 1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:22 is often interpreted to mean. Our text speaks of appearance in terms of Webster\u2019s first entry: \u201cThe act of coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye; as, \u2018his sudden appearance surprised me\u2019\u201d rather than the third entry: \u201cSemblance; apparent likeness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s admonition is not to abstain from everything that can be construed to look evil, but from evil in all its actual manifestations. It is not the perception of others that is in focus (after all, doing good in the sight of God may often be thought of as \u201cevil\u201d in the minds of the unregenerate). Separate yourself from every manifestation of evil and hold firm to good no matter what others may think!<\/p>\n

Do not be a \u201cmen-pleaser\u201d (Galatians\u00a01:10, 1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a02:4) but do be a God-pleaser (Acts\u00a05:29, 2\u00a0Corinthians\u00a08:21). Trust and obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTest all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.\u201d 1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:21\u201322 Growing up in 70\u2019s Christian culture just about every decision we made was weighed according to the way an action would appear to those around us. I am not sure if we were more afraid of the judgment of Christians […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}