Good and Evil

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. (Romans 12:9)

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. (Romans 12:17)

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God.... (Romans 12:19)

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.... If you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. (Romans 13:3-4)

It looks to me like I need to draw out of this passage its own definitions of what is viewed as good and what is truly evil. Part of the problem with properly understanding the Bible is our nasty little habit of assuming that we already know the definitions to the terms used when really those definitions are seriously skewed by our culture and upbringing and often are not close at all to heaven's view of things. Defining good and evil is maybe one of the most distorted areas of definition in life and most people tend to approach these words from the external arena far more than in relation to the condition of the spirit within us.

So while I write I am looking over the contextual passage here to find clues of what it teaches within itself about what is meant by good and evil. The list could very quickly get enormously long just from chapter 12 so I am not sure how to put it down in a condensed form. But I do believe that it hinges on the difference laid out in 12:2 between conformity and transformation. Conformity generally focuses on external behavior and performance but transformation requires a radical new way of life emerging from a heart transplant and lived in the spirit.

Chapter 12 seems to focus more on what the transformed life will look like within the body of believers while chapter 13 moves on to describe what it will look like outside of that body. It reminds us that it is not only within the company of others learning to become like Christ that we should strive to imitate His example ourselves, but we are also to display the spirit and actions of Jesus in the presence of authorities that quite often are deeply contaminated with evil. Romans 13:5 gives the means for being able to do this – co-perception. That is what the meaning of the Greek word for conscience means. It is only through the eyes of heaven, through co-perceiving reality by accessing heaven's better perspective joined with our own that we will ever be able to live out the radical Christianity described in this passage.

So let me attempt to compile a few of the clues that I see so far as to the meaning of these two words as I look over these two chapters.

Evil is conformity to this world, thinking more highly myself than I ought to think, trying to appear to be loving without a transformed heart (hypocrisy), cursing those who persecute me, having a haughty mind, being wise in my own estimation, reflecting the evil of others back onto them. Evil is taking, or even desiring to take, revenge – taking things into my own hands instead of leaving it all up to God. Along with all these things from chapter 12 evil would also include failing to do all the good things described there that I will include in the next list.

Evil is failing to be properly subject to authority from heaven's perspective; it is resistance to authority which brings into my soul a sense of condemnation. Evil includes fear which is both a cause and a result of being out of line in my relationship to God-ordained authority. Evil brings wrath and a perception of wrath which distorts our concept of God as well. Initially God may use that perception of wrath to move us toward a right relationship with Him and with authority, but He wants to grow us far past that stage to live life in co-perception with His Spirit.

So, what about good? This may be a much longer list but that is good itself. Too often we dwell on evil so much that we are left thinking that good is simply the absence of doing bad things. I know that is the assumption I was lead to feel many times in my life. But goodness is really only a reflection of the only One who is really good if we believe the words of Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19) We are creatures designed in the image of God so it only makes sense that good is to be like the original that we were modeled after.

Good is presenting our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is an act of worship. Good is being transformed by the renewing of our mind and proving the will of God – what is good, acceptable and perfect. It is thinking with sound judgment using the measure of faith given to us by God.

Good is learning to utilize the gifts we have received from God within the body of Christ to develop and help each other mature and bond with each other. It is doing this according to the grace we have been given, according to our proportion of faith. Good is selflessly loving without faking it, being devoted to one another in family-like love preferring others with honor. Good includes being fervent in spirit while serving our Lord, the head of our body.

Good is rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoting ourselves to prayer, contributing to the needs of other believers and practicing hospitality. Beyond that, it is blessing those who persecute us. It is rejoicing with those who rejoice as well as weeping with those who weep with the emphasis on with. Good is have a balanced mind with others in the body, having synchronization with them. Good causes us to not feel ashamed to associate with those others view as lowly.

Good will raise us above paying back evil to those who do evil to us. Good respects what is right in the sight of all men and strives as much as possible to live at peace with everyone. Good releases our rights for justice into God's hands when we are abused or hurt by others and instead, receiving the Spirit of Jesus so that we can treat our enemies with the revenge of kindness.

Good looks past the corruption of earthly authorities to see the bigger picture of where all authority originates. From that co-perspective it can give us rest with inner peace and without resistance in the face of unreasonable force and even abuse from authorities contaminated by evil. Good will allow us to become free of inner condemnation and fear. Good will lift our hearts above the fear that makes us think we are seeing wrath everywhere to instead, seeing God's passionate, relentless love for us behind the scenes. Only thus can we avoid being overcome by evil but will overcome evil with good.

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