With the recent tragedy at Newtown Connecticut, the problem of evil is on everyone’s mind. How could such an evil act be perpetrated? How could God allow such evil? Would a loving God really allow the deaths of 20 innocent children?
Tragedies like this, and the questions it raises, lead meany people to blame God. Others point to this problem as evidence that a true God does not exist. Or they reshape their thoughts about God. He is nice and helpful and all, but limited. Like an old grandfather, he is saddened by our losses and didn’t want this to happen. He was just unable to prevent it – or worse, he didn’t see it coming.
In contrast to such man-centered thoughts, the Scripture’s teaching on evil and suffering is that God permits it, and works behind it, to accomplish His purposes. For those who love God and believe in Him (the elect), God works everything together for their good (Rom. 8:28). And ultimately, God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). God “does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?'” (Dan. 4:35). He “has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Prov. 16:4). And Amos 3:6 declares soberingly, “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?”
If God is truly sovereign, then, why did He choose to allow such sin and suffering in this world? Theologians refer to this as “the problem of evil.” Why does evil exist, in such poignant and powerful measure as displayed so chillingly just this last week? This question is not merely for theists. What explanation can atheists give to this puzzling question? They would have to explain how evil, as a category, can exist without a holy God. If there is no God, than who’s to say what evil is?
Ultimately, Jonathan Edwards has perhaps the clearest answer that I have found. I delve into his thought a bit in this article, but here I want to share a quote I recently included in my SS class this past Sunday. May it help clarify your thinking on this point, and see how truly great and glorious God really is.
God’s awful majesty, his authority and dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness… would not shine forth as the [other parts of divine glory] do, and also the glory of his goodness, love, and holiness would be faint without them; nay, they could scarcely shine forth at all… There would be no manifestation of God’s grace or true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be saved from. No matter how much happiness he might bestow, his goodness would not be nearly as highly prized and admired…. and the sense of his goodness heightened. So evil is necessary if the glory of God is to be perfectly and completely displayed
[quoted in Chosen for Life by Sam Storms (Crossway, 2007), pg. 186-187]
As a follow up to this thought, here are some earlier articles of mine along these same lines.
It would appear that Edwards is limiting God. Does God really need evil to perfectly and completely display his glory? What if Adam and Eve had never sinned? What if, down through the ages, no one has sinned yet? What if we were all still living in the “Garden of Eden?” If I follow Edwards’s logic none of us would know God’s glory. We want cut and dried answers to this problem of evil vs God. There is no cut and dried answer. This is one of the great tensions of scripture. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. God commanded his people to completely destroy other nations including animals, women, and children. God started the contest between himself and Satan with Job caught in the middle. The whole book of Job is man trying to figure out how God and evil can be reconciled. Job did everything right. Job had no idea why God was singling him out. Then when Job asked God why God was doing this to him, God wanted to know who Job was to try to obscure God’s plans. God told Job that he would act like a man, stand up, and give him an answer. Job 40:2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” Job 40:6-14
6 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm:
7 “Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
8 “Would you discredit my justice?
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s,
and can your voice thunder like his?
10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
11 Unleash the fury of your wrath,
look at all who are proud and bring them low,
12 look at all who are proud and humble them,
crush the wicked where they stand.
13 Bury them all in the dust together;
shroud their faces in the grave.
14 Then I myself will admit to you
that your own right hand can save you.
Hardly the actions of a loving God from human perspective. God revealed to Job his glory through his creation and not through evil. In the end, Job repented in dust and ashes. This is the same Job of whom God said “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” No one on earth like him. One would think that God would want to shower Job with kindness and love. Instead God sics Satan on him. We don’t like to think that God started the whole contest between himself and Satan with Job caught in the middle. God started it. God didn’t merely allow evil in Job’s life – God caused it. God is God. He does what he wants and he doesn’t consult his creation prior to doing it. Mr. Edwards has it all wrong. God does not need evil to prove he is God. It might be a clear answer to you, but, much as Job’s friends had it all wrong about God, so does Mr. Edwards. Do I have an answer? Of course not. Neither did Job. When it came down to it all Job could do was put his hand over his mouth so that he would say nothing. Who are we to think we can devise an answer to this problem?
I can’t totally go along with the great Edwards on this one. Yes we can appreciate the good when we have experienced the opposing factor of evil. But this doesn’t explain the reason evil exists. It also ignores the fact that evil is actually and really evil thus blurring the lines between what is good and evil (there is the potential of saying that what is evil is actually a good thing). I have yet to find an adequate “theodicy” to explain the problem of evil. One thing is sure, we don’t deny that which we know (God’s goodness) on the basis of that which we don’t know. We can only trust. We must simply trust Him. Now, while we can’t explain everything (and even if we did know why – it doesn’t change the facts) we are compelled by Scripture and reason to believe that God is good and Sovereign because the alternatives are inadequate and certainly evil. For me, I would have to treat the problem of evil as a mystery.
I appreciate where you guys are coming from. There is a mystery to all of this and we can’t limit God. That being said, I do think Scripture hints at some points that bring us awful close to Edwards’ position.
In Genesis 50:20, Joseph’s brothers’ treatment of Joseph is stated as being something that God meant for good. God stood behind this evil action. The people involved meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
Also, Romans 9:22-23 indicates that God prepared vessels of wrath or vessels of destrcution for these reasons:
1) to show his wrath
2) to make known his power
3) to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy
The first 2 in the list above come very close to what Edwards is saying. God fitted people for destruction to show forth his power, wrath and glory.
Similarly, 1 Cor. 1:29 indicates that God’s saving actions are done in a way so as to make sure no human can boast in God’s presence.
One more insight we can draw from Scripture would be that God’s holiness and goodness, coupled with his greatness and power, combine to lead us to this conviction: that God has made the best of all possible worlds. In this world God’s glory shines brightly against the backdrop of the blackness of sin, and so we can assume that God intended this to be for some mysterious reason – and that what is, is the best of all possible things for us.
I’d encourage you both to see my further reflections on this in the post I linked to above “Was Sin a Mistake??“