hold aloof from every form of wickedness.
Paul ends a rapid string of commands about life together — don't quench the Spirit, don't despise prophecy, test everything — and this verse is the last link in that chain. Older translations read "abstain from all appearance of evil," which raises the question the commentators keep returning to: is Paul warning about how things look, or about what things are?
One writer sets the verse inside its setting in the gathered church and explains the Greek term directly:
Both suppose the free action of the Holy Spirit in the assembly, where He must not be hindered in His general movement even by the least member of Christ, any more than despised in the highest form of dealing with souls, or "prophesying." On the other hand the saints must not be imposed on by high or exclusive claims which are never needed by, and would be repulsive to, the truly spiritual. They were to prove all things, to hold fast the good, to abstain from every form of evil. By εἶδος, translated "appearance" in the Authorised Version, is really meant kind or form.
The ESV follows that reading.
The command does not stand alone. It is the back half of a sentence whose front half tells you to test everything and keep what passes. One writer explains why the two halves need each other:
On the other hand, we are not to accept anything we are told without testing it by the Word of God. We are to "test everything." However young in the faith, this was the personal responsibility of every believer. They were to take nothing for granted, and nothing simply on someone else's word. Scripture was their one real authority. And we are to hold fast what is good, letting none of God's precious truth slip. This too was needed if they were to "abstain from every form of evil." Evil will take attractive, deceiving forms as readily as crude ones, and only the heart that holds fast what is good is protected.
The word "every" carries the weight here:
It is easy to keep away from certain forms of evil that do not appeal to us, and to be severe about sins we are not drawn to. The call is to keep away from all evil, whatever form it takes.
Testing is meant to reach a verdict, and the verdict settles the matter. There is nothing left to weigh up:
Once we recognise evil, no further enquiry is needed. There is no more asking: What should be done? That question is only fair when we face at least two choices and have to make up our mind. But once evil is recognised, only one decision fits — to abstain from it. God says, "Cease to do evil"; "Abhor what is evil"; "Abstain from every form of evil."
Commentators differ on the reach of the verse. Some read it strictly as "form" or "kind." Others hold that the older rendering carries a truth worth keeping: a believer should also stay clear of what could reasonably be misread.
We may have heard Christians say, when spoken to about something that looked crooked, "Well, my own conscience is clear on that point, and I don't care what anyone else thinks of me." But this spirit is completely against the spirit of the command before us, which means "above suspicion before all men." And it agrees with the apostle's word to the Thessalonians: "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (older translation). It is not enough to abstain from what we know is wrong. We ought to avoid everything that would give ground for just suspicion.
Three old questions turn this into a workable test before any decision:
The Christian should take care to keep his name pure as well as his conscience pure, and he does that by avoiding all appearance of evil. Bernard's three questions are worth asking ourselves before anything we take on: "Is it lawful?" May I do it and not sin? "Does it suit me as a Christian?" May I do it and not dishonour the faith I profess? "Is it helpful?" May I do it and not make a weaker believer stumble?
Such a demand would crush us on our own. One writer points to the power behind it:
Notice how the Spirit of God speaks in the letters of a power that can keep us from every fall and keep us blameless, so that even a thought of sin is never excusable. The flesh is still in us. But with the Holy Spirit acting in the new man, the flesh never has to act or shape our life. We are united to Jesus: He represents us before God, He is our righteousness. And the same One who in His perfection is our righteousness is also our life, so that the Spirit aims to show this same perfection — practical perfection — in daily life.
- Test — measure everything you hear against Scripture. No teacher's name settles a matter, and every believer, however young, carries that duty.
- Hold — a firm grip on what is good is the real defence. Evil arrives in attractive forms as often as crude ones.
- Abstain — once you recognise evil, the weighing is over. Only one response is left.
- Every — the word rules out picking and choosing: condemning the sins we never wanted, sheltering the ones we do.
- Kept — the standard is high, but the Spirit works in the believer so that the demand is never beyond reach.
Now the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly and your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul closes this letter with a prayer for the people he has just been instructing. Two questions follow: what does "completely" mean here, and why does Paul name spirit, soul, and body?
Paul does not pray to God under a random title. The name he chooses points back to how God made peace, and to what that peace now produces.
God is for all who have believed in Christ the God of peace. God made peace in the blood of the cross. Believers are both reconciled and sanctified through the peace that God has made for us in the work of His Son. So we stand in a blessed relationship with the God of peace and have fellowship with Him. Out of this flows a life and walk devoted to God. Believers are sanctified by all three persons of the Godhead: by God the Father, by the blood of Jesus Christ and the offering of His body, and by the Holy Spirit.
One writer notes who does this work, then traces peace as a sequence the believer moves through:
The God of peace Himself claims and sanctifies us wholly. Peace with God, then the peace of God, then the God of peace — this is the order in which the soul enters the blessing and experiences it through our Lord Jesus.
The word behind "completely" carries the sense of reaching all the way to the finish.
When it comes to practice, the apostle asks that the God of peace may sanctify believers wholly (oloteleis) — that is, entirely and right to the end.
One writer sets the standard high, and applies it to us now and not only to Paul's converts:
The apostle Paul desired, in regard to each of his converts, that the whole man might be practically set apart for God. Each of the three parts that make up a man — spirit, soul, and body — was to be affected. And so far that he kept himself separate not only from evil, but from every appearance of it. Nothing less than this should be what we pray for even now.
Paul names three parts. One writer explains the difference between the two inner ones:
It may help to add that "the soul" is the seat of personality, while "the spirit" is the expression of capacity. So the soul, with its affections, is the responsible "I". The spirit is the higher faculty that can know God — and that can also know unspeakable misery if it rejects Him.
Paul's order is not the one we normally use:
Sometimes we may forget that we have spirits. How often we say "body, soul and spirit;" the Scripture says "spirit, soul and body". We are so apt to think more of our bodies than of our spirits, but God is concerned with our spirits.
Some read this verse as a promise that God removes sin from a believer now. But Paul asks for two things here, not one:
Notice: here is entire sanctification to God, and yet we need entire preservation. Suppose spirit, soul, and body were sanctified in the sense of being made as pure as Christ is pure. Then there would be no need to be preserved blameless. Does Christ need such preserving?
The prayer makes sense because it asks for something these believers had only in part:
Here the word is used of a sanctification that comes in degrees. The Thessalonians, along with all believers, had a perfect sanctification in Christ. But in daily life they enjoyed and displayed it only in part. So the apostle prays that they may be wholly sanctified.
The prayer has a deadline in it: the day Christ returns.
There is nothing partial about God's gracious work. Its sanctifying influence reaches every part of us, and it carries on until "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." When He comes, the sanctification of the whole man will reach its completeness and perfection — but not before.
Another writer adds what waits for those found blameless:
God wants every part of the man — his mind, his affections, and his body — set apart from this world for Christ. Then, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to reign, we may be found blameless and receive a full reward.
- Peace first. God made peace in the blood of the cross. Out of that settled relationship with the God of peace flows a devoted life. The work starts with God, not with our effort.
- Wholly. "Completely" means entirely and to the end. God claims every part of us, and the separation reaches even to what only looks like evil.
- Three parts. Spirit is the capacity that can know God. Soul is the seat of personality and affections. Paul names the spirit first; we usually name the body first.
- Two requests. Paul asks two things: that God sanctify us, and that He preserve us. The second would be pointless if the first made us sinless. So this is not perfection now.
- Finished at His coming. The sanctification of the whole man is complete only when Christ returns. Those found blameless then receive a full reward.