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The Goodness of God and the Presence of Evil



Often skeptics of the Bible, pose a question: If God were all-powerful, he would have had ability to prevent evil. If God were all-good, he would have desired to prevent evil. So if God were both all-powerful and all good, there would have been no evil. But there is evil. Therefore, an all-powerful and all-good God does not exist. How can such a God exist, since there are so many children who are murdered every day? How can this God exist, when innocent girls get raped? The matter to be told, everyone has his own definition of evil. For example, some would say, murdering children after they are born is evil, yet murdering children while the baby is still in the womb is not. In fact, killing babies inside of a mother’s womb has been legalized and become socially accepted.

Definition of Evil
Most people who attempt to answer the problem of evil, define evil according to their own experiences. Overtime, a perspective on the definition of evil is formed, and most people reject the biblical explanation of evil. John M. Frame says, “I might wish that Scripture taught something different from what it teaches, but what it says is so, and I have no control over that.”

A sensitive and emotional story is told by Donal A. Carson: 
“A pastor is cutting his front lawn. He looks up from his task just in time to see a heavy dump truck back out of his neighbor’s driveway— right over the neighbor’s eighteen-month-old son, who had been squatting behind the huge tires. The pastor accompanies the hysterical mother and ashen father to the hospital in the ambulance. There is no hope for the little boy; he has been crushed almost beyond recognition.”

No loving parents want to see suffering or death of their child. No words can describe the pain and the suffering when family endures watching their son die. Yet, most often, a question on evil is asked: “How can there be a good and sovereign God?” No matter how much emotional and physical pain is experienced, Scripture teaches us that there is a sovereign and good God.
Evil Was Not Created 
One cannot say God created evil, because evil is not a thing or a material. The first time that the word “evil” is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 2:9. This verse informs us that God created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and planted it in the middle of the garden. Scripture tells us that later God commanded that Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, otherwise he would die (Gen 2:17). Thus nowhere in Scripture indicates that God created evil. He made the tree that possessed the knowledge of good and evil—there were no evil, just the knowledge of evil. God was conscious that the world that he created was susceptible to evil. It was not a surprise to Him when evil began taking its effect. 

But what exactly did the knowledge of good and evil do to a person, when he ate the prohibited fruit? Victor P. Hamilton says, “What is forbidden to man is the power to decide for himself what is in his best interests and what is not.” Man now has the ability to act apart from God, or in other words, he was in the state of autonomy. Hamilton continues, “Man has indeed become a god whenever he makes his own self the center, the springboard, and the only frame of reference for moral guidelines.” Otherwise stated, Adam acts according to his will and not God’s.

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God made this announcement, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.” What a profound statement! What he meant here is that Adam and Eve gained something that previously they did not have, which was exclusive to God. What made man like God? It is the knowledge of good and evil. God has the knowledge of what is good and what is evil. He did not say, “Behold, the man has become one of Us.” Instead, God said, “they have become like one of Us.” However, there is a distinction between God and man. God cannot do evil and man can. Prior to the fall, man had no ability to know what is good and what is evil, now they do. The problem is not just the knowledge, it’s the action.

God’s Nature
Why couldn’t God create evil? We can find the answer in James 1:13–15,
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

There are two things that James says about God. First, “God cannot be tempted by evil.” This infers that He cannot sin like man because of evil, and that He is immutable. Evil has no control over God and God cannot do evil. Second, God does not tempt others with evil. No one can blame God for evil. This is a fundamental truth: God is not tempted by evil, or tempts others with evil!

Why is that? By nature God is good, which is the opposite to evil. James continues, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (Jas 1:17). All good things come from God, who is good. Jesus told the young rich ruler that God is the only one who is good (Mark 10:18). Psalms 106:1 reads, “Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps 34:8). By nature, God is good and NOT evil. Therefore, when evil comes, it does not come from God.

Satan’s Nature
Then who stands behind evil? Satan. The antagonist of the good God is Satan, whose nature is evil, as Scripture tells us, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Here, Apostle John calls Satan as the evil one. Out of the good nature comes good; out of the evil nature comes evil. This is why God cannot tempt others with evil, since it is opposite of his nature.

How is Satan’s evil nature manifested? It is through lie. Apostle John says, “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Re 12:9). How did Satan deceive the whole world? We go back to the beginning of Genesis where Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Satan, who is the master of lies, approached Eve, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4–5). Were the eyes of Adam and Eve opened? No, in fact, they became dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). Jesus speaks of Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Thus Satan’s evil nature through lies is in contrast to God’s good nature through truth (Ps 31:5).

