If we were to come up with what we feel is the most misunderstood verse in Scripture, we’d have a mountain of candidates. I imagine if I asked that question, a person might just place the Bible in front of me. We all know that Scripture is widely misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misrepresented.
I’m not going to address those outside of the believing community and their misunderstandings. I am far more concerned with those who study Scripture, who seek understanding, and want to make it the core of their lives. When I hear those people — and I have — misusing a portion of Scripture or even an individual verse, my heart hurts a little. When we perpetuate a false interpretation, we have no idea what damage we cause.
Of all the Bible verses floating around the world, there is one that I don’t hear from non-believers. And yet, I have heard from every brand of Bible believer there is, from Mormons to Messianic Jews. Though, I don’t hear the verse itself as must as I hear the maxim:
“We are not to have even the appearance of evil.”
Try something for me. Open up your Bible, go to your BibleHub or BlueLetter site and search in your preferred translation the words, “appearance of evil.”
Did you get something like this? Unless your daily preferred translation is KJV (which is fine), you likely will not find that phrase in your Bible.
I don’t know if this is mind blowing to anyone else, so if it isn’t, let me bring you in on my world. This “appearance of evil” aphorism has been tossed in my face more times than I can count. It is always used to say, “Don’t do anything that could, in any way, be misconstrued as you sinning.” It has been used to say that the Bible believing community should be so concerned with how their actions may be perceived that they should not do anything that someone else could call evil. I’ve heard it in the context of saying that if a believer doesn’t mitigate themselves in this way, they are guilty of tainting their witness and the Kingdom.
I simply can’t convey from behind this keyboard how shocking this is to me. Since the publication of the KJV in 1611, for at least 290 years, all the way until the availability of the ASB/NASB (1901/1971), NIV (1978), NLT (1996), or ESV (2001), the Bible-believing community has used this verse to mitigate piety. Looking back now on the times I’ve had people say it to me, what I think they were actually saying was, “I don’t like what you’re doing, so you should stop.”
But… WWJD? Am I right?
Seriously, though, I am bugging out over this change in perception — which is to say, I don’t think Yeshua ever allowed “the appearance of evil” to deter Him from fulfilling the will of the Father. Instead, what do we get?
[Jhn 10:20 NKJV] 20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
[Jhn 8:48-49 NKJV] 48 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.
[Mar 3:21 NKJV] 21 But when His own people heard [about this], they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”
[Mat 10:25 NKJV] 25 “It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more [will they call] those of his household!
Imagine Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians signing off saying, “And be sure to stay away from things that can be misperceived! Only do things that are approved by literally everyone, okay? I love you! Buh-bye!”
Why does this sound so silly to me now, and yet I have 100% bought into this misconception up until this very moment as I write this blog? I have mitigated my behavior based on, not my own conscience of action, but based on who could or couldn’t see me. In other words, I’ve done things that I don’t mind the LORD seeing, but I wouldn’t want certain others to see. Some would call that evil in and of itself. And they’d probably cite [1Th 5:22 KJV] 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
But I’d rather people get away from the King James Version on this one and the “saying” that it has become. Because all the other versions say this:
Even the New King James Version changed it to, “Abstain from every form of evil”!
Might I be so bold as to propose my own translation? How about, “Abstain from evil in all its forms”? That presupposes one deeply important thing: that the action is, in fact, evil.
That’s what seems to have been lost in the other side of the translation. The “abstain from all appearance of evil” is the one that says, “Even if it’s not evil, if it looks like it might be, don’t do it.” I don’t know how many worlds I am going to shake by saying now and from here on out, “Wrong!”
Wrong, wrong, wrong, so very, very wrong. And let me tell you why I think so:
[Isa 5:20 NKJV] 20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
[Mat 5:11 NKJV] 11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
[Luk 6:22 NKJV] 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile [you], and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.
[1Pe 3:16 NKJV] 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
Why have I known each of these verses for years — well enough to go find them — and yet, I never applied them to the misperception of 1 Thes 5:22 that I know all too well? I don’t know. Maybe it really is the culmination of my last month, even my last four days, to help me truly see it all this way. Because I, like many, always saw in the above verses the common understanding. There are people who are going to do evil things and they’ll act like it’s good, but it’s not. But I don’t know that I have ever fully considered the counterpoint until very recently.
Good will be called evil. Light will be called dark. Sweet will be called bitter. The truly good and holy things you do will be called evil.
I have experienced this. I’ve done things, made decisions, said things, all that I wouldn’t take back for the sake of the truth and Spirit-led backing they had. And that has been called evil. I can almost hear the sound of breaking glass in the minds of some reading this still thinking, “You probably justified yourself for what you wanted,” or “If it caused harm or tainted the witness of another, it wasn’t from the LORD.”
But, boy, those are slippery slopes. And, as above, I think we could find many instances where Yeshua’s actions violated those maxims.
Without getting lost down the rabbit trail of hypotheticals, let’s just be sure to hammer home the point of what 1 Thes 5:22 is NOT saying. It’s not saying, “Don’t be seen coming out of a movie theater because someone may not know if you saw the G movie or the R movie. If they’re not sure, your witness before them might be tainted.” (Yes, I have heard this exact example from someone.) It’s not saying, “If you’re not involved in the group, people might assume you’re hiding something.” (Yup, I’ve heard a version of that.) It’s not saying, “If you’re involved with this sinful group, people are going to assume you’re sinning too.” (Haven’t we all heard that one?)
