On Eschewing Evil

1 Peter 3:10-11 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

The English word "eschew" is not used much these days, perhaps because there is not much evil that people eschew any more!!! Nevertheless, a wonderful formula is found in this terminology in the verse above. If anyone desires to "see good days," then he should "eschew evil," even in his speech, and instead "do good."

In this verse, the meaning of eschew is "incline away from." That is, instead of having an attitude that "inclines toward" evil, as the world does today, the Christian's inclination must be its polar opposite.

There are two other verses in the New Testament with the same Greek word as used above;

1. Rom. 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. We are not only to eschew evil words and deeds, but also "avoid" evil men who teach things contrary to God's Word.
2. Rom. 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. This occurance refers to what ungodly men eschew. The meaning here in this verse is "gone out of the way." The ungodly eschew doing good; those who would love real life and see good days must do good and eschew evil.

That such an attitude honors and pleases God is especially evident from His thrice-repeated testimony concerning the patriarch Job, a man that "feared God, and eschewed evil" (Job 1:1, 1:8, 2:3), "a perfect and an upright man." Job saw some bad days, of course, but there were far more good days of great blessings until he finally died "full of days" (Job 42:17).

Like Job, let us eschew - shun, avoid, run away from - evil in any form!!!