Sabbath Thought – Think No Evil

“To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.” – Rene Descartes

Obedience to Godly doctrine is imperative for a Christian, and the behavior that follows is important. Behavior is important because it shows God and fellow man whether we are following doctrine – but is behavior doctrine? My favorite answer is “it depends.” There is behavior that doesn’t impact doctrine (what car we chose to drive, what school we go to, who we chose to marry) and there is behavior that does impact doctrine. Behavior that shows a willful disobedience to God’s law (working on the Sabbath, eating food God says not to eat, etc.) does become a doctrinal issue. So how do we know when others are engaging in behavior in violation of doctrine?  God says to observe the fruit of what they are doing (Matthew 7:20) to judge a matter.

How do we do that? What is to be our standard or gauge for determining someone’s fruit? It really is simple – watch what they do over time. Fruit on a tree doesn’t mature overnight, and the fruit of any person is not usually going to be evident overnight either. To judge or discern a matter is a serious business and must be done according to God’s standard of what is evident from a person’s heart (Luke 6:45). We must not condemn according to appearance but by God’s standard of behavior How they apply doctrine in their life (John 7:24) is the only way to see what is in a person’s heart. This requires patience to see God’s hand in a situation. Through patience we can show love in righteous judgment (Hosea 12:6b CEV). Christ is the only one who has the authority to judge each of us (Revelation 20:4, Romans 2:16), and we will be judged by God on how well we love Him and fellowman (Matthew 22:36-40) while obeying God’s instruction (1 John 5:3). 

1 Corinthians 13 is a chapter famous for defining love from God’s perspective – and it is only through love from God’s perspective that we can properly judge (discern) doctrine and behavior. In 1 Corinthians 13:5 we read, “… [love] does not behave indecently, does not seek her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil.”  The phrase “thinks no evil” is very interesting in the Greek – a literal translation can be “it does not reason out evil.” Matthew Henry is his commentary shows that this means that there is no “charge [of] guilt upon them by inference and innuendo….  True love is not apt to be jealous and suspicious; it will hide faults that appear, and draw a veil over them, instead of hunting and raking out those that lie covered and concealed: it will never indulge suspicion without proofs, but will rather incline to…disbelieve evidence against the person it affects. It will hardly give into an ill opinion of another, and it will do it with regret and reluctance when the evidence cannot be resisted; hence it will never be forward to suspect ill, and reason itself into a bad opinion upon mere appearances, nor give way to suspicion without any.”

A Christian must also be careful to hear the whole matter before making a judgment (Proverbs 18:17) or give an answer before we know the question (Proverbs 18:13). As a Christian we are not to bite and devour one another (Galatians 5:15) for how we treat others will play a big role in how God judges us (Luke 19:22, Matthew 7:2). Behavior is important for a Christian, and obedience to Godly doctrine is imperative for a Christian. Let’s make sure that we do not judge a matter before it is known, so that we don’t put ourselves in place of the judgment of God.

I wish you a spiritually rejuvenating Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

8 March, 2025