1 Thess. 5:22 in the KJV says “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” This is a perfectly acceptable translation. But from the Greek, we know that “appearance of evil” does not mean “any thing that appears to be evil”, but “any appearance that evil makes”. This is why the ESV has “Abstain from every form of evil.” Whatever manifestation evil takes on, this is to be abstained from.
Matt Fitzsimmons pointed out a great post dealing with vs. 22 in its larger context. This opened up to me a greater understanding of this text. Vs. 19 thru 22 are all one sentence in Greek. The issue addressed is quenching the work of the Spirit. Demeaning prophesying (preaching would be a good equivalent today) was one way the Thessalonians were doing that. Rather than despising prophyesying, Paul instructed them to welcome it, yet not indiscriminately. They were to prove each prophesying and reject those that did not pass the test, while clinging to the ones that did. Thus they were to abstain from every manifestation evil would make–even evil in the form of a public prophecy. Such a contextual treatment of vs. 22 makes it emphatically clear that it is not addressing the avoidance of conduct which might appear to be evil.
However most independent fundamental Baptists claim that this verse teaches that we should abstain from any conduct which might be looked upon as evil. It is a favorite proof text against attendance at movie theaters. (See my previous post on that topic.) Yet its applications (in this sense) are numerous. This contributes to an emphasis on external conduct and appearances within the fundamentalist movement, in my opinion (see my comment in this regard here at Matt Fitzsimmons’ blog).
Scripture has much to say about avoiding actually evil behaviors. Romans 7 deals patently with the saved person’s struggle to avoid personal, actual evil. But does any Scripture (besides the above explained 1 Thess. 5:22) demand we avoid behaviors which might only seem evil?
Well, someone might point to Scripture’s teaching that we should not purposely offend a brother or let our behavior become a stumbling block to a weak believer. However, the context of these commands seems to clearly revolve around scenarios in which we are aware that the brother or weak believer is present, and thus liable to being offended with us personally. 1 Cor. 8 and 10 deals with putting meat down for that potentially-offended brother to eat (in our presence, obviously), which he knows to be meat that was offered to idols. Rom. 14-15 again deals with meat and drink and assumes that the brother could be offended by our partaking in their presence, or our interaction with them concerning our beliefs and theirs. Clearly from Rom. 14 Paul does not say we should defer to potential misunderstanding and refuse to partake of meat or drink. He says instead we should have an obliging and loving attitude to everyone who may differ with our firm belief that our practice is God-glorifying and legal. Further, Rom. 14 also deals with days. Some still observed Jewish feasts and kept the Sabbath in a Jewish way, apparently. But this was inherently the weak position. Thus, there was no call to celebrate the sabbath in a Jewish sense, for fear of someone happening to see you passing by with a burden on your shoulder, or something. What is in view is our welcoming one another, and getting along despite differing views on such non-moral issues. (See my earlier post linking to some fantastic sermons on this passage by John Piper.) To stretch the “stumbling block” prohibition into a prohibition of any behavior which might potentially offend a believer who might potentially find out about that behavior in some indirect manner is patently wrong.
The Bible does teach that we should have a war-time mentality, which would lead us to avoid practices which might entagle us in earthly pursuits (2 Tim. 2:4), and to cast off things which might weigh us down in our heavenly race (Heb. 12:1). So I am not saying that Christians should just go out and do every permissible thing they can. And clearly there are some Biblical principles to keep in mind when planning our conduct. But the force of Scripture is behind a concern for personal morality, not a concern as to what others might think about your behaviors. We are judged by God, and must be concerned most with his opinion. And he looks both on our external conduct and on our heart.
UPDATE: The article this post refers to is no longer available online. I have written my own article with a similar title as this post. You can read that here.
