Everyone wants to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong, even if it's only in their own eyes. People often disagree on what is right and what is wrong, but more often they disagree about why they think something is right or wrong. If everyone agreed on what makes something right or wrong, then they may be able to agree more on whether something is good or bad. People would hear less questions from friends and acquaintances like, "If it's not harming anyone, why is it bad?" "If no one finds out what was done, then is it really wrong?" or "If it's for a good cause, then aren't the bad means justified?" What if we all knew what makes something bad, or as the Bible calls it, sin?
Trying to figure out what makes something a sin or not is not a new question. People have been doing bad things and sinning for nearly as long as there have been people on earth. Way back at the time of the creation of the world, the first two humans God created sinned, and they tried to answer why they did what they did (Genesis 3:12-13). When God, Himself, confronted them, He said they had done wrong, because they disobeyed Him (Genesis 3:11). As time progressed, more and more people on earth sinned and disobeyed God. Even God's own chosen nation of Israel "did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God," (Judges 3:7). The Isrealites, though, did not believe what they were doing was wrong, because "in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit," (Judges 17:6). God's view of goodness and sin does not always match what people believe, but who should get the last word on the matter?
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| Some think determining right and wrong is as easy as picking the "angel" or the "devil," but the devil "masquerades as an angel," (2 Corinthians 11:14), a human's nature is devilish; doing what God hates (Ephesians 2:4) and anyone who does not know God and the truth has a "conscience that has been seared as with a hot iron," (1 Timothy 4:2). |
Perhaps the question should instead be: Who had the first word on the matter of good and evil? Certainly someone who knows what makes an action good or evil would more than likely be the first person to ever talk about such things. In the Bible God often speaks about sin and doing wrong and directly compares it to doing something foolish. The opposite of foolishness is wisdom. Whoever spoke first about wisdom would most likely know the most about it, as well as goodness. Even more so would be the person who created wisdom themselves. In Proverbs, the biggest book of wisdom in the Bible, it is written about wisdom in chapter 8 from verses 22 to 23 and 30:
The Lord brought me forth as the first of His works,
before His deeds of old;
I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
Then I was constantly at His side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in His presence
Wisdom, which is to say goodness, existed before any part of creation, and it has always been at God's side. God has the first word on wisdom, and so He should also have the last. Though humans can justify anything they do in their own minds, humans do not get the final verdict on whether what they have done is right or wrong. For it is written, "All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord," (Proverbs 16:2). Something is not right or wrong because of anything any human says, but only because of what God says, and how He judges it. God should know better than anyone what makes something good or just, because He, Himself, is good (Luke 18:19) and He is just (Psalm 89:14).
It is the Lord who determines what is right and wise, and He has given us the ways of wisdom and goodness so that everyone who keeps His ways will be blessed (Proverbs 8:32). Goodness is a wonderful thing, "but those who fail to find [wisdom] harm themselves; all who hate [what is right] love death,” (Proverbs 8:36). Do not love death, but instead love God, and in so loving Him obey Him and do what is right (John 14:15).
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| "And God spoke all these words:" (Exodus 20:1). |
Source
- The Bible (New International Version)