Is It Ever Right to Do the Wrong Thing?

by Erica Vetsch

Does the end justify the means? What a slippery slope. In A Scheming in Parliament, the characters wrestle with this question. Is it ever right to do the wrong thing? As the author, I had to grapple with this notion in order to write it into my characters’ stories. Here are a few things I had to consider:

1.     Who gets to define right and wrong?

From where does our reality come? If our morality is generated by ourselves, we, as humans can justify nearly any behavior. Our hearts, according to Scripture, are the most deceitful things on this planet (Jeremiah 17:9). Our hearts are little lie factories that we are all too willing to believe if its narrative suits our current desires.

If it feels right to us, we can make it seem right. There is no such thing as absolute truth, only the truth devised by the individual. Therefore, truth for one person can contradict truth for another person. Truth is relative to the situation.

The Christian believes that there are moral absolutes, and those are not set by humans, but rather by our Creator. A Supreme and Perfect Being, without sin, who has the right and obligation to sit in moral judgment on His creation. God has established right and wrong, the code of behavior and the standard by which we are to live.

2.     What about the example of Rahab?

This is the biblical account that is most often brought up when considering ‘Is it ever right to do the wrong thing?’. Rahab, a Canaanite woman, lied to the soldiers who were searching for the Israelite spies who had come into the city. She had hidden the men, and when asked, told a bald-faced lie about where they were.

The guards left, she helped the men get out of the city, and God did not rain fire and brimstone down on her for her lie. So she must have done the right thing, right?

I don’t believe she did. Lying is never right. ‘Thou shalt not lie’ is not an ambiguous statement. 

However, let’s consider Rahab. Rahab hardly knew anything of the true God. But that kernel of faith was enough to save her from the fate of the citizens of Jericho. She was brought into the Israelite faith, going from city harlot to the great-great-grandmother of King David, and one of only a handful of women listed in the genealogy of Christ. She is listed in Hebrews 11, the “Hall of Faith” of individuals we are to admire.

Rahab did what she thought was right at the time. Later, when she was exposed to the Law of Moses, she might have reconsidered her actions. God was certainly capable of performing a miracle and keeping the guards from seeing His spies. But Rahab didn’t know the character of God well when she chose to lie.

God was big enough to make something good of Rahab’s life, giving her the faith and training to know His character later on. To redeem her and her actions for something good that fit His purpose.

3.     Should we sin that grace may abound?

If we follow the example of Rahab above, we might deceive ourselves into thinking that no matter what we do, how we behave, or how little we try to be like Christ, it will not matter. Because God will extend grace, He will forgive, He won’t mind.

The Apostle Paul addressed that notion with the church in Rome. If God is so gracious and forgiving, shouldn’t we give Him lots of openings to extend that grace? More sin equals more forgiveness, right? We’re actually doing God a favor when we sin, because we allow Him to be gracious and forgive us.

Paul says, May it never be! Or God forbid! depending on your translation (Romans 6:1-2). We are to be dead to sin, striving to live a Christ-like life of perfection. We will not achieve that on this side of Heaven, but we are called to try. Repentance for sin is part of the Christian’s life. Letting sin reign over us, assuming God will be okay with it, is not.

So, is it ever right to do the wrong thing? The simple answer is no, it is not. The end does not justify the means. If our code of what is right and wrong comes from ourselves and how we feel in a given situation, we will say we did not do wrong as long as the outcome is what we desired. But if we are children of God, if we are believers, our definition of right and wrong comes from God Himself. We cannot expect God to be pleased, honor our decisions, or bless us and keep us free from the consequences of those decisions if we knowingly break His laws.

Life is seldom tidy, and our integrity is tested every day. Will we do the right thing? Even the Apostle Paul struggled with this problem. In Romans 7, he says (my paraphrase) the good stuff I want to do, I don’t do, and the bad stuff I don’t want to do, I find myself doing! Same, Paul. Same.

But we are to strive to do right when we know what is right. We’re to put away sin in our lives when we recognize it as sin. We will only know true right from wrong, and we will only know the true character and will of God when we spend time in the Scriptures, learning and exposing ourselves to real, absolute truth. 

Erica Vetsch is a New York Times best-selling author and ACFW Carol Award winner, and has been a Romantic Times top pick for her previous books. She loves Jesus, history, romance, and watching sports. This transplanted Kansan now makes her home in Rochester, Minnesota. Learn more about Erica at ericavetsch.com.