“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).

Calling evil good and good evil is as old as Eden.

Crass moral inversion

Eve justified eating the forbidden fruit: It was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom! The serpent and his counsel must be good. God and his command must be wrong. Our first parents turned truth on its head.

Their children follow suit. Cain stands over the corpse of his bloodied brother. The Jewish leaders hurl insults at God on a cross. Saul persecutes the church. In their eyes, their sins aren’t even sins. They call evil good and good evil.

Moral inversion is still alive and well. You see it. Pride flags adorn department stores and even churches. Women are called upon to shout their abortions. God’s design for male and female is demonized. In politics and business, success justifies the means.

When morality is in the eye of the beholder, anything goes. For the sinful nature, the allure is obvious. Everyone can do as they see fit, and no one needs to suffer a guilty conscience.

But God warns, “Woe!” Death and damnation are in store for those who call evil good and good evil. And God defines reality; people don’t. He judges according to his truth, not ours.

Subtle moral inversion

Martin Luther used this verse to expose a more insidious version of homespun morality. He wrote, “A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is” (Heidelberg Disputation, Thesis 21).

Imagine a fork in a road. Each branch has a sign that says, “This way to God.” In Luther’s parlance, the theologian of glory takes the branch bearing left. On this road, I behave my way to God. I need God’s help, to be sure. Who doesn’t need an occasional hand? But mostly, God gets to remain the glorious lawgiver, and I get to be the glorious law keeper. Feeling good about my performance is my assurance of salvation. All glory be to God and me!

That thinking turns truth on its head. It pretends sin is less than total depravity. It imagines God’s law demands less than perfection. It thinks a sinner can offer God something other than sin. It calls evil good. Woe!

The cross is central. It’s the only path to God.

Calling a thing what it is

A theologian of the cross calls a thing what it actually is. On the branch bearing right, God justifies the wicked. He gives forgiveness through faith to people who have nothing to offer him except sin. There’s no room for excuses or pretending, nor is there any need, because God does it all. All glory be to God.

For the theologian of the cross, the cross is central. The God of all—tortured, dying, dead. No one helps. It looks like the worst thing ever, but God calls it good.

When God’s law has done its work on me, when it silences my excuses and removes all hope in myself, God’s gospel shows me Jesus on a cross. He did it all, all by himself. He took my damnation. He gave me his righteousness. God declared Jesus evil. On account of that alone, he declares me good.

During Lent, we focus on calling a thing what it actually is. We embrace reality as God reveals it. The cross is central. It’s the only path to God. Our only hope is for God to do it all, and that’s exactly what he’s done.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, use my meditation on your cross to strengthen my grip on reality. Empty me of pride in myself and fill me with trust in you. Amen.

Author: Michael Seifert
Volume 113, Number 03
Issue: March 2026