If the Word is God, and God created the world and all that is in it, from whence comes evil? Did the Word / God create the evil we see in this world? No, he did not. Paul says that sin or evil entered into the world through man (Romans 5:12) and through sin came death, which was passed on to all mankind. In the second part of his prologue, John tells us that within the Word was life and this life was man’s light. That is the Word was the Light of the world. Notice the Scripture:
John 1:4-5 KJV In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Man sinned and separated himself from God—his life source—but God did not leave mankind without a witness of himself. From the beginning men knew God (Romans 1:19-20), but we didn’t desire to have the witness of God in our knowledge, so our foolish hearts became darkened (Romans 1:21-22, 28). Yet, even so, the Light shinned in this world through the things the Word / God had made (Romans 1:20). He called out men such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be the witnesses of Light to the world. He gave mankind the light of his spoken word through Moses and later to the prophets (Hebrews 1:1), and the Light of the Word / God shone in the darkness of men’s hearts, but we were no longer able to comprehend the Light of God.
What happened that man could no longer perceive the truth about God? What did we do that left us in a state in which we were no longer able to recognize the true God? Paul said that we changed the truth about God as defined in the image of himself that he gave us in Genesis 1 and 2, and we defined God in the image of a corruptible form of creation—whether of men, beasts or other created matter (Romans 1:23). Although the truth of God is indeed understood in his creation, this does not necessarily mean he is understood in the physical shape his creation manifests. His power is understood in the raw power of nature. His mind is understood in the reasoning power of mankind in that God’s mind is logical. The things he creates have a perceived end and can be understood through reason. That is, the world he has created is governed by laws and not according to irrational happenstance. Yet, it is to this opposing end that man’s thinking brought him, as he sought to understand God and the world without accepting the truth of God as his foundation.
Polytheism is a worldview that is diametrically opposed to the Jewish monotheistic worldview (which was light given to man from Sinai). Polytheism understands our existence as the result of many forces (gods) colliding with each other and the result is the world in which we live. They believed that this world was, in fact, not the real world but the result of emanations from the gods. Man, rather than being apex of God’s creation as revealed in the Law of Moses, was relegated to something no better than animal or vegetable life. According to the polytheistic worldview, man exists solely to provide for food, comforts and desires of the gods. According to polytheism we are not real, but a reflection of what is truly real in an unseen world of invisible matter. Is it any wonder, given this worldview, that we are unable to recognize what is really true?
Within the Word was Life and this Life was man’s Light, i.e. our hope of understanding Truth, but, though the Light shone upon the darkness of men’s understanding, we couldn’t comprehend God rightly. Jesus once told his disciples that, if a man’s eye (i.e. means of understanding) is evil (defective), the whole body would be full of darkness, and if the light that is within man is really darkness (cp. the polytheistic worldview), how great that darkness would be (Matthew 6:23)!
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10 responses to “If One’s Light is Darkness…”
Eddie,
Isaiah 45:7- KJV
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things].”
Sorry, Eddie. I firmly believe that due to The complete and total Sovereignty of God that He indeed did create evil. He also creates the wicked specifically for the day of Wrath.
Proverbs 16:4- KJV
“The LORD hath made all [things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.”
The Scripture also teaches that God makes us all, even the deaf, blind, and dumb. Exodus 4:11-KJV
“And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?”
So I must disagree, Eddie. Among other things that we may look upon as being “bad”, The LORD our God has His hand in all of it. Sovereignty. Gotta love it! :)
Thanks for reading, Eddie!
ps: I am using the KJV because I see you use it here. I prefer the NASB.
Donald, hi, and thank you for feeling free to discuss these things with me. By the way, you may use any translation you wish. I like the NASB and the NET for good modern translations. I use the KJV almost exclusively, because it is simply my favorite translation (with all its faults). I like the flow, and it is the Bible I used to learn the word of God, so that is why it is used here. I am not a KJ only person. All translations have their strengths and weaknesses peculiar to each one.
