12.16.2004
How we understand God’s goodness has great significance to how we view God in the face of evil. Does God ordain evil to occur? Does God allow evil to happen? Alternatively, did God bind Himself by the nature of how He created us to be and is now unable to stop it from happening? The Problem of Evil is not a problem of evil, rather, it is a problem of how humans view God in the face of evil; therefore it becomes a problem of God’s goodness rather than the existence of evil. This paper will attempt to show that God’s purpose in creation requires that evil exist, and God retains His goodness and omnipotence.
The Problem of Evil, concisely put by David Hume, is this:
God is omnipotent (T1).
God is good (T2).
Evil exists (T3).
If God is good, then God is willing to prevent all evil (T4).
If God is omnipotent, then God is able to prevent all evil (T5).
If God is willing and able to prevent all evil, then evil does not exist (T6)
God is willing to prevent all evil (2,4). God is able to prevent all evil (1,5). God is both willing and able to prevent all evil (7,8). Evil does not exist (9,6). Evil exists and evil does not exist (3,10).
Here arises the apparent contradiction.1
Holding to the first three claims is central to Christian theism. Therefore, many aim at showing that God is not able to prevent all evil (T5) using some form of Libertarian Free-Will to reconcile the goodness of God and the existence of evil.
The Free-Will Defense is one of the most popular defenses used. This involves God creating human beings with Libertarian Free-Will—that man’s will is completely autonomous in nature and that man has the ability to take or refrain from taking any action. Evil is made possible if man has the ability to refrain from taking the proper course of action (e.g. living in peace with God or not). Therefore, God is not able to prevent all evil by virtue of how and why2 He created mankind. One large problem remains for those who support the Free-Will Defense: if it is possible for God to prevent a specific evil without defeating the reason for creating mankind, then (according to those who support Libertarian Free-Will) God is directly culpable for the existence of evil.
There are those who take the Free-Will Defense a step further3 by adding two claims: 1. The purpose of God creating the world was “genuine loving-relationships.” 2. God cannot know the future in order to accomplish so-called “genuine loving-relationships.” This defense is commonly known as the Ignorance of the Future Defense. God cannot know the future acts of moral agents that posses Libertarian Free-Will, because if He did know what they would choose, then they would not be free to choose the contrary. Consequently, God is non-culpably ignorant for evil because He purposed mankind for “genuine loving-relationships” that require the possibility of evil given that mankind has Libertarian Free-Will.
Both of these defenses require that God have an inability to do certain things. They focus their attention on defeating the claim that God has the ability to prevent all evil (T5). However, this route is fallacious because it depends on God’s inability instead of our comprehension of God’s purposes and His goodness. The Problem of Evil should be attacked on the conclusion that “if God is good, then God is willing to prevent all evil” (T3); since God is not willing to prevent all evil. It is not a problem of evil, but it is a “problem” of God’s goodness.
To understand God’s allowance of evil we must first define 1. God’s goodness, 2. what evil is, 3. His purpose in creation and 4. the role that evil plays.
1. God’s goodness is not derivative from any other source other than His own nature of who and what He is. When Jesus was approached by a rich ruler and called a “good teacher” he responded, “Why do you call me good? […] No one is good—except God alone.”4 Jonathan Edwards states that,
“…God is infinitely, eternally, unchangeably, and independently glorious and happy; that he cannot be profited by, or receive anything from, the creature; or be the subject of any sufferings, or diminution of his glory and felicity, from any other being.”5
Anything of value and all good things find themselves resting upon God’s very nature—all things find their value in God. “What do you have that you did not receive?”6 God is infinitely valuable, and to do good is to value correctly. God is good because God values Himself above all others. In Ezekiel 36:22, God says that, “…it is not for your sake…but for the sake of my holy name…”
2. Evil is a particular state of affairs that is determined when a person holds a thing of lesser value in higher regard than a thing that has greater value7. For example: both cows and God are good, but cows are not of a greater good than God is. Thus, the sin8 of idolatry is committed when the cow is valued over God. In the words of St. Augustine, “when the will abandons what is above itself and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil—not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning itself is wicked.”9
3. The purpose of God’s end in creation—in the words of Jonathan Edwards—is,
“The emanation or communication of the divine fullness, consisting in the knowledge of God, love to him, and joy in him, [which] has relation indeed both to God and the creature…and God had regard to it in this manner, as he had a supreme regard to himself, and value for his own infinite, internal glory. It was this value for himself that caused him to value and seek that his internal glory should flow forth from himself. It was from his value for his glorious perfections of wisdom, righteousness, &c. that he valued the proper exercise and effect of these perfections, in wise and righteous acts and effects. It was from his infinite value for his internal glory and fullness, that he valued the thing itself communicated, which is something of the same extant in the creature. Thus, because [he] infinitely values his own glory, consisting in the knowledge of himself, love to himself, and complacence and joy in himself; he therefore valued the image, communication, or participation of these in the creature. And it is because he values himself, that he delights in the knowledge, and love, and joy of the creature; as being himself the object of this knowledge, love, and complacence.”10
4. The role that evil plays is required by God’s purpose in creation. God displays His fullness in love, joy, peace, patience, power, and kindness to some He predestined to be objects of mercy, and to some He displays His fullness in perfect wrath, hatred, and justice to those objects predestined for destruction.11 In both of these cases, God’s attributes are exercised and the knowledge, however terrifying they may be, is known to His creation, and in all things God holds Himself in the highest regard. Edwards writes that,
“The power of God, which is a sufficiency in him to produce great effects, must for ever have been dormant and useless as to any effect. The divine wisdom and prudence would have had no exercise in any wise contrivance, any prudent proceeding, or disposal of things; for there would have been no objects of contrivance or disposal. The same might be observed of God’s justice, goodness, and truth.”12
Most would have no problem with the truth of God and the goodness of God being displayed, but the justice of God presupposes that an act of injustice must be committed before justice could be exercised. If Evil is a particular state of affairs that is determined when a person holds a thing of lesser value in higher regard than a thing that has greater value, then God’s righteousness must be understood as a perfect orderliness. Consequently, we must assume that God wanted—in some form—evil to exist so He could display His “great effects, [that] must for ever have been dormant.” Evil must have a place in His divine providence (c.f. Romans 9:23, 11:32, Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, Isaiah 10:5-19, Hebrews 2:10). Yet, in Scripture, we find nowhere that God has created evil; conversely, it says He has created everything good13 and that “…the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).
