Just because God is faithful to bring about good outcomes from evil actions, that doesn’t mean our evil desires and sinful actions are somehow justified. Sin is sin no matter what may result from it. All sin is treason against the sovereign Lord of the universe and worthy of death.

Read: Romans 3:1-8

Devotion

There is a common sentiment that, “the ends justify the means.” We often hear it in movies or books where the hero or the villain is doing something that is morally wrong but justifies their actions by saying that their actions will bring about a greater good.

A classic example is Robin Hood. He steals from the rich to give to the poor (who are oppressed by the rich).

A more modern example is Thanos in the Avengers movies who believed that he must wipe out half of the universe’s population to save the universe from running out of resources. Thanos justifies his desire to erase half of all life in the present by claiming he is preventing an even greater suffering in the future.

But this sentiment of the ends justifying the means isn’t only found in fictional worlds. There are many who try to justify their sin with the “good” that they intended by it, or the “good” that may come from it.

A common example is, like Robin Hood’s sin, theft. When a father steals from a store to feed his hungry family, there are many who will not condemn the sin, and there are even those who will applaud the father for doing what it takes to feed his family.

A modern real-life example of this attempt to justify sin was the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO in 2024.

There are large swaths of people who have come to the defense of the killer, in protests, social media posts, fundraising efforts, and calls for him to be released from prison after his capture, all because they see health insurance companies and CEOs as evil. Though the supporters of the murderer would agree that murder is evil, they would say that this murder was justified because it resulted in a net good of one less CEO in the world. The question is, are good ends a justification for sin?

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