Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (KJV). 

This post has been brewing for almost a year now. Last April, I returned to the Exiles in Babylon Conference put on by Theology in the Raw and hosted by Preston Sprinkle. It was once again an incredible time of encouragement, challenge, conviction, worship, and dialogue. I am so very grateful for the space that conference holds to “think deeply and love widely”. One of the sessions was titled “LGBTQ People and the Church” during which we had the blessing of hearing from an incredible lineup of speakers, the first of which was Dr. Greg Coles. I had heard Greg at a previous Exiles Conference and was well aware of his vulnerability and clarity as a communicator. Not only that but I had fortuitously read his recent novel and taken the chance to meet him and talk about it during the previous day. Accordingly, I was delighted when he took the stage and even more delighted throughout his talk. 

One of the most surprising things he talked about was something that has never sat quite right with me. He talked about the language used above in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 that says “abstain from all appearance of evil”. For as long as I can remember, this has been thrown around in the church context as the justification for avoiding anything that could even be “perceived” as evil (bad, sinful, etc). The cognitive dissonance had never reached a boiling point for me to seek out a commentary or explanation. It was simply a low level simmer of “Does the Bible really say that?”. 

There are a number of reasons it never made sense to me. First, it felt like such a strenuous requirement for any individual to somehow avoid any perception of evil. I cannot control others' perceptions. I can hardly manage Paul’s instructions in Romans 12:18: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people”. How on earth could I manage to never do something that was perceived as evil?  Second, it was certainly not congruent with my understanding of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus spent time with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors and was constantly perceived to be a “sinner”. That is not to mention his treatment of the sabbath and other activities that were perceived as sinful. Third, it rang of legalism or control in that way that it was applied from those who desired to ban certain activities that were not actually condemned in Scripture but that would fit under the “appearance of evil”. Lastly, I had spent a good deal of time (a research presentation and paper) on the idea of “seeing and taking” in Scripture and the way that our perceptions are broken and distorted from Adam and Eve, to Lot, to David, and on and on. Surely the appearance of evil is too human a metric to be a reliable and accurate witness to God’s standard. 

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For all of these reasons, I was most intrigued when Greg began his talk. He began talking about the tendency to judge good and evil according to what appears to us to be good or evil. He said that people judge that they are bad not based on the Bible but based on their perception of what might be sin, could turn into sin, or might be perceived by a third party to be sin. Thus far I was tracking and his words were resonating with my experience. Then he brought in 1 Thessalonians 5:22. He pointed out that this phrasing of “appearance of evil” is only used in the King James Version.  Why? Because the greek word: εἴδους is translated in the King James uniquely this way.  This word is used to describe “the form of something that is seen” or as the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature includes: visible form, outward appearance, kind, category, class, or something seen, sight. So you can see where the KJV could justify their translation. It is suggestive though that the KJV is alone in its translation of this word. In contrast to the KJV, here is a sampling of other translations for comparison:    

Do not quench the Spirit, 20 do not utterly reject prophecies, 21 but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good, 22 abstain from every form of evil (NASB).

Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. (ESV)19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. (NIV)

Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil. (CSB)

Don’t stifle the Spirit. 20 Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil. (NET)

Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. (NKJV)

Based on these examples and a basic grasp of this Greek word it is conclusive that this verse should be translated as, “Every kind” of evil or “every form” of evil not of “every appearance” of evil. Greg rightly pointed out that we can hold this up to the life of Jesus. If we do, we might ask, “Why did he party with tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners etc? Why did he have a one on one conversation with a woman?” His answer:

“The bible does not command us to avoid what might be perceived as evil” (Greg Coles).

As soon as he said this relief flooded my mind. There is the answer. No wonder it never made sense. He pointed out that the reason this translation has hung around and been used as a tool of abuse is that people have really strong preferences and when we live in a way like Jesus or free from legalism, then we will inevitably come into conflict with their preconceptions of right and wrong. That does not however mean our actions are wrong. More likely we are, “freaking out religious people by failing to cater to their preferences”. And I feel fairly confident that Jesus would be the first to say that is just fine. 

We are responsible for our actions, not for every interpretation others place upon them. We should avoid actual evil, not tailor our lives to avoid someone else’s assumptions.

Since last year, this revelation has been rattling around in the recesses of my brain. It was not until this outdated and questionable translation was brought out as a last stop against a friend of mine that I recalled Greg’s talk and pulled up my notes to refresh my memory. Before I could even send those over, my friend had done the simple work of comparing translations and come to the same conclusion that I have. The KJV translation is demonstrably illegitimate not only from the context of the passage but from the clear scholarly consensus of translators. I was encouraged at his demonstration of the use of checking translations which is such an easy and quick tool for those without training in the Biblical languages. And I was even more grateful for the freedom that this revelation had for him in rejecting the condemnation he had received and walking in the example of Jesus.  

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