I am reading the book of Corinthians these days and I came across this verse in 1 Corinthians: 15: 33 which says "Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals"
If we read Ch. 15, Paul is writing to the Corinthians regarding the resurrection of the dead. There were some people amidst the Corinthians who were claiming that there is no resurrection. So, Paul says that if there is no resurrection, then not even Christ rose from the dead which means Christ did not yet win over death. So, then we are all still sinners, and our faith is in vain. If that's the case, then we can all enjoy, eat, and drink because after that there is death and no life (v32).
In some earlier chapters as well, Paul is talking about people who are doing wrong things among the Corinthians and is asking them to beware of them/ get rid of them. Read chapter 5:2, wherein Paul warns them regarding sexual immorality and says "...Let him who has done this be removed from among you." In verse 6, he also mentions that "...a little leaven leavens the whole lump".
So, basically, Paul is warning us about the kind of company, and the kind of friends we have. We need to ensure that we stay away from people with bad morals and do not get impacted by them.
In Psalm 1: 1-3, it is written very clearly that if we need to prosper in life (v3), we need to do the following:
- Be away from the wicked (in some versions it says ungodly)
- Be away from the sinners
- Be away from scoffers
- Delight in the law of the Lord
- Meditate on His law day and night
In v3, it says, "He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruits in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers".
Psalm 26:4 also warns us about our company, "I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites"
Proverbs 22:24-25 says "Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare"
So, we need to stay away from all such kinds of people in the world, i.e., the wicked, ungodly, sinners, scoffers, people who lie, hypocrites, wrathful people, etc. But, in our daily lives, when we go to our workplaces, or anywhere around us, we do come across such people everywhere. In fact, Jesus also said that everyone has sinned. So, everyone around us is a sinner, how can we be away from all of them? If that's the case, we will have to go to the Himalayas and seclude ourselves from the rest of the world like many leaders from other religions have done. But, the Bible does not ask us to leave the world and get isolated! Jesus rather asked us to go and preach to all nations (Matthew 28:19) which means we have to be among them (physically), we have to enter their darkness so then we can help them, preach to them, and take them out from there and at the same time be away from them (spiritually, we have to be strong enough not to get impacted by their worldly behavior). Jesus himself was always surrounded by such people, they used to speak all negative things about him, and criticize him. He did not go away from them (physically), He was very much among them and kept sharing the word with them but at the same time, he was also not impacted by them (spiritually, he was not with them).
We need to do what Jesus did, we need to be among such people(physically) but at the same time be away from them (spiritually). We need to make the right choice when we see people around us drinking/ practicing corruption to gain money/practicing falsehood/ any such worldly bad practices, we need to be among them to speak the word and help them but we should not get influenced by their practices and start doing what they are doing. Romans 12:2 says "Do not be conformed to this world.." We have to be in this world to help them but we don't need to be of this world.
Prayer would help us get the wisdom to make the right decision and Word would help us understand what is the correct way to lead our lives. So, rely on the word and pray. Also, whenever we are in such a situation, we should think about what Jesus would have done if He were in our place and then make the choice.
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