They should also avoid every form of evil (Gr. pantos eidous ponerou). This seems to be the best meaning in view of the contrast with 1 Thessalonians 5:21. The alternative interpretation is that Paul wanted his readers not only to avoid evil itself but what others might perceive as involving evil (cf. Romans 14). It is not always possible, of course, to abstain from what appears to extremely narrow-minded people to be evil. [source][source][source]
Context Summary
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 - "without Blame" At His Coming
The remainder of the chapter is filled with brief sentences of exhortation, like cablegrams from our Heavenly Captain to his soldiers, who, in the previous section, are described as wearing the breastplate of faith and love. As we endeavor to put them into practice, we become conscious of a new and divine energy entering and quickening our nature. It is the God of peace who is at work, co-operating with our poor endeavors and sanctifying us wholly.
Each soul has a ministry to others, 1 Thessalonians 5:14. A sketch is here given of the ideal believer, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22; full of joy, constant in prayer, giving thanks in everything, loving with the unquenched fire of the Holy Spirit, willing to listen to any voice that may bear a divine message, testing all events and utterances with a celestial solvent, steadfast in good, and persistent against evil. This is a high standard, and impossible of realization apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But when the inner shrine is truly surrendered to Him, He will possess the whole temple, even to our physical well-being. God is faithful and will never fail the soul that dares to be all that He wills [source]
Chapter Summary: 1 Thessalonians 5
1He proceeds in the description of Christ's coming to judgment; 16and gives various instructions; 23and so concludes the epistle
Greek Commentary for 1 Thessalonians 5:22
Abstain from every form of evil [απο παντος ειδους πονηρου απεχεστε] Present middle (direct) imperative of απεχω aṗechō (contrast with κατεχω kaṫechō) and preposition απο apo repeated with ablative as in 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Note use of πονηρου ponērou here for evil without the article, common enough idiom. Ειδος Eidos (from ειδον eidon) naturally means look or appearance as in Luke 3:23; Luke 9:29; John 5:37; 2 Corinthians 5:7. But, if so taken, it is not semblance as opposed to reality (Milligan). The papyri give several examples of ειδος eidos in the sense of class or kind and that idea suits best here. Evil had a way of showing itself even in the spiritual gifts including prophecy. [source]
Appearance [εἴδους] As commonly explained, abstain from everything that even looks like evil. But the word signifies form or kind. Comp. Luke 3:22; John 5:37, and see nearly the same phrase in Joseph. Ant. 10:3,1. It never has the sense of semblance. Moreover, it is impossible to abstain from everything that looks like evil. [source]
Of evil [πονηροῦ] To be taken as a noun; not as an adjective agreeing with εἴδους form(from every evil form). The meaning of πονηρός in N.T. cannot be limited to active evil, mischief, though it often has that sense. The same is true in lxx, where it sometimes means grudging or niggardly. See Sirach 14:4,5; 34:23. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Thessalonians 5:22
1 Thessalonians 5:21Hold fast that which is good [τὸ καλὸν κατέχετ] These words are associated in early Christian writers with an apocryphal saying ascribed to Jesus, and very frequently quoted, γίνεσθε δὲ δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται showyourselves approved money-changers. By some ancient writers the two are cited together as Paul's; by others they are distinguished, as by Origen, who cites the saying as an injunction ( ἐντολὴν ) of Jesus, and adds, “and also (observing) the teaching of Paul, who says, 'prove all things, hold fast the good, abstain from every form of evil.'” The saying about the money-changers is probably a genuine logion of the Lord. Some have thought that the words added by Clement of Alexandria, “rejecting some things but holding fast the good,” formed part of the Lord's saying, and that, accordingly, Paul's words here depend on an original utterance of Jesus. If this could be proved, εἶδος form 1 Thessalonians 5:22, might be explained as a figure of exchangers distinguishing between genuine and false coins. [source]
1 Timothy 4:3Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats [κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων] Κωλύειν , properly to hinder or check. Ἁπέχεσθαι to hold one's self off. In Paul, 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; Philemon 1:15. Commanding is not expressed, but is implied in forbidding; “Bidding not to marry and (bidding) to abstain from meats.” The ascetic tendencies indicated by these prohibitions developed earlier than these Epistles among the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish brotherhood on the shores of the Dead Sea, who repudiated marriage except as a necessity for preserving the race, and allowed it only under protest and under stringent regulations. They also abstained strictly from wine and animal food. This sect was in existence in the lifetime of our Lord. Strong traces of its influence appear in the heresy assailed in Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. The Christian body received large accessions from it after the destruction of Jerusalem (70 a.d.). The prohibitions above named were imposed by the later Gnosticism of the second century. [source]
What do the individual words in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 mean?
Greek Commentary for 1 Thessalonians 5:22
Present middle (direct) imperative of απεχω aṗechō (contrast with κατεχω kaṫechō) and preposition απο apo repeated with ablative as in 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Note use of πονηρου ponērou here for evil without the article, common enough idiom. Ειδος Eidos (from ειδον eidon) naturally means look or appearance as in Luke 3:23; Luke 9:29; John 5:37; 2 Corinthians 5:7. But, if so taken, it is not semblance as opposed to reality (Milligan). The papyri give several examples of ειδος eidos in the sense of class or kind and that idea suits best here. Evil had a way of showing itself even in the spiritual gifts including prophecy. [source]
As commonly explained, abstain from everything that even looks like evil. But the word signifies form or kind. Comp. Luke 3:22; John 5:37, and see nearly the same phrase in Joseph. Ant. 10:3,1. It never has the sense of semblance. Moreover, it is impossible to abstain from everything that looks like evil. [source]
To be taken as a noun; not as an adjective agreeing with εἴδους form(from every evil form). The meaning of πονηρός in N.T. cannot be limited to active evil, mischief, though it often has that sense. The same is true in lxx, where it sometimes means grudging or niggardly. See Sirach 14:4,5; 34:23. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Thessalonians 5:22
These words are associated in early Christian writers with an apocryphal saying ascribed to Jesus, and very frequently quoted, γίνεσθε δὲ δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται showyourselves approved money-changers. By some ancient writers the two are cited together as Paul's; by others they are distinguished, as by Origen, who cites the saying as an injunction ( ἐντολὴν ) of Jesus, and adds, “and also (observing) the teaching of Paul, who says, 'prove all things, hold fast the good, abstain from every form of evil.'” The saying about the money-changers is probably a genuine logion of the Lord. Some have thought that the words added by Clement of Alexandria, “rejecting some things but holding fast the good,” formed part of the Lord's saying, and that, accordingly, Paul's words here depend on an original utterance of Jesus. If this could be proved, εἶδος form 1 Thessalonians 5:22, might be explained as a figure of exchangers distinguishing between genuine and false coins. [source]
Κωλύειν , properly to hinder or check. Ἁπέχεσθαι to hold one's self off. In Paul, 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; Philemon 1:15. Commanding is not expressed, but is implied in forbidding; “Bidding not to marry and (bidding) to abstain from meats.” The ascetic tendencies indicated by these prohibitions developed earlier than these Epistles among the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish brotherhood on the shores of the Dead Sea, who repudiated marriage except as a necessity for preserving the race, and allowed it only under protest and under stringent regulations. They also abstained strictly from wine and animal food. This sect was in existence in the lifetime of our Lord. Strong traces of its influence appear in the heresy assailed in Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. The Christian body received large accessions from it after the destruction of Jerusalem (70 a.d.). The prohibitions above named were imposed by the later Gnosticism of the second century. [source]