In St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he warns that “bad company corrupts good morals” (15:33). 

This often quoted scripture passage mentions something that many of us struggle with. Namely, those certain people in our lives that tend to bring out the worst in us, or make living a truly moral life more difficult. 

 

It seems obvious at one level that we should try to avoid such people. How many parents try to do precisely this for their children? And yet, as adults it can prove to be very complicated because we don’t always have control over the people we interact with. 

 

Depending on who the “bad company” happens to be, we might even feel great guilt by trying to avoid them. Nevertheless, Paul is pointing out something that has tremendous importance as we try to live moral lives. 

 

We all tend to be influenced by the people we spend time with, so we want, as far as we are able, to be with people who help us to be more virtuous rather than those who incite our vices. Paul’s warning can apply to several different scenarios, each of which might be dealt with differently. 

 

There are sometimes those people who want to lead us into temptation or who encourage our bad behavior. Negative peer pressure can exist at any time in our lives, and so this is a kind of “bad company” that must be guarded against regardless of the life circumstances we find ourselves in. 

 

If someone encourages us to sin or takes pleasure in us doing wrong or otherwise becomes a source of our wrongdoing, then there is little else we can do than try to distance ourselves as much as possible. The difficulty here is that it might be someone we consider to be a friend or whom we’ve had a long relationship with. We can feel somewhat obliged to acquiesce and spend time with them regardless. 

 

But any human relationship that becomes a threat to our relationship with God is a relationship that must be let go of or at least altered. And this is not just for our own sake, but for the sake of the other person as well. 

 

In charity, we do not want them to be a person who leads another person (especially ourselves) into sin. Therefore, distancing ourselves from them can become itself an act of charity on our part.

 

A second kind can also cause us problems. This is when someone simply sets a bad example or engages in immoral behavior. 

 

We may not be immediately affected, but over time their behavior can influence ours. An example of this would be someone who uses profanity. We may not use it ourselves, but hearing it often enough can influence our thoughts and it can become a part of our “internal” voice, which can then affect what we might end up thinking or saying ourselves. 

 

Additionally, witnessing other people’s bad behavior can cause us to develop a certain ambivalence towards sin in others, which can create a greater tolerance for our own sins as well. The particularly difficult thing about this situation is that it might be coming from those we have no choice but to interact with, such as perhaps, someone we work with. 

 

Even if we have no choice but to be around such people, we can still choose how we respond. Perhaps there would be an opportunity to say something to them, perhaps our good example can run counter to theirs, perhaps their wrongdoing becomes the motivation for us to pray for them. 

 

If we can’t change the situation or the person’s behavior, at the very least we can allow it to become an opportunity for our own growth in charity. 

 

There are, of course, other types of relationships that can also greatly influence our own moral conduct. Some of these will be examined in the next column.