1 Thessalonians 5:22-The Thessalonians Must Continue to Abstain from Every Kind of Evil

1 Thessalonians 5:22 Stay away from every form of evil. (NET)

As we have noted in previous studies, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 contains a series of instructions regarding the relationship between the Thessalonian Christian community and their pastor-teachers.

It also contains eleven commands and four prohibitions which address the conduct between the members of the Thessalonian Christian community with each other, the Thessalonians and the non-Christian community and the Thessalonians’ relationship with God.

Now, here in 1 Thessalonians 5:22, the apostle Paul solemnly issues the fourth and final prohibition in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22, which required that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community for their own benefit continue to make it their habit of abstaining from every kind of action which is characterized as evil.

The verb apecho here in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 also appeared in 1 Thessalonians 4:3.

In both verses, the verb apecho means “to abstain” since the word pertains to deliberately refraining from a particular practice or lifestyle and often with an effort of self-denial from an action or particular practice.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, it refers to the Thessalonian Christian community avoiding the practice of sexual immorality in the sense of keeping away or refraining from practicing it.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:22, it refers to the Thessalonians avoiding the practice of any kind of evil in the sense of keeping away or refraining from the practice evil of any kind.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:22, the present imperative conjugation of the verb apecho is a customary present imperative which has the force of continuing to perform an action habitually.

Therefore, the idea of the present imperative conjugation of this verb here is that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community must continue to make it their habit of abstaining from every kind of evil.

It implies that the Thessalonians were already doing so and were to continue to do so.

This interpretation of the present imperative conjugation of this verb is supported by the contents of First Thessalonians which affirm the Thessalonians were remaining faithful to Paul’s apostolic teaching, i.e. the gospel and were thus making it their habit of abstaining from every kind of evil.

For example, Paul affirms in 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8 that the Thessalonians’ faithful to the gospel in spite of severe persecution was serving to encourage the Christians in the Roman province of Achaia and Macedonia.

He also affirms in 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 that the gospel was working mightily in their lives.

Paul affirms again in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:10 that the Thessalonians’ were faithful to the gospel.

He affirms in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 that the Thessalonians were experiencing their sanctification.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, he affirms that they were practicing the love of God when interacting with each other and those in the non-Christian community.

The middle voice of this verb apecho is an indirect middle which means that the subject acts for or by himself or in his own interest.

This would then indicate that the Thessalonians would be acting for their own benefit by abstaining from every kind of evil since this would result in them executing the Father’s will for their lives and growing to spiritual maturity, which results in rewards at the Bema Seat.

It would also protect them from being disciplined by God.

The reference to “evil” (ponēros) describes actions which are contrary to the character and nature of God and His will as revealed by the Spirit in the Word of God.

It pertains to actions which are independent of God’s will and opposed to His will, character and nature.

Specifically, this word ponēros pertains to an evil action since the word contains the figure of metonymy which means that evil is put for the practice of it or in other words, evil is put for committing an action which is characterized by evil.

This word is linked to the adjective kalos in the second command in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and they parallel each other.

The latter describes those prophecies which were communicated to the Thessalonian Christian community as good as a result of critically examining them to test their veracity and were found to correspond to the apostolic teaching.

This interpretation is indicated by the fact that the prohibition in this verse we noted required that the Thessalonians continue to make it their habit of testing every prophecy communicated to them by those who claimed to be prophets of God.

Also, it appears that the verb apecho is in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 is linked to the verb katechō in the second command in 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

The latter means “to hold on to, to hold fast to, to cling to” since the word pertains to adhering firmly to something.

It speaks of the Thessalonians accepting as truth and originating from God those prophecies that critically examined to test their veracity to determine if they were originating from God or not.

It pertains to accepting them as corresponding to the apostolic teaching of Paul.

Therefore, this would indicate that the second command in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 is linked with the prohibition in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 and thus both the adjective kalos and ponēros are describing prophetic utterances.

Those which are described by the former are to be held on to firmly by the Thessalonians while on the other hand, those which are described by the latter are to be rejected.

However, the adjective pas and the noun eidous would also indicate that Paul is not only thinking of the Thessalonians not only rejecting false prophetic utterances but also any action which is characterized as evil.

The former is used of the totality of any object, mass, collective or extension and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.[1]

The latter we noted pertains to a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality.

Here in 1 Thessalonians 5:22, this noun is modified by the adjective ponēros.

Thus the noun eidos refers to the actions which are evil in character and quality.

The adjective pas is in the first attributive position and functions as an attributive genitive which means it is specifying an attribute or innate quality of the head substantive which is the noun eidos.

This type of genitive is more emphatic than a simple adjective and expresses quality like an adjective but with more sharpness and distinctness.

Therefore, the adjective pas emphasizes the totality of evil actions in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions, which the Thessalonians were to abstain from committing.

So we can see that these two words are not merely speaking of false prophetic utterances but also any action which is evil.

Now, interestingly, this fourth and final prohibition in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 parallels the first prohibition in 1 Thessalonians 5:15.

The latter required that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community continue to make it their habit of taking personal responsibility of not paying back an evil word or action in exchange for another evil word or action to the detriment of anyone.

Evil originates with Satan and began when he rejected the authority of God in eternity past (Is. 14:12-14).

Evil in its root essence is independence from God.

The rejection of authority and rebellion against authority is evil.

Conspiracy and revolution are evil (Ps. 64:4-5; Prov. 17:11).

Evil is Satan’s policy as the ruler of this world and is the way that he operates as ruler of this world and he seeks to capture and control the human soul with his policy of evil.

Satan seeks to establish his own millennium and become the victor in the angelic conflict through his policy of evil.

All sin is evil but not all evil is sin since evil includes human good, which is the attempt by man to solve his problems apart from the Word of God and thus God’s will.

God does judge evil (Ps. 34:16; Isa. 13:11) and He will punish evil (Jonah 3:10).

Evil will eventually be eliminated in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ (Zeph. 3:14-15) and will be permanently eliminated when Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:7-10).

Evil is located in the soul (Matt. 6:23; 15:19) and shortens life (Amos 5:14-15) and is distinguished from sin (1 Chron. 21:1, 17).

The believer is warned to beware of people who practice evil (Phil. 3:2) and those under the influence of evil always have a price (1 Tim. 6:10).

Evil people seek to build happiness on someone else’s unhappiness (Ps. 35:11-13) and is self-destructive (Ps. 34:21).

[1] Louw and Nida 58.23