“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: For his mercy endureth for ever.”
Psalm 136:1-2 KJV
“O taste and see that the LORD is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
Psalm 34:8 KJV
“Thou art good, and doest good; Teach me thy statutes.”
Psalm 119:68 KJV
“The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.”
Nahum 1:7 KJV
“And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”
Mark 10:18 KJV
Bible verses about good and evil
What does the Bible say about good?
This is not an exhaustive list, just a good place to start!
God’s Goodness
“Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.” -Psalm 25:8
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” -1 Chronicles 16:34
“The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” -Psalm 92:15b
“The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.” -Psalm 145:9
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” -James 1:17
Our Goodness (From the Spirit working within us, not our own strength!)
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” -Matthew 5:16
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” -Galatians 6:9
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” -Galatians 5:22-23
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” -Ephesians 2:8-10
Other Verses About Goodness
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” -Romans 8:28
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” -Romans 12:9
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” -Romans 12:2
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” -Genesis 1:31
What does the Bible say about evil?
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” -Ephesians 6:12
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” -Genesis 50:20
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” -James 1:13
“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” -Jeremiah 2:13
“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.” -Psalm 5:4
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” -Matthew 15:19
“The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” -Genesis 6:5
“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” -1 John 5:19-20
The sacrifice of Christ
In the conversation about good and evil, the sacrifice of Christ is the most important thing to cling to. A lot of things in the material world and spiritual realm do not make sense to us.
The Lord reveals more and more to us through His word as we grow in maturity through the Spirit, but on this side of heaven, we will never understand in full. The one thing we have to remember when pondering life’s big questions is Jesus and what He did for us.
Even Paul says to the church in Corinth “And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthains 2:1-2) So what does the cross mean for us when it comes to good and evil?
When we see the evil in the world, we can be tempted to think that God doesn’t care for us. The cross shows us that this is not the case. Author Tim Keller puts it this way: “God hates evil and suffering. And we know that someday it’s all going to be over. He’s going to wipe away every tear. The reason why He hasn’t done it yet, we don’t know. But we do know this, it’s not because He doesn’t love us, or He would never have come and suffered. Jesus Christ, He came into this world, became human, got rid of His invulnerability, became mortal, and suffered with us so that someday He’d be able to end all suffering without ending us.” The cross shows God’s great love and mercy for His creation.
The cross also shows us that no man can boast. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jesus had to come, He had to live a perfect life, and He had to sacrifice Himself on the cross as a propitiation for our sins. The evil deeds we committed and the evil intentions of our hearts were too great to be wiped away by anything except for the blood of Christ. Good vs. evil is not an “us vs. them” situation.
I think that Ephesians 2:1-7 (below) puts it best. We were all dead in our evil ways, but God in His great mercy called us near even when we were His enemies. The cross gives us hope that we can have a goodness coming not from ourselves, but from God. When you ponder the question of good and evil, let your thoughts always come back to Jesus.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” -Ephesians 2:1-7.
Now Paul comes to the final command of the chapter. In essence, he commands us to be strong in our conviction to live in this way. We are not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. Paul seems to have in mind the idea that we are overcome by evil when we join in and give it back, when we sink to evil's level. That just results in more sin, more pain, and an endless cycle of revenge and hatred.
In other words, evil wins when we live first for ourselves, our rights, and our own good, instead of the good of others.
If we are strong in Christ, however, we have a great opportunity to overcome evil by continuing to do Christlike good. Evil won't be annihilated from the world on this side of eternity. That ultimate victory over evil is scheduled for some day in the future, at the hands of God (Revelation 20:11–15). All the same, evil can be defeated any time Christians stand up and give back good to those who do wrong to them. Evil struggles to stand against courageous and sacrificial love.
Paul will continue this thought in the next verses as he transitions to the relationship between Christians and earthly government.
