If God Is Perfect, Why Is There Evil?Näide

Day 3: The Only Adequate Solution to the Problem of Evil

We’ve seen that attempts to solve the problem of evil by denying one or more of its ingredients all lead to a dead end:

·If God is not omnipotent (all-powerful), he is not in control, and there is no hope.

·If God is not good, there is no point in defending him.

·And if anyone denies the existence of evil, he should also deny the validity of his own senses and thoughts.

Only the Bible offers a solution that explains the origin and future overthrow of evil in a universe created by an omnipotent and completely good God. The solution lies within the divine sovereignty/human responsibility mystery.

The Divine Sovereignty/Human Responsibility Mystery

Even though God is omnipotent and sovereign, he created creatures with genuine freedom to make real moral choices. These creatures could and did willfully rebel against God and deserve full blame for the evil that resulted.

Although God is sovereign, he did not make any creature sin. Everything that came from his hands was originally perfect and sinless.

There’s no question that God knew what would happen when he created beings with free will. He knew that Satan and humans would introduce evil into a perfect creation out of willful rebellion against their Creator. The real mystery is that God incorporated sin and evil in the outworking of his plan without being responsible for its commission!

Failure to believe both truths in this biblical mystery can lead to one of two basic extremes.

The first extreme is that God never expected sin to exist in his creation. But God’s eternal plan, which included the sacrifice of his Son on behalf of sinful humanity, proves that God preplanned for sin.

The second extreme is far more common and is a frequent objection by non-Christians to the biblical picture of reality. It’s the view that pins the ultimate responsibility for sin on God, sometimes in an attempt to lighten the burden of man’s true moral guilt.

This second extreme overemphasizes divine sovereignty to the near exclusion of human responsibility. But does divine sovereignty really make God the author of sin? The answer is that God is the designer of a plan that included sin, but he is never responsible for committing the sin. We must distinguish design from execution. Evil is caused by the free acts of God’s creatures, not by God himself. As Edward Carnell put it, God is the “author of the author of sin” but not the author of sin itself.

Even though God doesn’t approve of sin, it exists by his permission. In his omniscience (perfect wisdom), he knew that the plan he chose, even though it included evil, would bring the greatest ultimate good.

Permission, Not Approval

While God has not revealed all his reasons for allowing evil to come into his perfect creation, at least one reason is clear. Because evil now exists, God can show forth the glory of his grace not only as the Creator of all things but also as the Redeemer.

The reality of sin made it necessary for God to send his Son to overcome the power of sin and of death. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ were the greatest possible display of God’s love, mercy, and holiness to humans and angels. God chose the plan that would best demonstrate the splendor of his attributes.

Architect Illustration

So God is the designer of a plan that included sin, though he’s never responsible for committing it. We might compare him to an earthly architect who designs a large building or bridge.

Depending on the construction’s size and nature, the architect can predict the approximate number of workers who will be killed. The plans obviously don’t call for any casualties, but some are inevitable for a project so large. No one will blame the architect for these deaths, even though those who died were following his blueprints.

This illustration may help, but it eventually breaks down. Unlike the architect, God is in sovereign control. But his design is so perfect that he can’t fairly be blamed for evil. Instead, he will be praised forever for his goodness.