The End does not Justify the Means

The End does not Justify the Means

Our title is a common phrase that has been used in philosophy and in practical life for years and years. Some agree. Some disagree. I would like to view it from another perspective.

Many people, though not as many as at an earlier time, still believe in something called “moral absolutes.” These are encoded in such things as the Ten Commandments and other scriptural texts (“scriptural” can refer to other religons’ sacred texts). One of the important features of such moral absolutes is that they are actually written down.

But it seems many more people today have embraced moral relativism, in which the standards of morality are decided by the mood of society at the moment. What was forbidden before is allowed now. And it is not only allowed, but it must not be criticized, and further, must be affirmed. That is moral relativism encoded in public policy.

In a morally relativistic world, the means to an end are justified by the desired end. Censoring unfavorable opinions is allowed because of the absolute importance of a view that only came into vogue yesterday. People are not invited to think and debate, but only to agree, or be silent. That is but one example.

But the perspective from which I would like to evaluate the phrase, “the end does not justify the means,” (a phrase that I fully embrace, though I may not always practice it so faithfully), is based on the following verse: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10 NAS95)

Some day, when we stand before God (and, we will all stand before God), we will be judged “for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” This applies, in different ways, to both believers and unbelievers. For believers, we are saved and forgiven by faith in Christ. But our obedience and disobedience will be noted in relation to our (un)faithfulness. For unbelievers, such sin will be used as confirmation of their unrighteousness, for which they will be condemned, having not received the righteousness available in Christ.

Does anyone really think that they will only be judged for the ends they pursued, and not for the adoption of all kinds of cruel and selfish acts to achieve the “noble” ends? Does not “his deeds in the body” include, and even refer more specifically, to the smaller, daily acts of disobedience(the means), even if we sanctify them in our own minds as excusable? And one more time, if we agree that the highest and best End that supersedes all other ends is “to the glory of God,” then can we really posit that our dirty schemes of lying and deceiving contribute in any way to the high and holy End of glorifying God? I believe that there will be many self-righteous do-gooders at the judgment who will be shocked that God was not so pleased with their moral relativism and abandonment of Biblical and constitutional norms as they were at the time.

No, the ends do not justify the means.