Discerning Good and Evil

"And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right."  Hebrews 5:12-14  TLB     (see Scriptures, Hebrews 5:12-14, and Greek reference below)

There is an obligation for every Christian to be able to know the difference between good and evil, what is right and just before God, and what is not.  The Church has an obligation to her members to provide a proving ground in which to habitually practice exercises in knowing good and evil.  The Church is a forum where right and wrong questions are discussed and issues decided so that we may know what the mind of Christ is for any conflict of life.

If there is no official means within a local church for deciding what is good and evil in real life situations, the member is not exempted, and is still responsible before God to continually practice discernment of good and evil.  Good preaching is necessary, however it is not enough.  Hearing the Word must be followed by doing the Word.  Without doing, the Word is only a nice theory, but with no impact.  Christians are required by God to grow up, and that means applying the teachings about righteousness with tangible results in everyday situations.  I do not mean to say that all of life’s conflicts are good or evil, but rather that we need to know the nuances and apply only what is good and wise. 

Many situations arise where one can have a ‘good’ view of things and be in conflict with another who also has a ‘good’ view but distinct from the other’s view.  Working out a solution (perfecting maturity) ‘good’ for both sides is a needed function of Justice within the local church.  My idea can be good for me, but is it good for others too? Who should say?  The wise elders of the church can provide such answers.  Please, do not think of Justice as only a means of discovering evil and punishing evil doers.  Justice works to settle questions among the righteous. 

There is an idea in the world that God’s definitions of right and wrong should be excluded from public debate.  The, so called, logic is that persons can have an opinion, but that those opinions could not have originated in the mind of God, nor does anyone have a right to speak on behalf of God.  Therefore, any believer, of any faith, must close the door on their beliefs in public, leaving definitions of right and wrong to those who act only from a secularized, God removed, world view.  

Certainly history would support that imposition of ‘religious beliefs’ by civil governments does not always produce what is expected or desired by God.  On the other hand, we might look around us at civil government or public education to remember that there are ungodly people who will do anything, right or wrong, to hold power over God’s people and all others too. It is they, the ungodly and unbelieving who put on us, the light of the world, that we must not ‘impose’ beliefs, our definitions of good and evil, and that this would some how violate the rights of society.

I am not here advocating public rebellion or even demonstrations against corrupt judges and politicians. I am saying that, beginning with our own interior life, the thoughts that run continually, Christians would be wise to work hard at learning what is good and what is evil.  If we are willing to give attention to ourselves and then, through disputes and conflicts, to interact with those around us, we will learn in a more perfect way of righteousness, what is good and evil, as defined by God.  The present situation in America demonstrates the failure of thousands of churches to promote the maturity of the saints through discerning good and evil.  The prevailing philosophy is that we will not be loving if we are discerning too, so let’s pretend that everything is alright. If we get it right in Church, we can change America, but public demonstrations and parades will do little without reformation at the personal level.  As the saying goes, “What we do at home will affect the whole world.”

We could say that Adamic mankind has attained to godhood, everyman doing what is right in his own eyes.  But that kind of man is only the puppet of a powerful, but unseen, spirit pretender to the throne of God.  Know this: there is a god, who is no god at all, at work to drown the voice of the agents of God who are the Church. Will Christians submit like sheep for the slaughter or will they, with courage, speak and act and live as God directs us for our benefit?  “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness” was the prophetic reflection concerning Jesus (Hebrews 1:9 quoting Psalm 46:6,7 NIV) It shows us the attitude and guiding principle for the brothers of Jesus to follow.  Having those attitudes and actions will bring to us the oil of joy directly from our Father.

In moving and growing from being babes in Christ to those who are mature, where do we begin?  To be more perfect will require each one to recognize his own state of imperfection.  None will grow if he considers himself to be ‘good enough’ thereby justifying himself in immaturity. We begin to grow with a realization that we do not know what is good rather than dogmatically defending our view as good.  The immature idea is: if I am right, then why do I need to change my thinking? To change a view, one must come to the conclusion that the current view is inadequate, if not evil, by God’s standards. If there is a need to grow, one must shed the old concept for a modified, more mature concept of good.  One who dwells in shadows must leave the shadows behind to enter into more illumination.  Shadows of evil consume us!

Realize that in making errors of judgment, they will grow in making accurate judgments.  Making no judgments of good and evil will only give permission to and perpetuate evil.  As no one is perfectly mature in the handling of the Word of righteousness, we not only need help of the church, but we need to really and truly work at developing discernment individually.  It seems to me that Christians, myself included, let society and non-believers determine for us what is good or bad.  Rather that we, the Church, seek the mind of God for wisdom and understanding and then talk among ourselves for to know what is right for our society and us in private relationships.

Let no one say “You can’t judge!” in order to neutralize your knowledge of what is Godly.  Let no one silence you with, “That’s just your opinion,” when you know the basics of the Words that lead to life.  Let no one defeat you in public life because you have not grown in discernment in private, personal, problems. 

Used, with thanks, from http://www.crosswalk.com

The phrase ‘recognize the difference’ or ‘discern’ in verse 14 is the following in Strong’s.

Note the root word Krino, or judgment, is present in dia-krisis.