ABHOR…EVIL, CLEAVE TO THAT WHICH IS GOOD

Stronger words could not be used to describe our attitude toward evil. Abhor it. It is the only time this word is used in the New Testament. It means to ‘detest utterly’ or ‘to hate’. There can be no compromise or accommodation of evil in any way in our lives. The Psalmist instructs us, ‘Ye that love the Lord, hate evil’, Ps. 97. 10, and sets the example for us, ‘I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me’, Ps. 101. 3.

Evil here is that which is evil in effect or influence. It goes beyond things that are essentially evil and includes that which spreads evil. We are to simply hate it. We hate it because God hates it. It is everything that opposes Him and contrary to His will. It is destructive and leaves its victims in misery and despair. This is entirely opposite to the effect of the gospel and therefore a reason why the Christian abhors evil.

Evil is around us everywhere in our culture. It presents itself in subtle and deceiving ways. It gets into our thinking and our lives almost unnoticed. How we need the word of God to keep us alert and cleansed from evil.

But today’s command is not just negative. Our lives are not to be spent only in hating evil, but embracing good. In fact a life that is filled with good will not be able to accommodate evil.

The word for cleaving here means ‘to glue or stick’. The idea is that embracing good is not an occasional or changing practice but something that is done continually and becomes the habit of life.

In our other two readings, Genesis 39 and Daniel 1, we have examples of these very principles. Joseph, who fled from the presence of Potiphar’s wife, demonstrated the need to abhor that which is evil. He asked, ‘How ... can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’, Gen. 39. 9. The injustice that he suffered did not deflect him from such a habit of life.

Of Daniel, we read that he ‘purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself’, Dan. 1. 8. The risks involved with his decision were great but obedience to the command of God is not optional, whatever the consequences might be.