You took issue with my saying that God did not create the evil we see in this world. Okay, let’s discuss it and see what we can learn from one another.
First, let’s see what we do agree upon. We agree that God is sovereign. We may disagree with what that means—exactly, but we can agree that nothing that is done by anyone gets done without his knowing it and at least allowing it, and absolutely nothing or anyone is able to thwart his overall plan.
Now, let’s see what we don’t agree upon. You don’t come out and say it, but I presume you believe God creates spiritual evil. Isaiah lists a couple of opposites in 45:7. That is, God says he creates both light and darkness. Neither exists without his doing or having done it. He also claims he makes peace and creates “evil” or the opposite of peace—war and calamity, whether through nature (earthquakes, terrible storms etc.) or the breakdown of man’s plans (viz. economic disaster etc.). All Isaiah is saying is that God will judge the world for what it does—either for good or bad. There is absolutely no spiritual evil here that we can pin on God. He is completely righteous. He cannot be tempted with evil, and neither does he tempt man to do evil (James 1:13). If he cannot be tempted with evil and tempts no man to do evil, then the existence of spiritual evil must come from someone or something other than God.
Now, we agree that God is sovereign. He rules and is in full control of all that exists. The spiritual evil that exists does not, nor can it, thwart what God plans to do—which has always been to bless man. God is completely dedicated to accomplishing this thing. He loves us and wants to bless us. Problem is, we keep pushing him away. But God is a lot stronger than we are. Thank God for that.
Now, we agree that God creates the deaf, dumb and blind. No one else is able to create life, so he is the one who is ultimately responsible. However, is he the one who makes them deaf, dumb and blind? I don’t think the Scriptures teach that he is. Jesus claimed an enemy (or a satan) bound up the woman to her infirmity so that she was unable to straighten up (Luke 13:11, 16). God is not shy about taking responsibility for what he does, but Jesus blamed an enemy here, and the implication is that throughout Jesus’ ministry the infirmities of men, the diseases etc. were caused by someone or something other than God, and Jesus came and corrected it all. So, ultimately, God takes responsibility for everything from our sins to our infirmities and diseases, but this does not mean he forced us to sin or decided who would be blind and who would see. This is not what the Scriptures claim about him.
Finally, you claim that God creates the wicked, implying that Proverbs 16:4 shows that God has made the wicked man wicked presumably to show God’s righteous indignation in the day of wrath. If this is indeed what you are saying, Donald, you cannot be more wrong. Elsewhere, God says he takes no pleasure in punishing the wicked, but would rather he repented of his way (Ezekiel 33:11). Let’s put Proverbs 16:4 in context with what surrounds it:
The Message is a paraphrase, but it gets the point across. The Scripture says that God has a purpose for everything—even the wicked are included (not that he made them they way they are, mind you)—but he created the day of wrath for them. They’ll learn the hard way, if they will not repent today, but they’ll learn—remember God is sovereign, and his plans for man will not—cannot—be thwarted. He loves us and wants to bless us.
Have a good evening Donald. Lord bless you and your family. :-)
Eddie,
Quick response here-
I will definitely be answering back to each of your points, but I am simply wiped-out right now and am headed off to sleep! I need to be sharp so my responses won’t be crazy and hard-to-understand.
By the way, I am enjoying this dialogue with you!
Donald in Bethel
Hey Donald, take care of yourself and get your rest. Nothing is so important that it cannot wait until you are rested up. The most important things we already agree on. This is for fun–learning more about our Father and Jesus, our Savior.
Eddie,
Hello again! I have some down-time and would like to begin answering your responses above. I would like to take this in an almost “line-by-line” format, so that there is no question about what you said and what I am saying. (I find this method works very well when talking with someone online.) I will use quotation marks to highlight what you said, and then answer directly. Here’s to a good dialogue, and perhaps some iron-sharpening for both of us!
