Westminster Confession

Bible Study

 

Chapter 3 God’s Eternal Decrees  (part II):  Sin and Evil

 

By: Moses Flores

 

 

 

            In our last study, we saw beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has an eternal decree by which the world has been, is currently and will always be operating by.  God has not left the world to be “free” from Him and run according to the will of the creatures while God merely responds at the moment to the creatures.  He does not have a general goal that He is trying to accomplish.  Rather, God has, according to eternal counsel within Himself, eternally and immutably decreed whatsoever comes to pass.  Indeed, “all things” have been predestined by His wise counsel.

            Thus, there is nothing that is “free” from His control.  Were there something that was outside of God’s sovereignty, that one thing could be the Trojan horse that destroys and prevents God from actually being God and doing His will.  Were God not in control of the details, He could not guarantee the end result.  Prophecy was a very good example.  For instance, Isaiah prophesied about Cyrus almost 200 years before he was born.  Think about all that God had to be in control of in order to guarantee that a man named Cyrus would one day exist and free the Jews; his ancestry, that his parents would name him Cyrus, that he would be willing to do free the Jewish people as well.  God is certainly in control of all things, or else He would not be able to reveal the future through the prophets.  More fundamental, He would not be God.

           

            But, lest we bias our experiences of the world, we have to ask the question regarding God and evil.  If God really does control all things, does that also mean that God controls sin and evil in the world?  If He does, how are we to understand in what sense God controls sin in the world?  Is He the one doing it?

            The “problem of evil” has long been the Achilles heel of Theism, and Christianity especially.  The problem of evil has kept many people from savingly believing in Jesus Christ or accepting the belief in any God at all, and forming a breeding ground for Atheism.  The Westminster Confession of Faith offers the explanation, in regards to God’s decrees and evil that though He ordains “whatsoever comes to pass”,

 

“This ordainment does not mean, however, that God is the author of sin…”

 

            How are we to understand this?  First, we will answer the fundamental question of whether or not God is responsible, at some level, for sin and “evil” in the world. 

 

Does God use sin?

 

            Does God cause sin to happen?  Let’s look at some Scriptures and evaluate God’s role in sin and evil.

            First, we recall Joseph’s story again from Genesis.  Recall that Joseph said that to His brothers,

 

“Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” (Gen. 50:19-20)

 

            The clarity of the verse can only mean that God superintended every single action in Joseph’s life to bring about the present state of affairs in Egypt, which was the salvation of many lives from famine.  But when we look at Joseph’s life, we take note that there was much injustice, indeed much sin, on the way to bring about the affairs as they were.  What would have happened if Joseph’s brothers had not hated Joseph for the implied meaning of his dream and had just let him be?  How would the Pharaoh of Egypt have been able to prepare for the coming famine?  How would Joseph and his family have ended up in Egypt?  If they didn’t end up in Egypt, how would the Exodus have happened? 

            Joseph’s life was filled with much sinful influences.  His brothers hated him.  His brothers beat him and almost left him for dead.  They sold him like a slave and lied to their father about what had happened to him.  Joseph also had to work in an environment ruled by a lust-filled woman.  Her lust was so great that when she could not have Joseph, she lied about him and had him unjustly thrown into prison. 

            In all these sinful acts, Joseph implies that “God meant it for good”.  God meant them.  He intended them to happen.  God meant every detail of Joseph’s life to be the way it was, both the good that was and the evil that God used to get him there.  There is certainly no avoiding that.  Now, that God intended for them to happen is not to say that God was the one committing the sinful acts.  A person can intend for some action to happen without necessarily being the agent through whom it happens. 

We should also take note of the motive that Joseph reveals about God’s intentions.  God did not intend “evil” in Joseph’s life “just cause” or for no reason.  Rather, behind God’s intention in using sin is a motive to bring about a “good” state of affairs, not only for Joseph, but for Joseph’s family, as well as Egypt and the other surrounding lands that would be able to benefit from Egypt’s supply of food.

           

            The story of Joseph is not the only incident in the Bible in which God uses human sin.  We must recall that the greatest acts of God in redemption, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, were also foreordained acts.

            Jesus Christ, the Bible says, was always determined to the be Messiah.  Revelation 13:8 calls Him the “lamb slain from the foundation of the world”.  Christians generally take comfort in this passage knowing that God could view the sins of some people in time as atoned for on the basis that it was ever in the mind of God that Christ would make atonement from the very beginning.  Thus, believers in the Old Testament looked forward to an act that was already completed within the eternal mind of God. 