But who is responsible for evil? It is never God, as James mentions, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust” (Jas 1:14). When Adam and Eve disobey God, it was Adam and Eve to be blamed for. To Adam, God said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife” (Gen 3:17), but Eve tried to blame the serpent (Gen 3:14). However, there should be no blame shifting before God, since Paul aptly reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:10.

God Defines Evil
People define evil by how they feel. For instance, the more pain a person experiences, the more evil he think the pain is. Take abortion as another example. People say killing babies in the womb is not evil, but killing them outside of the womb is. When is it right to kill the babies? “Currently [in United States], 57% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 40% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.” Defining evil in our culture becomes subjective. How can someone know evil from good? Universal understanding of good and evil comes from the fall of man (Gen 3:22), and that is why we all agree that killing and rape are evil. Yet, they are evil not because they bring pain and suffering–––although we all agree that they are evil, but because God said, you shall not kill or commit adultery (Exod 20:13–14). The ultimate standard for good and evil comes from God. “And if the unbeliever insists on his autonomy, we may get nasty and require him to show how an autonomous self can come to moral conclusions in a godless universe.” Evil is evil because it opposes God’s nature and out of His nature, God speaks.

John M. Frame makes two distinctions in evil, natural and moral evil. “The former includes anything that brings suffering, unpleasantness, or difficulty into the lives of creatures. Earthquakes, floods, diseases, injuries, and death are examples of natural evil.” However, we see no proof in Scripture of natural evil. Frame says, “Natural evil is a curse brought upon the world because of moral evil,” when referencing Genesis 3:17-19. Unfortunately, there is a big problem with Frame’s thinking. God’s cursing of the world does not mean that God started the natural evil, even though there are disasters and calamities created by God. This is substantiated by Isaiah 45:7, when God says, “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.” God’s interference into His creation is not evil (e.g., the Pharaoh story). Also, God allows Satan to act according to his nature, (e.g., Job’s story). When God acts, it is not evil; when Satan acts, it is evil.

Jesus Christ spoke of evil. “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matt 12:34). Pharisees are the experts of the law, and “promoted a special living tradition in addition to the laws.” They vigorously observed the law in their practices of religion. But Christ called them evil! Why? Their heart was far away from God. Evil is the nature that resists God. Christ says: “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet” (Matt 12:39). Evil is the nature that opposes to God.

Apostle Paul describes the evil behavior in 2 Timothy 3:2-5. Thus the biblical definition of evil is the resistance of mind, heart, and will against God. Rape and murder are evil, but so is the person who does not know God and yet condemns these things–––he needs to go no further than his own heart (Matthew 7:23, 1 John 3:3-4; 2 Peter 1:3-4). This is how Jesus defines evil.

God’s Response to Evil

Universal Destruction 
In Genesis 6, God saw the heart of man was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). And He said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them” (Gen 6:7–8). God’s response to the universal evil was destruction. Were the people different after the flood? No! God makes this conclusion, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done” (Gen 8:21).

Local Destruction
Another vivid example of destruction would be Sodom and Gomorrah. Even though God made a promise that he will no longer destroy every living thing that He created, He continued to destroy local cities, as it is recorded in Genesis 19:24–25 that “Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.” The destruction of the two cities was in response to the wickedness of their residents. Similar situation happened to the city of Nineveh, but there was no brimstone and fire coming from the heaven, and God used Babylon’s king to take them down.

The Destruction on the Cross
“The most heinous evil human act in history–the death of Christ–achieved the greatest good ever known–salvation for sinners.” Apostle Paul says, “For the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:26). On the cross, God puts an end to the evil. Evil people can now come to God through Christ. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Rom 5:7–9). God has shown his wrath in response to evil continually through the Old Testament, now His wrath on the elect was propitiated on the cross. His wrath has ended on the cross because his love has been revealed–––God’s love and wrath met at the cross to deal with evil (Ps 85:10)!

The Destruction of The Bodies
If people reject God’s love on the cross, evil will destroy them. Apostle Paul writes, “For even thought they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or gave thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened… Therefore God gave them over in the lust of their heart to impurity” (Rom 1:21-24). “God gave them over” is reiterated three times (Rom 1:24, 26, 28). Through history, God restrained evil to preserve humanity. It is either the submission to the Lord Jesus Christ or willful denial of the cross and live a life of self-destruction.