True Good That Has The Appearance of Evil
As I said before, “abstain from every kind of evil” means that it actually has to be evil. Evil in one of its many forms, sure, but it can’t just be something that “looks” evil. After all, what does that even mean? We know that evil takes many forms; I could give thousands of examples. Scripture gives thousands of examples. But when it comes to the righteous, the good, even the neutral and innocuous things, we don’t abstain from them just because of how they may look to others. In fact, the opposite is true.
[1Co 1:27 ESV] 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
I am not going to “abstain” from good and precious things just because some can’t see them as precious and good. And I definitely am not going to refrain from fellowship with others because of the “perception of evil”.
It’s like the sheet descending before Peter. It is a declaration of saying, Peter, you know what is unclean. SO “do not call unclean that which I have called clean.” In fact, it’s Peter’s righteous, Torah-based discernment that helps him to identify the difference between what he should abstain from versus what he should welcome and enjoy. Furthermore, we should not be cavalier about the rejection and abstention from people — precious creations in the form and likeness of God — simply because we see sin in them.
Evil and sin are real. But it is because of this that we cannot start perceiving every little thing as evil. Or even abstain from something because it “looks” evil-adjacent. If we do that, we obscure the actual line of good and righteous things against the contrast of evil in its many forms. We can’t follow 1 Thes 5:22 unless we truly know how to discern every form of evil. How many people would dismiss fellowship because of something they declare is evil? How many see something hanging from a necklace chain, or stitched into a shirt decal, or sitting on a bookshelf that makes them jerk away like what they’ve seen is a spider?
Perhaps it’s incumbent upon us to change how we perceive the spider. Look, I say this as someone who does not like spiders. People who know me well know this. BUT I have lately been adopting the exercise of not killing spiders. I don’t want to be so careless about the mentality that, out of reactionary fear, says, “Ew, gross. Kill it!” I have been that way for years. And I want to stop. Because these little creatures don’t deserve that.
And then I sobbed this morning when I thought of all the times that I have been the spider. I’ve had people call me gross to my face. I’ve watched faces grimace. I’ve had others choose to “abstain” from me. At times I agreed. At times I accepted it. At times I tried to change because of it. All even when I didn’t really understand. Even when I had nothing to change that would amount to true repentance or seeking after righteousness — only when I wanted to be accepted. Only when I didn’t want to be thought of as wrong. Only when I didn’t want to be thought of as evil. Only when I didn’t want to be considered so abhorrent to some.
It’s a weird feeling to think about the ways that people in this world actively and openly talk about how they want to eradicate ways of thinking to which I ascribe. People are open about their preference that someone would exterminate people like me, perhaps even based on appearances alone. I can truly say that across at least three metrics I can think of right now. Yesterday, I started and finished the entirety of Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. He describes his arrival at Auschwitz. How they were split into lines of men and women. How the line of men progressed while an SS guard stood, casually pointing to the right or to the left to sort them once more. “The significance of the finger game was explained to us in the evening,” he says. “It was the first selection. The first verdict made on our existence or non-existence.”
When we callously and casually send others “to the left” in our minds, based on our perception of how vile and unworthy of acknowledgment they are, we have no idea what atrocities we are committing in our hearts.
Many will continue to interpret this verse as saying that if it looks like evil, then it must be.
But I urge you, wherever you are, stop worrying what others are going to think. Just do the right thing.
Don’t be concerned for the way something might be perceived. Say the right thing.
Don’t let your fear override the prompting of the Spirit to do a bold thing. Stand for righteousness.
Don’t be afraid to do the weird thing, especially when we know it’s the best thing.
Pray. Seek counsel. Listen to the Spirit. Do not use this as a way to excuse a form of evil. Abstain from such things. This is not a way to “get away” with something because you think, “I know I’m doing the right thing.” Find out what is good. Seek what is true. You may discover that righteousness exists in the strange, the surprising, and — by all accounts — the unbelievable. It might even look like a demon to some. It might look like a crucified man.
Righteous fellowship might look like like dinner in the house of a tax collector.
Preaching may take place in front of the Gates of Hades.
A blessing may come from the mouth of one who was sent to curse you.
Please — for the sake of the small, scary-looking, but harmless among us — love one another. Get past your prejudice. Moreso, even when we see sin and identify it, we can abstain, but we shouldn’t revile the opportunity to fellowship with others who need to feel love and see good examples. What a sad thing it is to cut ties of community because of a fear for another’s perceived sin.
Those who step away from those they deem sinful are departing from an opportunity. They might have had the chance to share, to enlighten, and to love. They may even be stepping away from the opportunity to learn that they’re wrong. They may be stepping away from the opportunity to learn what is right.
Irony of ironies, they likely will have tainted their witness. Remember how this all supposedly started because of the “appearance of evil”. I’m telling you — those who judge, accuse, and condemn others to avoid the appearance of evil, are themselves perpetuating evil in one of its most insidious forms. Those who are trying to follow the false interpretation of 1 Thes 5:22 are, in fact, violating its true meaning.
You cannot do a thing to mitigate the perception of your actions. You can only guard your actions. Are you choosing righteousness? Are you choosing life? Are you choosing to love? These are all that matter.
[Mat 6:1, 4 ESV] 1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. … 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Be sure to check out more blogs from the “But That’s Not What It Says…” Collection