Life24.⑴如果一个人在避恶如罪之前意愿并实行良善，那么他所意愿并实行的良善不是良善。这是因为他在如此行之前，并不在主里面，如前所述。例如：一个人若施舍穷人，帮助穷乏的人，捐赠礼拜的场所或教堂和医院，向教会、国家和同胞行善，教导福音，使灵魂皈依，公平审判，诚实经商，正直工作，然而却轻视如罪的邪恶，像欺诈、奸淫、仇恨、亵渎等等，就只能行诸如含有邪恶在里面的那种良善，因为他是从自己，而不是从神行善。因此，在这善行里面的，是他自己，而不是主；人自己在里面的善行都被他的邪恶玷污了，并且关注他自己和世界。然而，如果人避恶如罪，如欺诈、奸淫、仇恨、亵渎等等，那么刚才所列举的这些行为从内在是良善，因为在这种情况下，他是从主而行的，经上说它们是“在神里面而行的”（约翰福音3:19-21）。
24. 1. If we intend and do good deeds before we turn our backs on evil deeds because they are sins, our good deeds are not good. This is because we are not in the Lord yet, as just noted [John 3:19-21).
24. 1. If a person wills and does good before he refrains from evils as being sins, the good that he does is not good. That is because he is, prior to that, not in the Lord, as we said above. So for example, if someone gives to the poor, aids the needy, contributes to churches and shelters, is of service to the church, the country, and his fellow citizens, teaches the gospel and makes converts, is just in his judgments, honest in his business dealings, and upright in what he does, and yet regards evils as being hardly sins, such as instances of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and the like, then he cannot help but do good that has evil within it; for he does those things of himself and not from the Lord. Thus he himself is in the deed, and not the Lord, and every good that has the person himself in it is defiled with his evils and has regard to himself and the world.
On the other hand, those same deeds recounted above are inwardly good if a person refrains from evils as being sins, such as instances of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and the like; for he does those deeds from the Lord, and they are called deeds “done in God” (John 3:19-21).
24. 1. IF A MAN WILLS AND DOES WHAT IS GOOD BEFORE HE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS, THE GOOD THINGS WHICH HE WILLS AND DOES ARE NOT GOOD. This is because before that he is not in the Lord, as was said above. For example: if he gives to the poor, brings help to the needy, endows churches and hospitals, does good to the Church, his country and his fellow-citizens; teaches the Gospel and converts souls, acts justly in giving judgments, with sincerity in business transactions and with uprightness in his work; and yet makes light of evils as sins, as the evils of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy and the like; in these circumstances he cannot do any good but such as is inwardly evil, for he does it from himself and not from the Lord. Consequently, he himself is in it and not the Lord; and good deeds in which man himself is are all defiled with his evils, and have himself and the world as their end in view. Yet these same deeds enumerated above are inwardly good if a man shuns evils as sins; as the evils of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy and the like, for he does the from the Lord and they are said to be wrought in God. John 3:19-21
24. (1) If a man wills and does goods before he shuns evils as sins, the goods are not good. This is because, as already said, he is not in the Lord before he does so. For example: if a man gives to the poor, renders aid to the needy, contributes to places of worship and to hospitals, renders good service to the church, his country, and his fellow-citizens, teaches the Gospel and makes converts, does justice in his judgments, acts with sincerity in business, and with uprightness in his works; and yet makes no account of evils as being sins, such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and other like evils, then he can do only such goods as are evil within, because he does them from himself and not from the Lord, and therefore self is in them and not the Lord, and the goods in which is a man's self are all defiled with his evils, and have regard to himself and the world. And yet these very deeds that have just been enumerated are inwardly good if the man shuns evils as sins (such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and other like evils), because in this case he does them from the Lord, and they are said to be "wrought in God" (John 3:19-21).
24. (i.) Quod si homo bona vult et facit, antequam fugit mala ut peccata, bona non sint bona, est quia non prius est in Domino, ut supra dictum est: prout si det pauperibus, opem ferat egenis, impendat templis et hospitalitiis, benefaciat ecclesiae, patriae et concivibus, doceat Evangelium et convertat, agat justitiam in judiciis, sinceritatem in negotiis, et rectitudinem in operis; et tamen mala ut peccata nihili facit, sicut fraudes, adulteria, odia, blasphemias, et similia alia; tunc non aliter potest facere bona, quam quae intus mala sunt; facit enim illa ex se, et non ex Domino; ita est ipse in illis, et non Dominus; et bona, in quibus ipse homo est, sunt omnia conspurcata malis ejus, et spectant ipsum et mundum. Attamen eadem illa facta, quae supra recensita sunt, interius bona sunt, si homo fugit mala ut peccata prout fraudes, adulteria, odia, blasphemias, et similia alia: facit enim illa a Domino, et vocantur "in Deo facta" (Johannes 3:19-21).