1. “First, let’s see what we do agree upon. We agree that God is sovereign. We may disagree with what that means—exactly, but we can agree that nothing that is done by anyone gets done without his knowing it and at least allowing it, and absolutely nothing or anyone is able to thwart his overall plan.”
Me: Yep, agreed, absolutely, no question, right on, excellent!
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2. “Now, let’s see what we don’t agree upon. You don’t come out and say it, but I presume you believe God creates spiritual evil. Isaiah lists a couple of opposites in 45:7. That is, God says he creates both light and darkness. Neither exists without his doing or having done it. He also claims he makes peace and creates “evil” or the opposite of peace—war and calamity, whether through nature (earthquakes, terrible storms etc.) or the breakdown of man’s plans (viz. economic disaster etc.). All Isaiah is saying is that God will judge the world for what it does—either for good or bad. There is absolutely no spiritual evil here that we can pin on God. He is completely righteous. He cannot be tempted with evil, and neither does he tempt man to do evil (James 1:13). If he cannot be tempted with evil and tempts no man to do evil, then the existence of spiritual evil must come from someone or something other than God.”
Me: Not to sound ignorant, but I am unsure exactly what you mean by specifically using the expression ‘spiritual evil’. Is there any other kind? Even when The World does evil, I firmly believe it has its roots in the spiritual realm. For me there is no distinction. Perhaps you could elaborate to help me understand your thinking.
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3. “All Isaiah is saying is that God will judge the world for what it does—either for good or bad.”
Me: I’m not seeing that in the Scripture I quoted. I see The LORD telling us that He indeed creates peace AND evil. I take this to mean that He is simply establishing His complete Sovereignty over everything, be it considered ‘good’ or ‘evil’.
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4. “There is absolutely no spiritual evil here that we can pin on God. He is completely righteous. He cannot be tempted with evil, and neither does he tempt man to do evil (James 1:13). If he cannot be tempted with evil and tempts no man to do evil, then the existence of spiritual evil must come from someone or something other than God.”
Me: Hmm. Again you reference the ‘spiritual evil’ phrase. However, please consider this- We both know that God created Lucifer who later on would be cast down and renamed as Satan. We both now his purpose is to be evil. Period. Since God is Sovereign, and He works out everything for His own end, would it be plausible to believe that God created Lucifer to become Satan and gave him all the evil he would need? Since nothing pre-existed God, and He indeed has made everything, why not believe that He did create evil for His purposes? It is not as if evil belongs solely to Satan and it is all his. I believe God gave it to Satan, but only so that Satan could fulfill his purposes in The Big Picture of God’s Will. I am not saying, however, that there is any wickedness in God whatsoever! Of this, you and I agree completely! There is indeed no wickedness in God, but I would say His Will may “appear” to our eyes to have a twinge of evil to it, but ONLY because we are finite and see Him as through a glass darkly. Just a thought.
Again, you said the existence of evil must come from someone or something other than God. I simply cannot conceive that anything was created by anyone else but Him. Not even emotions. He created everything. Even evil. Because He is God and He can.
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5. “Now, we agree that God is sovereign. He rules and is in full control of all that exists. The spiritual evil that exists does not, nor can it, thwart what God plans to do—which has always been to bless man. God is completely dedicated to accomplishing this thing. He loves us and wants to bless us. Problem is, we keep pushing him away. But God is a lot stronger than we are. Thank God for that.”
Me: Amen! I laugh sometimes because I am not God and I am glad I am not! I would only screw things up! Again, you and I agree totally on His Sovereignty. No issue here.
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6. “Now, we agree that God creates the deaf, dumb and blind. No one else is able to create life, so he is the one who is ultimately responsible. However, is he the one who makes them deaf, dumb and blind? I don’t think the Scriptures teach that he is. Jesus claimed an enemy (or a satan) bound up the woman to her infirmity so that she was unable to straighten up (Luke 13:11, 16). God is not shy about taking responsibility for what he does, but Jesus blamed an enemy here, and the implication is that throughout Jesus’ ministry the infirmities of men, the diseases etc. were caused by someone or something other than God, and Jesus came and corrected it all. So, ultimately, God takes responsibility for everything from our sins to our infirmities and diseases, but this does not mean he forced us to sin or decided who would be blind and who would see. This is not what the Scriptures claim about him.”
