"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He (Jesus) is righteous.  He that committeth sin is of the devil."
 
Not many of us in this fourth year of the third millennium delight in separating the things of our world into black and white or good and bad. Most of us, I think, have little trouble seeing the gray in so many moral issues. For instance, even the greatest and most charitable saints would freely admit to the presence of sin within themselves - and likewise, even the most sinful people we know are entirely devoid of good. I would hazard that given all the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein, that somewhere in his souls lies a spark of good. 

And perhaps I should rethink my very negative views about Dan Rather for wanting to interview Saddam. After all, in my darker moments, I'd have to admit it would be interesting to sit down to dinner with him, if for no other reason to discover what makes him tick - or better yet, to discover what enjoys doing in his spare time when he's not gassing his own countrymen. 

St John elsewhere in this epistle describes sin as falling into one of three categories: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The pride of life is that tendency in each of us to know more than we need to know - to satisfy that aching curiosity which rouses its ugly head from time to time, causing us to want to know and understand things which we have no need to understand, or worse, things which are none of our business.

My point is that morally, we don't like to think in terms of absolute good and absolute bad, because most of us would say (if we're honest) that each of us has failed to achieve an absolute good or absolute evil, and that we all reside in that middle gray area between the two extremes, but hopefully a little closer to the absolute good.

Such feelings contribute to history being so uncomfortable with the verse: He that doeth righteousness is like Jesus.  He that committeth sin is of the devil. So where in the world do you and I fit in?

Before answering that, I think it's important that we recognize that neither Jesus or His disciples had the slightest trouble believing in the devil, or at least in the principle of absolute evil - whereas many in our world have trouble believing in such things. The word has a tendency to discomfort our up to date sensibilities. A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal, while not questioning the patriotism of those who opposed the recent war, sought to understand the motive for their reasoning.

He determined, rightly or wrongly, exactly this, that because so many of us fail to believe in the devil or evil, that it's very easy to fail to see evil, even in its more concrete manifestations. The author quoted Satan's line from Paradise Lost: "Know ye not mee?...Not to know mee argues yourselves unknown." Essentially, to fail to know evil is to fail to know and understand oneself."

St. John is the great disciple/evangelist of right and wrong, of light and darkness. And in writing this particular epistle, he wanted to enunciate the truth that being a Christian involves something more than simply right belief. To be a Christian involves means more than an individual confessing belief in Jesus as the Son of God. It means attempting to live like the Son of God, purifying ourselves, even as He is pure. To do otherwise is to be not of God but of the devil. As the author of this article wrote, such rhetoric sounds archaic, and a bit antique.

Why then should we believe in the devil, or why should we believe in evil? Are there sensible reasons for us moderns, other than simply arguing that because Jesus believed it, we should as well? Yes there are. First, if I have learned anything about the human race in my twenty years as a priest, it is that those who do believe in evil are much more resigned to horror, tragedy, and moral pathos of life. Not for a moment are they indifferent, but they don't let such happenings paralyze their daily routine. Indeed, tragedy and evil help them appreciate God and His Goodness all the more. Further, they understand that the purpose of God in their lives is not to prevent them from evil, but to help them deal with evil.

Second, if we're honest, it's pretty difficult to say why one brother might be totally different from another. Cain had the same advantages as Abel. Are we to say that his evil is the result of his environment or upbringing? Surely not. 

F.D. Maurice was one of Anglicanism's great theologians at the turn of the last century. He grew up a Unitarian, as such with no belief in evil or the devil. Listen to his words on this: 

"I know I did not learn this doctrine (about the devil) from the precepts of men. I was not taught it in my childhood.  Those who I reverenced…considered it a fable…The notion of a devil was associated in my mind with many superstitions which science had confuted. It was held by vulgar people, among whom I did not wish to be reckoned…But, there are some things which are more terrible than being confounded with vulgar people. It is more terrible not to be honest with one 's self. It is more terrible to think that one is given over hopelessly to work iniquity. It is more terrible to be cut off from all fellowship with human beings."

That is, Maurice learned about evil through his own experience, simply from observing himself as well as others. And he continues: "If we heartily believed that we had a common enemy plotting against us all, making use of every man's peculiar gift or characteristic which is meant for his blessing, to work his ruin…, should we not feel that we have a common battle to fight?"

Of course it is the devil who by his age-long activity gives a certain kingdom-like consistency to evil, and build and evil world over against the Kingdom of God. And yet, the whole of this false world is to pass away. Christ was manifested destroy - or to dissolve it. He has already in principle dissolved, and is in fact to dissolve the works of the devil.

I've mentioned the advantages of believing in the reality of this Other World. What about the disadvantages of failing to see it? What are the consequences of believing that there is good in evil as well as evil in good, so that we never give an exclusive approval or condemnation to anything? And instead make the best of every tendency and entertain the hope that nothing is really bad or utterly false, but is part of the great mixed movement which has God for its goal?

Charles Gore writes that too many of us would falsely call such an attitude charity, or appreciative sympathy, or tolerance, or broadmindedness. "But we know enough of ourselves to know the fatal result of such tolerance or brad-mindedness. It eats at the roots of decision. It makes us acquiesce in things as they are. It paralyses moral action. It does this, St. John would tell us, because it is false. Tendencies are not all fundamentally good. They are not all moving to the same good end. We are not all going to the same place. The are two tendencies; two standards two kingdoms between which we have to choose; and our wisdom is to see each in its essential nature, in its ultimate issue, and under its real leader - Christ, or the devil."

Essentially, to fail to know evil is not only to fail to know yourself, but to become a moral wimp. Paul tells us, not that Christ has risen, to set our minds on things which are above, where Christ is - not on things below. And John tells us that if we really believe we have been raised with Christ, then we are to purify ourselves, even as He is pure.

Does this mean that John thinks that a Christian will never sin? Of course not. He says so in another portion of the epistle. He gives no support to arrogant claims of "sinless perfection." When we sin, we forget who we are and lose ourselves, but if our will is correct, we can recover ourselves. 

Nor would John be so arrogant to claim that there is not goodness in people who are essentially bad. The point he wants to make here, is that inevitably, and ultimately, and at bottom, we must make en essential choice. We cannot serve God and mammon. Every man and every woman must make a choice - for the Kingdom of God, or for the Kingdom of His adversary. 

As Gore states: "Our wisdom is to unveil the true principles of each kingdom - the real meaning of truth and righteousness, and the real meaning of sin and falsehood, that we may cleave to the one and hate the other."

There remains in this world of our two worlds, of good and bad - of darkness and light. What we can be sure of is that our Lord has destroyed the works of the devil. They have in theory been blown away - just the way a headache is in theory blown away as soon as we take our aspirin. Jesus' victory however is not theory but fact. Finally, it seems to me that the more we know evil (or at least accept its existence), the more we will know and understand God. Given this we can, along with John Milton, believe that one day beyond the shadow of a doubt: 

"Evil on itself shall back recoil
And mix no more with goodness, when at last
Gathered like scum, and settled to itself
It shall be in eternal restless change
Self-fed and self-consumed; if this fail
The pillared firmament is rottenness
And earth's base built on stubble."