…but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
Have you ever met someone that was so innocent that they were naïve? It seemed that they knew no evil, but they also didn’t recognize it when it came around, or labeled things evil that were simply unfamiliar. Paul invites the Roman church and us today to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil in a way that does not look like foolish naïvety.
The innocence that Paul speaks of isn’t blind to evil, but it does not operate carelessly in regard to evil either.* To be innocent of evil is to be blameless.* Jesus commanded, “be shrewd as snakes and and as innocent as doves’ (Matt. 10:16).* Elsewhere, Paul commanded, do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless [innocent] and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation’ (Philippians 2:14-15).*
The good that Paul tells us we should be wise to is the good of the truth of God’s word.* These two ideas are linked as if we are not wise to God’s truth (the good), we will not recognize what is evil. Similarly, if we are careless with evil, we will become blind to the truth.
In the words of Hugo Grotius, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet, and playwright of the 16th and 17th century,
[be] too good to deceive and too wise to be deceived.*
We aren’t ignorant of evil, but we are to live blameless of it.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to recognize the truth of God’s Word in an area of your life. Perhaps God would have you take note of the evil around you so that you can apply His truth in regards to it. Maybe God wants you to allow Him to make you blameless in an area that you have fallen into evil.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.
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*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 579–580). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 414). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 540–541). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.