But the atonement did not take place in a vacuum.  That is to say, it did not happen without a historical context.  Rather, it took many sinful acts to bring about the atonement of Christ.  Christ had to endure the false accusations of the Sanhedrin.  He had to endure being falsely accused of blasphemy.  He had to be falsely tried and condemned.  And finally, He had to be crucified by sinful men in what would be the most sinful act in all of human history:  The murder of the Son of God.

Did God ordain this event?  Obviously He must have for it was the redemptive act the people of God had been expecting for centuries.  Acts 2:23 says that Christ was “delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.”  Peter goes on to say to the Jews, “whom you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.”  Also in Acts 4:27-28, Peter is praying for boldness and says this,

 

“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”

 

            The wickedness and sinfulness of all involved in crucifixion of Jesus Christ was all predetermined by God.  Sin is never something that is beyond the control of God.  Evil is never something that is purposeless.  The most glorious and sacred act of atonement was only possible through the means of human sinfulness. 

            Although God ordained the means of human sin as instruments to bring about His redemptive acts, it is clear from the Scriptures, that God is not the one who is committing the acts of betrayal.  God, though He had chosen Judas to betray Christ (cf. John 6:70-71), was not held responsible for betraying Judas.  Judas used his own will and of his own selfish desires for money, betrayed Christ.  Though God had determined to use Caiaphas, and Herod and Pontius Pilate, they are accountable for their own choices which they made concerning Christ. 

           

God and sin

 

            We have seen that God certainly ordains that sin and “evil” are used as part of His decrees.  However, it is not the case that just because God allows sin and evil that God is the author of it, or the one who is committing the sin.  Scripture is very explicit on certain points of things that God cannot do.  In James 1:13-14, we read,

 

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone…every good gift and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

 

            What James is attempting to say is that God is not the cause of evil in our lives.  God’s holy character will not allow Him to also be the author of sin.  Such would be an explicit contradiction.  Rather, only goodness proceeds from God.  Likewise, I John 1:5 tells us that “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”  The passages as well as a proper understanding of the attributes of God, such as righteousness, holiness, justice, etc… certainly lead us to see that God cannot, in any way, be the author of sin and evil.  He can, though, use the sinful desires and willingness of the creature to bring about His decrees without being responsible for the actual act as is clearly the case in redemptive history.

 

Revisiting the problem of evil

 

            The problem of evil has long been a intricately perplexing subject for Christians.  Through many long discussions within theology and philosophy, some distinctions of “evil” have come about that can be somewhat useful.  They are “moral evil” and “natural evil”.  Moral evil are those things that come through human agency.  They are things such as crimes; afflicting suffering;  murders; rape; theft, etc…  Natural evil are those things that bring about suffering but not through human agency.  Rather, it is suffering or death brought about by “natural” means in the world.  This includes things like hurricanes, tsunamis, animal deaths, forest fires, pollution, etc… 

            The question, as it is classically stated is, “If God is all loving, and all powerful, why is there evil in the world?”  The question, as it is stated, is not easily answered.  Acknowledging any two of the contained propositions leaves one with a contradictory third.  For instance, if God is all loving and evil exist, then it seems to be the case that God is not all powerful to prevent evil.  Or if God is all powerful and evil exist, then God must not be all loving.  How should Christians deal with this?

            First, we must not deny the existence of sin and evil – whether moral or natural.  We can recall the damage recently of hurricane Katrina and the devastation it brought to New Orleans.  We can recall the tsunami’s that hit Southeast Asia a couple of years ago.  As of late, we can even think of the recent surge of school shootings.  Sin and evil are occurrences we experience universally and personally.

            Second, we should note that God is in control of whatever happens in time.  Sin and evil are not things that God is powerless against.  How sin and evil are expressed is totally within the sovereign control of God.  In Isaiah 45:5-7 God says,

 

“I am the LORD, and there is no other,

Besides me there is no God; 

I equip you, though you do not know me,

That people may know,

From the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the LORD, and there is no other. 

