Articles
Calling It What It Is
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute light darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
(Isa 5:20)
There are lots of things in life that are merely “judgment calls.” We make these judgment calls every day. We make judgments about what we eat and judgments about what we wear. We make judgments about the kinds of jobs we will take, the kinds of people we will work for, the kinds of stores we will shop at, the kinds of candidates we will vote for, etc. etc. Sometimes we will have strict preferences for ourselves in these judgment calls. We might refuse to eat a particular food because we believe it is bad for us. We might refuse to do business with a particular store because we don’t like their practices. We might choose to vote (or not vote!) for a particular political candidate because we believe this vote is most conducive to a “tranquil and quiet life” (1 Tim 2:2). The important thing to remember is that all of these things are judgment calls. We cannot bind the eating of foods or the observance of days on others (Col 2:16-17; Rom 14:5-6). We cannot bind our business boycotts or non-boycotts on others, no matter how strongly we feel. And we cannot bind our political decisions on others either, no matter how strongly we feel.
The Scripture is extremely clear about what our motives should be in all of these matters of personal judgment. Paul writes, “Not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom 14:7-8). Essentially, Paul’s point is that regardless of what decision we make, it needs to be a decision that is genuinely made with God’s glory in mind, rather than our own. Christians may sometimes disagree on the specific applications of the gospel to their lives (as was the case in Romans 14), but as long as we can agree that the end goal is glorying in the cross of Jesus, we can honestly say that we are “made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor 1:10).
However, there are some things that are clearly not matters of personal judgment at all. There are certain actions that, by their very nature, defile the heart. While we cannot know someone’s precise motives for why they choose to eat or abstain from pork, we can know the heart of the murderer, because the murderer is performing an act that is inherently wicked, and requires unspeakable hatred of his fellow man. Jesus made a remark about this when he said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).
Does a man who commits adultery have a defiled heart? Jesus says he does. Does a man who slanders others have a defiled heart? Jesus says he does. Does a man who commits murder have a defiled heart? Jesus says he does. These things are wicked! They contaminate the inner man and destroy the soul! The retort, “You don’t know my heart” will not be an adequate deflection before the Christ who said that, “the tree is known by its fruit” (Matt 12:33).
This brings us back to the quote from Isaiah at the beginning of the article. As Christians, we have an obligation to call evil what it is. The world frequently attempts to pervert good and evil by reversing them. They do this in the way they talk about sex, in the way they talk about drunkenness, and in the way they talk about religion. We expect this kind of behavior from the world, wicked as it is. But whenever Christians begin to justify wrongdoing and confuse good and evil, something has gone seriously awry. Adultery is not a “mistake”—it is sinful wickedness. Slander is not merely a “flaw”—it is an abomination (Prov 6:16-19). Yet I have found a surprising number of Christians who are unwilling to call these things what they are when they are committed by someone they “like.” There is no “judgment call” to be made here. Such foolishness and wickedness needs to be decried for what it is. There is no truthfulness in our hearts if we are willing to overlook flaws in our friends that we would condemn in our enemies. There is no light in us if we are willing to embrace the seductiveness of Satan’s darkness.
Regardless of what “judgment calls” we make in life, sin is still sin, and we are still obligated to live for the Lord. If we ever compromise on these two points, then sin dwells in us as well, and we are walking in darkness. Let us never cease from calling evil, evil, and good, good. Let the one who has ears hear.
