"Abstain from all appearance of evil."
How many times have you heard that verse quoted? I have heard it many times. I'm sure I've also said it myself. We interpret it to mean that we should abstain from anything that could appear to someone that we may be doing something evil/sinful.
But recently, at the men's Bible study that I attend, we accidentally and unexpectedly discovered that this is actually a misunderstanding of the text. We were discussing how to bring the gospel to lost people within their own subcultures, going out into the world to bring the truth of Jesus to the lost on their turf, when someone brought up the question, "What about abstaining from all appearance of evil?". None of us could remember the context of that familiar verse, so we looked it up. It turns out that most Bible translations translate it differently, shedding light on the familiar translation as to how it should be interpreted, which is quite different than how we are accustomed to understanding it.
The verse is I Thessalonians 5:22. Here is the verse in several common translations:
New International Version (NIV) - "Avoid every kind of evil."
New American Standard Bible (NASB) - "... abstain from every form of evil."
English Standard Version (ESV) - "Abstain from every from of evil."
New King James Version (NKJV) - "Abstain from every from of evil."
King James Version (KJV) - "Abstain from all appearance of evil."
Only the KJV reads as we are used to hearing it. In light of the modern English translations of the verse (and if you read it in context) it becomes clear what the intended meaning of the KJV was, which would have certainly been clear to readers when the version was younger. In modern English we would better understand the intended meaning of the word "appearance" as used in the verse if it were written something like this:
"Abstain from evil in every way it appears."
After thinking this through, I realized that it would be completely out of character for the Bible to command us to be so concerned with outward appearances. The Bible spends a lot of time calling us to not focus on outward appearances -- which is our natural tendency.
Jesus was not concerned with "the appearance of evil" as we have misunderstood it, but only with doing what was right. The life of Jesus was characterized by faithfulness to the Father's will without concern of how it would appear to others. God the Son, pure and holy, came to this sinful, corrupt Earth via a questionable birth as an apparently illegitimate child. He hung out with lots of questionable people and did lots of questionable things. He was called "a glutton and a drunkard", and "a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners'." His life was filled with "questionable" moments, though all of them were righteous.
Knowing this, let us follow Jesus by seeking to do God's will as we reach others without being concerned about appearances.