Romans 12:9–21 is a list of numerous brief, bullet-pointed commands. Taken together, they paint a picture of what the living-sacrifice Christian life should look like. The unifying theme of the list is setting ourselves aside, to effectively love and serve the Lord, each other, and even our enemies. We must serve with enthusiasm and focus, mastering our emotions to rejoice in our future and be patient in our present. We must refuse to sink to evil's level in taking revenge and instead overcome evil by doing good to those who harm us. |
In Romans 12, Paul describes the worship of our God as becoming living sacrifices to our God, giving up seeking what we want from life and learning to know and serve what God wants. That begins with using our spiritual gifts to serve each other in the church. Paul's list of commands describes a lifestyle of setting ourselves aside. Our goal as Christians is to love and lift each other up. We must focus our expectation on eternity and wait with patience and prayer for our Father to provide. We must refuse to sink to evil's level, giving good to those who harm us instead of revenge. |
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
Romans 12:9 KJV
1. There Is Such a Thing as Objective Good and Evil Outside Myself
When Paul says, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good,” he is rejecting the notion that evil is defined by what I abhor; and he is rejecting the notion that good is defined by what I hold fast to. This is so simple and so obvious. Would you ever think to say this to your children? Maybe. But if you teach them verses like this often enough and deeply enough, they will absorb a whole biblical worldview for their great good.
That is, they will absorb the view that there is such a thing as good and evil, and that good and evil are realities outside of them. The good and the evil don’t depend on us or our children to become good or evil. They are good or evil objectively. Good is not what you want to be good. And evil is not what you want to be evil. Liking something does not make it good and hating something does not make it evil. There is reality out there. And then there is you. That reality is good or evil. You don’t make it good or evil.
How do we see this? Because Paul says, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” In other words, good and evil don’t change, we change. Our hearts can cling to things because we desire them, and our hearts can reject things intensely because we don’t desire them. Paul says, Here is good, and here is evil. Now bring your emotions and your will into conformity to what is objectively there. When you face the objective evil: hate it. And when you face the objective good, embrace it.
Now what makes good good? And what makes evil evil? In other words, how does it come about that there is such a thing as objective good and evil? Well, this verse doesn’t say. But we don’t have to look far for the answer. Verse 2: “Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is goodand acceptable and perfect.” The reason there is such a thing as objective good is that there is such a thing as “the will of God.” Or most simply, and most profoundly, the reason there is such a thing as objective good outside ourselves is that there is God outside ourselves. And most concretely and specifically, God has made himself known objectively and historically in Jesus Christ in Scripture.
If there were no God—if there were no Christ—then the good would be subjective, not objective. Good would be in the eye of the beholder, especially the strong beholder. Might would make right. But God does exist. And therefore might does not make right. The good and true and right and beautiful have objective foundation in God, and in his self-revelation, Jesus Christ. Which means that the simplest peasant in Russia or Jew in Germany or slave in Georgia or Christian prisoner in Rome can say to the most powerful Stalin or Hitler or plantation owner or Caesar: “No sir, this is wrong. And all your power does not make it right. There is God above you. And therefore right and wrong have objective reality apart from you.”
Oh, what a gift we give our children when we teach them the simple, straightforward teachings of the Bible. Their implications are vast beyond our knowledge. In this one phrase there is a world of precious truth.
2. Choosing Against Evil and for Good Is Not Enough; Inner Intensity Is Required
Notice Paul’s verbs: “Abhor(apostungountes) what is evil; hold fast (kollömenoi) to what is good.” He did not say “Choose against evil and choose good.” His words are very strong. “Abhor” is a good translation. “Loathe,: “Be disgusted with” (Liddell and Scott Lexicon) would also be correct. “Hold fast to what is good” means embrace it. Love it. The word is used for sexual union in 1 Corinthians 6:16.
In other words, God is not mainly interested in a willpower religion or a willpower morality. Choosing is not enough. It doesn’t signal deep moral transformation. Remember the meaning of hypocrisy—changing the outside with willpower choices. Now Paul says, Don’t just avoid evil, hate evil. Don’t just choose good, embrace the good. Love the good. The battle of Christian living is a battle mainly to get our emotions changed, not just our behavior.
Which leads us to the third observation.
