Do the ends justify the means?
Paul was slandered in his own lifetime with the charge that his gospel amounted to saying, "Let us do evil that good may come" — and his answer to that idea was that the condemnation of those who hold it is just. That single verdict settles the question in principle, but the harder work is spotting how often the principle slips back in wearing respectable clothes.
The Verdict of Romans 3
The argument reappears whenever someone decides that a high enough aim makes the method irrelevant. One writer, dealing with methods used in preaching, traces the reasoning back to its source:
The Bible TreasurySome may put forward the plea that, since their object is the glory of God in the salvation of souls, the manner or the means becomes something indifferent. Is this not too much like the sinner's petulant excuse in Romans 3? "But if through my lie God's truth abounds to His glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?" Is this ground for a mortal man to take? It is indeed the old fallacy of Satan, "Let us do evil that good may come."
Corrupt Means, Suspect Ends
William Kelly presses further: the state of a person's methods tells you something about the state of their real motive.
William KellyIt is not enough in the ministry of Christ that one should have good and holy ends in view; the means ought to be as beyond criticism as the stated aim. Where that is not so, where the measures adopted to reach the object are unworthy of Christ, it is to be feared that the real end in view is no better. In any case, and always, the man of God must consider habitually, and strictly, as before God, the ways he takes, in case the enemy traps him in the hateful snare of doing evil that good may come — which before long is sure to come out as unmixed evil in both ways and ends, to the deep dishonour of Him whose name is made to cover it all.
Both Halves Must Be Right
C. H. Mackintosh applies the test to a king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, who joined Ahab, king of Israel, in a war to recover the city of Ramoth-gilead:
C. H. MackintoshNo truly divine and heavenly object can be gained by breaking God's truth. "By right or by wrong" can never be a divine motto. The means are not made holy by the end; both means and end must be according to the principles of God's holy word, or everything must end in confusion and dishonour. It might have seemed to Jehoshaphat a very worthy object to recover Ramoth-gilead out of the enemy's hand... but how did it end? Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat barely escaped with his life, having made total shipwreck of his testimony.
A Right Thing Done the Wrong Way
King David set out to bring the ark of God — the chest that stood for God's presence — back to Jerusalem. The aim was right; the transport was not, and a man named Uzzah died on the journey.
C. H. MackintoshWe start on some right course of action in a wrong way, or in a wrong spirit, which God cannot own; and then our spirit, or method of acting, gets confused with the service we were engaged in. But we must always distinguish between what men do and how they do it. It was right for David to bring up the ark; it was wrong to put it on an ox-cart. The Lord approved the first and disapproved and judged the second.
When the Goal Is God's Own Promise
Rebekah had been told by God that her younger son Jacob would have the chief place. She then schemed to deceive her blind husband into giving Jacob the blessing — and got exactly what God had promised, by fraud.
William KellyRebekah, however right she was about the end in view, was utterly unscrupulous about the means; and Jacob, not without conscience and fear about the deceit he was to practise on his blind father and his lying impersonation of Esau, dreaded a curse instead of the blessing which he valued.
Success Is Not the Test
The obvious defence of a shady method is that it worked. One writer refuses that defence outright:
Numerical Bible NotesIf deceit and treachery are evil — if evil may not be done so that good may come — if God therefore cannot lead His people in such a path, then the success of a thing can never be a sufficient test of what is fitting or wise. We do not have to look any less carefully at the question of right just because it can be shown that a measure will succeed.
God Overrules — That Is Not Permission
Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, and famine relief for a whole region came out of it. The good outcome never became a defence of what they did.
L. M. GrantHe did not excuse their evil thoughts against him, but insisted that God had used their evil to produce great good in saving many people from death. So too, the Jewish leaders in Israel meant only to do harm to the Lord Jesus in crucifying Him, but they actually fulfilled God's great purposes of love toward mankind in accomplishing a perfect redemption.
Summary
- The verdict. "Let us do evil that good may come" is called the old fallacy of Satan, and Romans 3 declares the judgment on those who use it just.
- The way counts. The means are not made holy by the end; both the aim and the road to it must match God's word, or the whole thing ends in confusion.
- Right thing, wrong way. Distinguish what men do from how they do it — David was right to bring up the ark and wrong to put it on a cart.
- Even God's own promise. Rebekah was right about the end and unscrupulous about the means, and the deceit left Jacob dreading a curse instead of resting on God.
- Results settle nothing. Success is never a sufficient test of what is right; God may overrule evil for great good, as with Joseph, without excusing one bit of it.