Avoiding the Appearance of Evil?

1 Thessalonians 5:22 says “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (KJV). 

I think this verse is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and misused verses in all of the Bible. It’s right up there with “Do not judge” and “Money is the root of all evil”, both of which are incomplete and inaccurate statements. If we’re going to be faithful to the Lord, and obedient to His word, it would behoove us to take a closer look at this verse. 

This verse comes to us at the end of Paul’s first Epistle to the Church at Thessalonica. He is ending his letter with quite a few single-sentence imperatives. Sort of like we do when getting off the phone when we’re on a trip: “Make sure the oven is off. Feed the dog. Take out the trash. Please pick up after yourself.” And because they don’t seem interconnected, we don’t have much context to go with and must assume Paul means exactly what he is saying.  

I’ve heard this verse used for all sorts of reasons.  

• Dating: “You shouldn’t go on a date by yourself, and certainly no trips away, even if it’s separate rooms, because it could appear that you’re sleeping together outside of marriage.” 
•  Going to school dances: “You know, people get too close together during those things, and you don’t want anyone to think that you’re subjecting yourself to temptation.” 
• Restaurants that serve alcohol: “Well, you had best not go there; people will think you’re an alcoholic. Avoid the appearance of evil!” 
• Going to Las Vegas: “All they have there is gambling and strip shows! You better avoid even the suggestion that you’re going to those!” 
• Social Settings: “Hey! Don’t be hanging out with her, she has loose morals. You don’t want people thinking you’re next! Avoid the appearance of evil!” 

Interestingly, I’ve never heard this verse used to admonish people from going to buffets where they could appear to be gluttons, shopping because they could be going into debt, or buying a new car because maybe they were stealing from work. But I digress. 

There are two issues here: 1, What does the Bible actually say, and 2, The Implications of our interpretation. 

So, let’s look at the text first. Paul says to “abstain from all appearance of evil” in the King James Bible, but my ESV says “Abstain from every form of evil.” The NIV says “Reject every kind of evil” and the NLT says “Stay away from every kind of evil”. They are all saying evil is bad. On that, we can agree. But our abstention of it seems to change, right? I mean, the KJV says to abstain not only from evil but from the appearance of it. In other words, “Don’t just avoid evil, don’t even do something that people might think is wrong!” Is this just an example of “modern Bible versions” watering down God’s Word (as I have heard many people say over the years)? 

In order to answer that, we need to get a little nerdy. I’m game if you are. So, we have to remember that the New Testament was written in Greek, not English. When translators were looking at the Greek texts, they had to consider what English words to use. Just like English, some words have multiple meanings. “I gave a five (money) to my five-year-old after he gave me a five (high five).” I pity the poor person who tries to translate that into Spanish, then to Russian.  

The English translators for the KJV were incredibly brilliant men. When they encountered the word ειδος (eidos), they had to decide which translation to use. They used the same words they used for eidos in Luke 3:22 and Luke 9:29, “appearance”. The context of those verses tells us it could only mean “appearance” and not the other senses of the word: Kind (category) or Sight. And you can’t blame them because Paul doesn’t give much context to go on. 

So, let’s play this out a little bit, assuming that this verse means to avoid the appearance of evil. The question immediately becomes “appearing evil to whom?” Surely, it can’t refer to God, because He knows our thoughts and intents even better than we do. And according to 1 Samuel 16:7, God doesn’t focus on the external, He looks to the heart.  

Is it what appears to be evil to the Church? This is a possibility, considering that Paul has just told the Church to “test everything; hold fast to what is good.” So perhaps Paul is saying, “Don’t do what looks bad to you.” That sort of reminds me of James 4:17, where our conscience plays a role in our actions. 

Is it what appears to be evil just to anyone? Is evil in the eye of the beholder? God’s commands are certainly not subjective to personal whims. Unlike much of our “morality” today, God’s Word speaks of right and wrong, good and evil. It would be foolish to subject ourselves to everyone’s subjective opinions, correct? 

And so that is the problem with avoiding the “appearance” of evil. It becomes subjective. It puts us under the yoke of man’s traditions and opinions. It leads to human-made rules that miss the point. It causes us to constantly worry that Bill might misunderstand what we’re doing when we all know that Bill always misunderstands. 

If we take this verse to mean what looks bad, it means that Jesus shouldn’t have been hanging out, alone, with a woman of questionable morals at a Samaritan well one noonday. It also means that Jesus shouldn’t have been eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. It also means Jesus probably shouldn’t have turned water into wine. Nor should Jesus have plucked grain on the Sabbath.  

You see, Jesus encountered this same line of thinking from the Pharisees. These were well-meaning people, who because they didn’t want to disobey God, thought they should have rules stricter than God (let’s leave aside for now the idea that we could know better than the Lord… HERESY ALERT). So, to make sure they wouldn’t violate the Sabbath, they said, nope… picking grain is to eat is bad. Because bad company corrupts good morals, nope, you can’t spend time with ungodly people. Because alcohol can be dangerous if misused, anyone who ever consumes it is certainly sinning. 

For these reasons, the overwhelming majority of Bible scholars and translators agree that this verse should be translated as “Abstain from every form [kind] of evil.” And sure, majorities mean nothing when it comes to morality. And this is certainly not a license to do foolish things. If certain things that aren’t sinful cause you to stumble or be tempted, avoid them. Flee from them. Don’t play around and get burned. Avoid what is evil, whatever form it may take. 

But also, don’t allow your faith, and even your ministry, to be controlled by the subjective perspectives of others. Listen to wise counsel. Don’t put yourself in stupid situations. And ask yourself: Is God, who looks at the heart, more concerned with what I look like or what I am doing?