And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just. (Romans 3:8, NKJV)
The end does not justify the means. The apostle Paul sarcastically slays the slanderous report that he was guilty of preaching such falsehood. “The end justifies the means” is worldly wisdom that rationalizes evil, cloaking it behind a veil of good intentions and good results. It is an outcome-based approach to spiritual things that uses results to justify unscriptural means of obtaining them. For example, the doctrine that there are “many ways to heaven” illustrates this futile attempt to approve what God rejects. The end (heaven) is used to prejudice against how one gets there (the means). “As long as you are sincere” replaces what God’s word says about how to get to heaven – because the end is good. But, while the end (heaven) is good, Jesus is the only Way (means) to the Father in heaven (Jno. 14:6). So, as grand and glorious as heaven is, our “means” of going there is determined by God. We cannot say “there are many ways (means) to heaven, so choose the way that suits you,” when God says there is only one Way (and that is the way that suits Him). All other ways fail. God’s word reveals the end and the means to attain what is good; both must be respected.
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