Through the previous sections, it has been shown that God’s purpose in creation requires that evil exist because it is the display of His internal wealth of justice, mercy and wrath; and God retains His goodness, because He is the fountainhead from which all value of goodness flows; and God retains His omnipotence by sustaining all things by His powerful word.14 God is good, and the purposes of evil are for His glory alone.
1 I use the word apparent because one must only show that at least one of these premises is false to show that the contradiction is unsubstantiated.
2 The main brunt of this defense does not include a particular purpose for which God created man.
3 I believe that those who support the Ignorance of the Future Defense are merely those, who at one time supported the F.W.D. but found it to be too fallacious and modified it to suit their needs.
4 Luke 18:19
5 Jonathan Edwards, The End for which God Created the World paragraph 32
6 1st Corinthians 4:7
7Augustinian Model of Sin
8 I believe sin to be a form of evil/enmeshed with evil/synonym of evil
9 City of God, XII, 6; trans. Dods.
10 Jonathan Edwards, The End for which God Created the World paragraph 273 & 276
11 Paraphrase of Romans 9:22ff
12 Jonathan Edwards, The End for which God Created the World paragraph 48
13 Genesis 1
14 Hebrews 1:3
How we understand God’s goodness has great significance to how we view God in the face of evil. Does God ordain evil to occur? Does God allow evil to happen? Alternatively, did God bind Himself by the nature of how He created us to be and is now unable to stop it from happening? The Problem of Evil is not a problem of evil, rather, it is a problem of how humans view God in the face of evil; therefore it becomes a problem of God’s goodness rather than the existence of evil. This paper will attempt to show that God’s purpose in creation requires that evil exist, and God retains His goodness and omnipotence.
The Problem of Evil, concisely put by David Hume, is this:
God is omnipotent (T1).
God is good (T2).
Evil exists (T3).
If God is good, then God is willing to prevent all evil (T4).
If God is omnipotent, then God is able to prevent all evil (T5).
If God is willing and able to prevent all evil, then evil does not exist (T6)
God is willing to prevent all evil (2,4). God is able to prevent all evil (1,5). God is both willing and able to prevent all evil (7,8). Evil does not exist (9,6). Evil exists and evil does not exist (3,10).
Here arises the apparent contradiction.1
Holding to the first three claims is central to Christian theism. Therefore, many aim at showing that God is not able to prevent all evil (T5) using some form of Libertarian Free-Will to reconcile the goodness of God and the existence of evil.
The Free-Will Defense is one of the most popular defenses used. This involves God creating human beings with Libertarian Free-Will—that man’s will is completely autonomous in nature and that man has the ability to take or refrain from taking any action. Evil is made possible if man has the ability to refrain from taking the proper course of action (e.g. living in peace with God or not). Therefore, God is not able to prevent all evil by virtue of how and why2 He created mankind. One large problem remains for those who support the Free-Will Defense: if it is possible for God to prevent a specific evil without defeating the reason for creating mankind, then (according to those who support Libertarian Free-Will) God is directly culpable for the existence of evil.
There are those who take the Free-Will Defense a step further3 by adding two claims: 1. The purpose of God creating the world was “genuine loving-relationships.” 2. God cannot know the future in order to accomplish so-called “genuine loving-relationships.” This defense is commonly known as the Ignorance of the Future Defense. God cannot know the future acts of moral agents that posses Libertarian Free-Will, because if He did know what they would choose, then they would not be free to choose the contrary. Consequently, God is non-culpably ignorant for evil because He purposed mankind for “genuine loving-relationships” that require the possibility of evil given that mankind has Libertarian Free-Will.
