Do No Harm
Take a couple minutes out of your life and try to understand what Jesus is saying. Before reading please understand more broadly the Greek word for “evil” which is “full of labors, annoyances, hardships, pressed and harassed by labors bringing toils, annoyances, perils; of a time full of peril to Christian faith and steadfastness; causing pain and trouble; bad, of a bad nature or condition; in a physical sense: diseased or blind; in an ethical sense: evil wicked, bad” (https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek) In other words, evil is anything harmful in an array of ways. “First, do no harm.”
The Hebrew word in the Old Testament is similar to the Greek. “Biblical scholars, philosophers, and cultural critics alike trace the modern, Western concept of evil, defined as something like ‘intentional, superlative wickedness’, back to the Hebrew Bible…” but “…it is unclear that it ever descends to the depths of immorality conjured by the modern English word ‘evil’…” (https://classicalstudies.org) So, the emphasis is that God, as the heavenly Father, has only plans for us that are healthy and beneficial for us just as any earthly father would. Willful disobedience, yes, but most often a falling short or a missing of the mark.
The only other point to be emphasized is that God is not continually judging and condemning us. In fact Satan is the “accuser of the brethren” and has taken upon himself that fool’s errand, standing in opposition against God’s love for us, “the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10) and in the same passage is his undoing and ultimate end.
Maybe a better word to substitute for “evil” in the following paragraphs is “harm” or “harmful.”
When the individual judgment arrives, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19, New International Version) Thus, we bring upon our own selves this verdict. It is by our own corrupt choices. So, it is not God bringing the hammer down. It is the built-in result of exercising the free will God gave everyone, and sadly, to reject Jesus. Yes, the Final Judgment is a reality, but not yet. “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts…” (Hebrews 3:12–15, NIV, my edits)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:16–21, NIV)