God’s Control of the Evil One
But is evil apart from God’s control? Even though God’s nature is good and not evil, does He control it? The answer is yes, as Dr. Mook helpfully points out that “God is completely sovereign over the lives of humans. He directs all things according to His will, and has unconditionally ordained some to be saved.”

When we observe the story of Job, we see that Satan came into the presence of God and discussed about Job. Satan accused God, “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?” (Job 1:10). Simply put, Satan says Job is righteous because God gave him things in life. Who would not want to worship this kind of God? “The Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him” (Job 1:12). Job has experienced the power of the evil one, Satan. All his wealth, servants, and children were dead. Who killed them? Satan was on the mission to disprove God and destroy everything. Satan even took Job’s health. “Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:5). Where was God when Job suffered? He was there, and God allowed evil to destroy Job’s life.

God did not defend Himself or make excuses when He met with Job. In fact, God only pointed to Job’s limitation and that was enough for Job. God’s response was, Job, if you cannot understand the things that surrounded you on earth, how can you understand what I am doing here in heaven? Job was crushed by God’s sovereignty and had no more questions. Thus he replied, “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know… Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 41:3-6).

God Control’s the Evil King
The story about Pharaoh and his evil act against Israelites reveals God’s sovereignty. After Joseph died, Pharaoh enslaved the people and made their lives miserable. Who was responsible for the suffering that the evil king brought? Pharaoh, the king himself. But look what God says: “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH” (Rom 9:17). Pharaoh responded by his own instinct when wanting to protect himself. Yet God says that it was Him who put Pharaoh there. Why would God do that? To demonstrate His power.

Nebuchadnezzar, “King of Babylon [during] 605-562 B.C.,” understood a hard way that he was not in charge of his kingdom or his life. There was a time when he was walking on top of his royal palace, and he said this: “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan 4:29–30). Nebuchadnezzar understood God’s sovereignty the hard way. God said, “You will be driven away from mankind… You will be given grass to eat like cattle… until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes” (Daniel 4:32). “The leading people of the nation were either killed or taken into captivity” by him. When Nebuchadnezzar captured Zedekiah and his sons, he killed his sons before his eyes and later gouged out his eyes (2 Kings 25:7). Yet God pauses his life in order to show that he is not in charge. Nebuchadnezzar learned a lesson:
“For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. ‘All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but he does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can war off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have you done?’” (Dan 4:34-35). Proverbs says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Prov 21:1).

Conclusion
In final analysis, “God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone” (Jas 1:13), but God allows evil to exist. He has full control over everything that happens in His creation and nothing can overpower Him or change His plan. “God does not explain the origin of evil in Satan or how Adam and Eve could sin in a perfect world,” or “the relationship between divine sovereignty and evil.” He is God, and He does not need to explain everything, as it is stated in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

The evil is not defined by emotional or physical pain experienced in the word, but it is defined by God in the Scriptures. Subjectively, people say, evil this or evil that, but they themselves are evil if Christ is not in them. When people will be sent to hell, because of their unbelief in Christ, in and of itself is not evil, but their rejection of Christ is evil.

Joseph once told to his brothers, who came because of fear and thought he would seek revenge. “As for you, you meant evil against me, But God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen 50:20). It was an evil act selling Joseph into slavery, but God used their evil to put him second after Pharaoh in order to preserve lives. God rules “over all things so that, through them, He will accomplish His ultimate purpose of glorifying Himself.





BIBLIOGRAPHY  

Brand, Chad, Charles Draper, and Archie England. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003.

Carson, D A. How Long, o Lord? Reflections On Suffering and Evil. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.

Elwell, Walter A. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997.

Hamilton, Victor P. The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1990.

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary On the Whole Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997.

Kittel, Rudolf. A Handbook of the Book of Job. Philadelphia: United Bible Societies, 1997.

MacArthur, John. Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth. Wheaton: Crossway, 2017.

MacArthur, John. The Macarthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.

Mcmanis, Clifford. Biblical Apologetics: Advancing and Defending the Gospel of Christ. Xlibris, 2012.

Miller, Stephen R. The New American Commentary. Vol. 18, Daniel. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1994.

Mook, James R. God’s Providence; The Problem of Evil. Section 2: Theology Proper. Los Angeles, CA: The Master’s Seminary, 2016.

Pew Research Center, Religion and Public Life. “Public Opinion On Abortion.” January 7, 2-17. 
Accessed July 13, 2017. http://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/.

Frame, John M. Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2015.

Frame, John M. The Doctrine of God. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2002.

Freedman, David Noel. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000.

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