Both of these defenses require that God have an inability to do certain things. They focus their attention on defeating the claim that God has the ability to prevent all evil (T5). However, this route is fallacious because it depends on God’s inability instead of our comprehension of God’s purposes and His goodness. The Problem of Evil should be attacked on the conclusion that “if God is good, then God is willing to prevent all evil” (T3); since God is not willing to prevent all evil. It is not a problem of evil, but it is a “problem” of God’s goodness.
To understand God’s allowance of evil we must first define 1. God’s goodness, 2. what evil is, 3. His purpose in creation and 4. the role that evil plays.
1. God’s goodness is not derivative from any other source other than His own nature of who and what He is. When Jesus was approached by a rich ruler and called a “good teacher” he responded, “Why do you call me good? […] No one is good—except God alone.”4 Jonathan Edwards states that,
“…God is infinitely, eternally, unchangeably, and independently glorious and happy; that he cannot be profited by, or receive anything from, the creature; or be the subject of any sufferings, or diminution of his glory and felicity, from any other being.”5
Anything of value and all good things find themselves resting upon God’s very nature—all things find their value in God. “What do you have that you did not receive?”6 God is infinitely valuable, and to do good is to value correctly. God is good because God values Himself above all others. In Ezekiel 36:22, God says that, “…it is not for your sake…but for the sake of my holy name…”
2. Evil is a particular state of affairs that is determined when a person holds a thing of lesser value in higher regard than a thing that has greater value7. For example: both cows and God are good, but cows are not of a greater good than God is. Thus, the sin8 of idolatry is committed when the cow is valued over God. In the words of St. Augustine, “when the will abandons what is above itself and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil—not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning itself is wicked.”9
3. The purpose of God’s end in creation—in the words of Jonathan Edwards—is,
“The emanation or communication of the divine fullness, consisting in the knowledge of God, love to him, and joy in him, [which] has relation indeed both to God and the creature…and God had regard to it in this manner, as he had a supreme regard to himself, and value for his own infinite, internal glory. It was this value for himself that caused him to value and seek that his internal glory should flow forth from himself. It was from his value for his glorious perfections of wisdom, righteousness, &c. that he valued the proper exercise and effect of these perfections, in wise and righteous acts and effects. It was from his infinite value for his internal glory and fullness, that he valued the thing itself communicated, which is something of the same extant in the creature. Thus, because [he] infinitely values his own glory, consisting in the knowledge of himself, love to himself, and complacence and joy in himself; he therefore valued the image, communication, or participation of these in the creature. And it is because he values himself, that he delights in the knowledge, and love, and joy of the creature; as being himself the object of this knowledge, love, and complacence.”10
4. The role that evil plays is required by God’s purpose in creation. God displays His fullness in love, joy, peace, patience, power, and kindness to some He predestined to be objects of mercy, and to some He displays His fullness in perfect wrath, hatred, and justice to those objects predestined for destruction.11 In both of these cases, God’s attributes are exercised and the knowledge, however terrifying they may be, is known to His creation, and in all things God holds Himself in the highest regard. Edwards writes that,
“The power of God, which is a sufficiency in him to produce great effects, must for ever have been dormant and useless as to any effect. The divine wisdom and prudence would have had no exercise in any wise contrivance, any prudent proceeding, or disposal of things; for there would have been no objects of contrivance or disposal. The same might be observed of God’s justice, goodness, and truth.”12
Most would have no problem with the truth of God and the goodness of God being displayed, but the justice of God presupposes that an act of injustice must be committed before justice could be exercised. If Evil is a particular state of affairs that is determined when a person holds a thing of lesser value in higher regard than a thing that has greater value, then God’s righteousness must be understood as a perfect orderliness. Consequently, we must assume that God wanted—in some form—evil to exist so He could display His “great effects, [that] must for ever have been dormant.” Evil must have a place in His divine providence (c.f. Romans 9:23, 11:32, Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, Isaiah 10:5-19, Hebrews 2:10). Yet, in Scripture, we find nowhere that God has created evil; conversely, it says He has created everything good13 and that “…the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).
Through the previous sections, it has been shown that God’s purpose in creation requires that evil exist because it is the display of His internal wealth of justice, mercy and wrath; and God retains His goodness, because He is the fountainhead from which all value of goodness flows; and God retains His omnipotence by sustaining all things by His powerful word.14 God is good, and the purposes of evil are for His glory alone.
1 I use the word apparent because one must only show that at least one of these premises is false to show that the contradiction is unsubstantiated.
2 The main brunt of this defense does not include a particular purpose for which God created man.
3 I believe that those who support the Ignorance of the Future Defense are merely those, who at one time supported the F.W.D. but found it to be too fallacious and modified it to suit their needs.
4 Luke 18:19
5 Jonathan Edwards, The End for which God Created the World paragraph 32
6 1st Corinthians 4:7
7Augustinian Model of Sin
8 I believe sin to be a form of evil/enmeshed with evil/synonym of evil
9 City of God, XII, 6; trans. Dods.
10 Jonathan Edwards, The End for which God Created the World paragraph 273 & 276
11 Paraphrase of Romans 9:22ff
12 Jonathan Edwards, The End for which God Created the World paragraph 48
13 Genesis 1
14 Hebrews 1:3
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