Whence Evil: Did a Holy God Create Evil? – Part 1
We are living in a world at war. This is not something new. It has been going on as long as humans have worshiped God. But we are at war. It is being fought both in the invisible and the visible realms — the powers of darkness fighting against God and His angles. C.S. Lewis said it this way ( I am paraphrasing): “Every split second and square inch is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan”. Satan is not behind everything that is bad or wrong with the world, including things that happen in your life. But he is real, he is at war with God and God’s creation, and he has done incredible damage. So, while I don’t want to fixate on evil, neither do I want to ignore it. And one of the biggest questions we need to settle in this search to understand the wrath of God is: Can a Holy God create evil?
In my last post, I asked the question: “Did the God who created everything create evil”? If Jesus’ creation is perfect and good and Jesus created Satan, then: 1) evil is in some inexplicable way part of the ‘perfection’ of creation, 2) it gives a whole new definition of what ‘perfect’ and ‘good’ mean, and 3) if evil is part of God’s creation, and Jesus is implacably opposed evil and sin, then it seems that God is opposed to Himself. And Jesus tells us that a house divided cannot stand. So, what does the Bible tell us about where evil comes from? Lets begin by looking at what Scripture tells us about God. Here are a few of hundreds of verses that give us insight:
“God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1: 5 NIV).
“God is love” (1 John 4: 16 NIV).
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8: 12 NIV).
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3: 19 NIV).
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1: 17 NIV).
“For God is not the author of confusion but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14: 33 NKJV).
“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness” (John 12: 46 NIV).
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5: 21 NIV).
“And joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption (Colossians 1: 11 – 14 NIV).
Throughout Scripture light is equated with heaven, God’s life, goodness, righteousness, and Jesus and His Kingdom. Darkness, as in the absence of light, is equated with evil, rebellion, and the kingdom of the world, of which Satan is the prince (or at least he says he is; Jesus tells us that he is prince of the power of the air or the thief). These passages clearly tell us that God is Light, in Him there is no darkness, and in Jesus there was no sin. His light is the light of the world. It rescues us from darkness. OK. But what about the apparent contradiction between “He created everything, absolutely everything” and the presence of evil in the world exemplified by satan, who is a created being?
Is it possible that although God is ‘light’, and all that light means, He still created darkness and all that darkness implies – that is, evil? Scripture answers this question, and the answer is emphatically NO. . Speaking of false prophets Jesus says:
“By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” (Matthew 7: 16 – 18 NIV).
Luke amplifies this passage:
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart” (Luke 6: 45 NIV).
These two passages illustrate a fundamental Kingdom principle, which is applicable throughout God’s Kingdom, including to Jesus Himself and His heavenly Father. God cannot produce evil. God’s nature is light and life – He can no more produce darkness and evil than figs can grow from thistles. Although God can do anything, God is not the author of evil in the world. He is totally and completely good – He is 100 % light, there is no darkness in Him. And as Jesus tells us in Matthew 7, fruit is a reflection or a manifestation of the thing (a tree, a person, or God) that created it. The fruit of God is His perfect creation rooted in love and manifested in light. If the creation is good, the Creator must be good also. And evil is not good!
Os Guinness writes in his book on evil ‘Unspeakable’: “Evil is totally, radically, and flagrantly counter to the character and purpose of God”
So, if God is constitutionally incapable of producing evil, darkness, and rebellion where did this corruption of God’s Kingdom, sometimes lumped together and called sin, come from? And how do we explain God creating ‘everything’ but not creating evil?
In the next post, let’s take a closer look at evil, what it is, and how it works; but with the disclaimer that there are many aspects of evil we will never understand, possibly because we are not allowed to know.
Grace and peace,
John