"Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thess. 5:21).
As Paul wraps up this epistle, he gives several brief reminders to the saints. This section of Scripture would provide good "memory work" because it provides concise reminders that can be used daily.
Sometimes the King James Version of this verse has caused some confusion. It reads "Abstain from every appearance of evil," from which some have thought Paul was encouraging the Thessalonians to avoid anything that anyone might think is evil, even if it isn't necessarily evil. Of course, this is impossible. Just by preaching the gospel, it will "appear" to some people that we "hate" homosexuals, Muslims, or denominations. Because the Holy Spirit recorded Jesus' miracle of turning water to wine, some people have mistakenly thought that Jesus created an intoxicating drink. To people who are determined to do evil "nothing is pure" (Titus 1:15).
In 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Paul is reminding Christians to avoid sin, regardless of how it is "packaged." Sin can come in many forms, but we must avoid ALL of them.
1 John 2:16 gives three general forms of sin, "For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world." We must avoid each of these.
1. The lust of the flesh. "Flesh" is often used to describe the physical desires we have which violate the teachings of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:5-6; Gal. 5:19). This does not mean that living in a physical body is sinful or that we inherit sin - if either of those were true, Jesus would have had sin!
God gave us certain desires and then gave teaching about how those desires should and should not be used. Though we have a body, we did not invent our body and thus are not the primary owners of our body. We cannot claim, "It's my body, I can do whatever I feel like doing." "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10). You may have a desire to eat food that does not belong to you - God will teach you to control that desire. You may desire a man or woman that does not belong to you - God will teach you to control that desire.
2. The lust of the eyes. Sometimes, we mistakenly think that as long as we didn't "DO anything" wrong, then we could not have sinned. Wrong - we can sin with our eyes (and the mind which controls those eyes). "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). Jesus condemns looking that has intent, desire, or hope to commit some sin. When looking at something stirs a desire that is sinful, we need to move our gaze elsewhere and get our mind back on things that are true, noble, just, and pure (Phil. 4:8).
How often do the teleVISION shows that you watch require you to look away? How many things do your children see that they do not even realize they should not see? Our brains are complicated camcorders (video recorders). Unlike your camcorder, you cannot push a delete button on your head (or, on your children) and remove ungodly images from your mind (or their mind). Images might fade if they are ignored, but I do not know how long it takes for those images to be removed from the memory of our mind. Oh, be careful what you choose to repeatedly watch. We see some things, whether we want to or not. We see some things because we keep looking - abstain from every form of evil.
3. The pride of life. These might be among the more difficult sins to identify because many of them involve WHY we did something, and not always WHAT we did. Sins involving our motive, are often known only by ourselves and God - and if we aren't paying attention to what is motivating us to speak or act, then our action alone may not help us to identify our sin. Only by reflecting on our heart and God's word will we know of this form of evil.
The pride of Diotrephes caused a division among the church (3 John 9-11). He loved "to have the preeminence." He did not endeavor (work!) to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace with any lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, or love (Eph. 4:2-3) - he did just the opposite! He closed the door in the face of faithful brethren and slandered them with malicious words. The pride of life can disrupt any congregation. In matters of human opinion, do I work to have things my way, or do I endeavor for what promotes peace, whether that includes my idea or not? In matters of truth, am I willing to do the "behind the scenes" work necessary to teach the truth, or am I proud that "I know something others do not know" and make no effort to patiently teach them? This was the problem Paul was referring to when he wrote "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies" (1 Cor. 8:1).
Conclusion. Satan, our adversary, has been fine tuning his craft of tempting us with sin for thousands of years (Gen. 3:1; Job 1:7; 1 Pet. 5:8). We've only been learning to resist him and submit to God for a few decades at the most. We need God's help!
Do not think that you are strong enough to participate in sin but avoid its consequences - no man can do that. The wages of sin is death, so abstain from every form of sin (Rom. 6:23; 1 Thess. 5:22).