I form the light and create darkness,

I make well-being and create calamity,

I am the LORD, who does all these things.” (ESV)

 

            The King James version uses the word “evil” in place of the word “calamity”, while the NIV uses the word “disaster”.  Some have focused on this word as proof that God creates sin.  But this is not what the text intends to say at all.  John Calvin comments,

 

“By the words ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ he describes metaphorically not only peace and war, but adverse and prosperous events of any kind ; and he extends the word peace,  according to the custom of Hebrew writers, to all success and prosperity.  This is made abundantly clear by the contrast; for he contrasts ‘peace’ not only with war, but with adverse events of every sort.  Fanatics torture this word evil, as if God were the author of evil, that is, of sin;  but it is very obvious how ridiculously they abuse this passage of the Prophet.  This is sufficiently explained by the contrast, the parts of which must agree with each other; for he contrasts ‘peace’ with ‘evil’, that is, with afflictions, wars, and other adverse occurrences.  If he contrasted ‘righteousness’ with ‘evil,’ there would be some plausibility in their reasonings, but this is a manifest contrast of things that are opposite to each other.  Consequently, we ought not to reject the ordinary distinction, that God is the author of the ‘evil’ of punishment, but not of the ‘evil’ of guilt.[1]”

 

            This bring us to the third point that even though God wills to use the sinfulness of the creatures, this does not mean that God is responsible for sin.  That is, God is not the one guilty of committing sin; the creatures are.

            Fourth, concerns our understanding of the concept of evil.  What is evil?  Where does it come from?  While this is a subject well beyond the scope of this particular study, I would like to offer something, that I think is significant in making progress.  That is this:  evil is not an ontological thing.  That is to say, evil does not exist as something with being.  Rather, evil is the absence of the goodness of God.  Recall that James said that only what is “good” comes from God (James 1:17).  Thus, creation, as it came forth from God was good.  But, creation was not created to be immutable.  Psalm 102:25-27 reminds that only God is unchangeable.  Creation, however, will “perish”, “grow old” and will be “changed”.  Creation, without God upholding it, can only revert back into non-existence.  It breaks down.      

            To illustrate, imagine an object suspended in the air.  Because of gravity, the natural tendency of the object – without being upheld – is to fall to the ground.  It needs no help from the thing suspending it.  Of its own natural tendency, it falls.  Creation, in the same way, when not upheld by God to remain good is allowed to change. Thus, when man sinned, he was left to his own “freedom” if you will to choose according to his own desires. 

            What this definition does is releases the Christian from the initial trap of the classical problem of evil as stated by philosophy.  For in the classical problem, evil is posited to exist as something along side God.  But if evil is not a thing that exist ontologically, then certainly God is not responsible for “evil” at since “evil” would only be God allowing the creation the “freedom” that is desires.

             Biblically this is consistent with God’s pronouncement of judgment in the Old and New Testaments as he “hands over” creation to their own corrupted selves.  For instance, in the Old Testament there are many instances where God is said to have “handed over” Israel to their enemies as judgment.  In the New Testament, God is said to “give [people] over to” their own sinful hearts.  Thus, God’s judgments, in a sense, are him withholding His goodness from creation and handing it over to its own corrupted nature.  This certainly makes sense of moral evil.

            But what about natural evil?  Certainly we must acknowledge that God decrees this as well.  But we note from Isaiah 45:5-7 that God is the one who brings natural evil as punishment.  Thus, what we often consider “evil” is actually an expression of the justice and righteousness of God.  It is often the case that people want to cry “foul” against God when disaster strikes, but if God is a wholly just and does not commit sin (cf. Gen. 18:25), then whatever happens in the world – both good and what we perceive as evil – is either an expression of the goodness and mercy of God, or the justice and righteous wrath of God.  But God does not sin.

 

Final word

 

            The topic of evil is not an easy one.  Christian and non- Christian, Theist and Atheist all have experienced sin and evil in the world.  How should we respond to evil?  How should we respond to God when hard times come?  Here, I think Job gives us some wisdom that is often overlooked.  When Job’s family and health were taken away, Job was asked to curse God by his wife.  Much like modern times, we are tempted to curse God when hard times come.  But Job gives us wisdom well worth considering.  He said,

 

“Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”

 

            As sinners, our problem is not that we experience things like suffering and sin and evil.  Rather, our problem is that we experience the goodness of God at all.  What miserable creatures we are to only want that which we don’t deserve from God but we cry foul when He gives us a taste of what we deserve. 

            In the end the topic of God and evil leaves with great mystery.  We know that God is certainly sovereign over evil.  But why some evils are allowed at all is certainly beyond our capacity to understand.  We must submit to the wisdom of God that God is always holy and so are his purposes, and even though we don’t always see the reason for some evils, God does and nothing can thwart his decrees.