The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good
“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” -Voltaire
At first glance it may seem counter-intuitive. How can something that is perfect not be good? But rather, it can be thought in this way: an idealistic perfection can get in the way of achieving the most amount of practical good.
Let’s say we have an ideal way that we think our local church ought to do something. If we don’t see it done our way, then we’d leave. Yet what Voltaire’s argument would suggest in this situation is that the most good would be done in tolerating something that isn’t quite perfect or exactly the way we want it—so long as it does not violate a clear command of Scripture—on behalf of the greater good.
Humoring them
One example from the Bible is with Timothy. Timothy was a Christian disciple that was almost as a son to the apostle Paul. Paul took him under his wing and developed him spiritually, and Timothy eventually went on to become the first ordained bishop of the church of the Ephesians.
But before his ordination, Timothy traveled about with Paul on his missionary journeys, and accompanied him in his various endeavors. And one issue that came up was circumcision.
There had been disputes among the early Christians as to the necessity of circumcision. Some thought that in order to be saved, a man must first be circumcised. This question was deemed so critical that the apostles went back to Jerusalem for an authoritative answer to this question. Their result was that no, a man need not be circumcised or required to keep the old Jewish laws of Moses in order to be saved.
Yet as Timothy began his journeys with Paul, his ministry was limited in that some of the Jews knew that he wasn’t circumcised. Was Timothy obligated to be circumcised? Shouldn’t he have upheld the ideal of the decision that was reached by the apostles in Jerusalem? Shouldn’t he have insisted that circumcision was not needed, and that he ought not reinforce an erroneous doctrine?
Ultimately, the perfect was the enemy of the good. If Timothy truly loved the people that he was ministering to, and he wanted to affect the greatest amount of change, he would humor them and become circumcised.
In the end, that’s exactly what he did:
Him [Timothy] would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek. -Acts 16:3
Timothy’s example
If Timothy was willing to suffer the pain and inconvenience of being circumcised, (which no doubt was quite painful, and took a fair amount of time to heal back up), then what can we sacrifice for the greater good of Christ’s eternal kingdom? Should we stubbornly stick to our own views and beliefs in everything: or ought we not rather to accommodate others out of love?
Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. -1 Corinthians 10:32-33
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