3. The Bible Commands That Our Emotions Be Changed Even Though We Don’t Have Immediate Control Over Them
You can’t make yourself immediately abhor what you like. But when Paul says, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good,” he is commanding our emotions to be one way and not another way. Don’t ever fall for the argument that God does not require that our emotions be one way and not another, as if God only has requirements for body or the will. God commands not only that we choose the good but that we love it, and not only that we choose against evil, but that we hate and abhor it.
But what if your heart is in such a condition that you love the evil and hate the good? How will you obey this command? The answer is that we must be born again. That which is merely born of the flesh loves the things of the flesh. That which is born of the Spirit loves the things of the Spirit (John 3:3-7; Romans 8:7-8; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16).
Or to use different biblical terms: the new covenant, purchased for us by the blood of Christ (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25), must be fulfilled in our lives, if our emotions are going to conform to God’s view of good and evil. Ezekiel 36:26, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” God must give us a new heart if we are going to hate and love as we ought. The way we get for ourselves a new heart (Ezekiel 18:31) is by despairing of self-change and crying out for mercy from God in the name of Christ that he would take out the heart of stone. And when Christ has given us a new heart that begins to see the world the way he sees it and feel the way he feels it, we must go on fighting for daily transformation: “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [Jesus] we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Christian living is not mere choosing. It is choosing with intensity: Abhor what is evil, embrace what is good.
4. Objective Moral Good Is Good for Us, and Objective Moral Evil Is Bad for Us
I see this mainly in the relationship between the two halves of this verse. First, verse 9 says, “Let love be genuine.” And then, without starting a new sentence (in the original Greek), it goes on to say, “abhorring what is evil; holding fast to what it good.” The link between the command to love and the command to abhor evil and embrace good is very close. It looks as if Paul is saying something essential about love.
Everyone agrees that love means, at least, doing things for people that are good for them, not bad for them. So when Paul says, “Let love be genuine, abhorring the evil and embracing the good,” I take him to mean that it will be loving thing to do if we abhor the evil and embrace the good. Which means that what God calls evil must be bad for people, and what God calls good must be good for people.
It’s not the other way around. We don’t decide what is good for people and what is bad for people and then define love that way. God decides what is good and what is bad and we follow that and call it love, because what God says is good is good for people, and what God says is bad is bad for people.
You can see this very clearly in 1 John 5:2. John writes, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” How do you know you are loving people? By loving God and keeping his commandments. His commandments are the expression of objective good. And his prohibitions are the expression of objective evil. And therefore objective evil is bad for people, and objective good is good for people.
But let’s be explicitly Christian. The ultimate objective good is the God-Man, Christ himself. He is our good. And so you can see most clearly that the ultimate objective good is good for us. Nothing is better for us than Christ. He is infinitely good and infinitely good for us. In him the good and the good-for-us become perfectly one. All other good things are good for us indirectly. They are good for us because they lead us to him. He alone is the good which is directly and supremely good for us.
Which leads us now to the fifth and last observation.
5. Genuine Love Must Hate
If there were a universe in which there was no evil that hurt people or dishonored Christ, there would be only love and no hate. There would be nothing to hate. But in a world like ours it is necessary not only that we love and hate, but that our love include hate.
Paul says, “Let love be genuine, abhorring what is evil.” One commentator calls this abhorring “an intense inward rejection.” It is rejection. It is inward. It is intense. And my point is that in this world love has to feel hate for evil. Since evil hurts people and dishonors God, you can’t claim to love people while coddling evil.
Don’t make the mistake of saying: the evil I cherish only hurts me, and so it is not unloving to others. That’s absolutely false (see 1 John 5:2 above). You were made to display the worth of Christ to others. That is what is good for them. That’s what it means to love them. But if you do things to yourself that damage your delight in Christ and your display of Christ, you sin against others and not just yourself. You rob them of what God made you to give them.
So I say again, love for others must hate evil. Because evil hurts others directly, and evil hurts others indirectly by hurting you. Evil obscures the beauty of Christ. And Christ is our greatest good. Our greatest joy.
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