Me: I like that you are separating the two reasons for infirmities. On the one hand, I believe fully that God creates us all, (as do you), and He makes us exactly how He wants us to be. He told Moses directly that He creates the deaf, blind, and dumb. Period. I think you and I see eye-to-eye on this. Even though He creates people as He chooses, it is not Him being some cruel or inhumane Creator is the people He creates have an infirmity. This ties into Jesus…
I do believe that the enemy can indeed strike us with illness. Definitely. The Scripture you quoted was a perfect example of this. But I cannot squeeze the trigger on giving the enemy sole “credit”, if you will, for being the only reason for illnesses or infirmities on mankind. I believe even when the enemy does inflict pain, it is still the Will of God. But…here comes Jesus our King, and The Son of God. Jesus is able to discern the difference, and acts accordingly to each situation.
If it is an infirmity caused by the enemy, Jesus offers freedom and healing. (By His stripes…) If it is an infirmity “caused” by God, meaning caused by sin, Jesus offers reconciliation and healing. James 5:14-15 springs to mind. Now, I am not saying God causes us to sin which causes us to get sick which causes us to seek out elders for prayer! What I am eluding to is the Sovereignty of God in that He allows us to sin so we can see our frailties and acknowledge His forgiving power. Case in point: I sin. I do. Even as a New Covenant Christ-following son of God, I sin. I will sin I am sure until Jesus comes when He comes and takes me home! Say I fall ill due to un-confessed sin. It could happen. I know God my Father is allowing it to happen, not to endanger my life, but to show me His mercy, and perhaps to teach me humiliation. (Which is never a bad thing!) I hope that made sense.
To reiterate: I believe illnesses and infirmities are all from God, but come through either Him or the enemy, as He wills it. In either case, Jesus is our healer and reconciliation. So in the end, it all pans out and points to Jesus and The New Covenant. I hope that was a helpful summary!
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7. “Finally, you claim that God creates the wicked, implying that Proverbs 16:4 shows that God has made the wicked man wicked presumably to show God’s righteous indignation in the day of wrath. If this is indeed what you are saying, Donald, you cannot be more wrong.”
Me: Sorry, Eddie, but I strongly disagree with you on this one. I do honestly believe that God has created all of mankind, some to grace and some to judgment.
Psalm 115:3 says:
But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
Folks hear me say such things and seek to label me as some kind of “hyper Calvinist”, but all I am doing is showing what God has said about His own character and nature. I’m not making this stuff up! :) I have been walking covenantally with Jesus since 1989, so I have heard the “TULIP” premise of Calvinism, once or twice! Ha!
My belief in the total and irrefutable Sovereignty of God does make me look rather odd, even to some other Christ-followers. But….I understand and have long ince stopped arguing about it with others.
Don’t get me wrong, Eddie, you and I are definitely NOT arguing, and I am so glad we are not! I wasn’t implying that we were with that above statement. I just know that my relationship with God the Father is a bit harsh at times and seems to be devoid of free-will and personal choices. It simply is not true, but I am not ignorant to how it appears.
We agree on God’s Sovereignty, but it looks that we disagree on the details. No worries. You have been courteous, receptive to courtesy, and very easy to converse with. In this modern world of Internet and blogs, it is refreshing to find a person who is not seeking to lord it over me and try to pound their theology into my head. I am not some brand-new baby Christ-follower, and have been around the block a few times, so I appreciate your honesty and easy-going attitude. It shows your maturity and it shows you have a disciplined spirit.
I enjoy these small dialogues with you, Eddie, and am looking forward to your response to this latest offering of mine. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to indulge me!
Donald Borsch Jr.
Bethel, CT