Why Does God Allow Evil?

The Age-Old Question

As we continue the study of theology proper and look more into the character and nature of our God, we will kick off this week by asking probably the most popular question that atheists everywhere have asked theists. That question is, ‘Why does God allow evil?’. This is a packed question and yet one that demands to be answered by many people on both sides of this theistic spectrum. This question is even more demanding when we take into consideration our topic of God’s perfect nature from last week as well. If God is perfect, why is there evil? Wouldn’t He just get rid of it? Even if evil is all mankind’s fault, God knew it would happen and therefore approved it, didn’t He? These questions and many like them are why this particular study and frame of reference have been given its own name and why theologians have spent countless hours studying this particular aspect of God’s character. This study, of course, is the study of theodicy. Theodicy by definition is ‘the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil.’ This study has sought to show that God is still perfect and good, despite the existence of evil in this world, or as John MacArthur puts it, “Theodicy declares that God is all powerful and all good even though this might not seem to be the case since evil exists in the creation.” The way we must study and view theodicy, therefore, must be through a biblical understanding of how a perfect God and evil can co-exist. 

Theodicy & Evil

For starters, let’s look at how theodicy is all throughout God’s word. Right away from the beginning, in the book of Genesis, we can see that our Lord is confronted with evil when Adam and Eve disobey Him and the first ever sin is committed in chapter 3. Adam responds to God in Genesis 3:12 by saying “12…“The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Adam essentially blames God for giving him a wife that would tempt him to sin, and that is exactly what we do when we blame God for evil being in this world. We know that we committed the sinful act, but we also know that God could have prevented it if He wanted to, and what is our Lord’s response? We see right away that God does not defend Himself as if this act was His fault, He instead condemned Adam for the evil that he committed. We can see an even clearer picture of this from the story of Job. 

When Job requests to appeal before God and vent his frustrations to the Lord about the evil that has been committed against him, how does God respond? Does He defend Himself and the actions taken against Job? By no means. God goes straight to questioning Job instead. Richard Mayhue on the topic of theodicy in the life of Job even goes as far as to say, “God asks the questions, asserting that man is incapable of understanding God’s workings in distributing good and evil.” Even in the book of Exodus when Moses asks to see the glory of the Lord, God’s response in Exodus 33:19 is, “19 …“I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” God’s reasoning in just the first few books of the Bible alone for the existence of evil seems to simply be, ‘Mankind is at fault for evil being in creation, and even though you can’t understand why I allow it to exist, I am still in charge.’ This isn’t the answer we want, but it’s the answer God gives His people time and time again in His word. 

Compatibilistic Theodicy

Even when we look solely at the idea of evil from a broader perspective, we know that God is not absent or turning a blind eye towards it, regardless of who commits the act. Dr. MacArthur even notes, “Scripture shows us that God has always used and is now presently using evil to fulfill His purposes for good.” He even goes further to say, “God assures that He always has a purpose for the glory of Himself and the good of His people in every event.” This is seen in Romans 8:28 “28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Again, we see no explanation from God as to why evil happens, we just see an explanation that He is still in control of it and will use it for His glory. So we’ve clearly stated here that human beings are at fault for their own fallenness, despite God being able to stop the sin and evil that would lead them to fall in the first place. The question, therefore, switches from ‘Why does God allow evil?’ to ‘Why does God allow us to do evil?’. This is an area of deeper study called, ‘Compatibilistic Theodicy’. The idea of compatibilism simply means to “contend that one’s will is free within the boundaries of one’s nature.” 

This is where the true answer to our question truly lies because compatibilistic theodicy technically argues that there is no amount of evil that human beings can commit that is outside of God’s control. Just a heads-up warning, however, if you didn’t like God’s answer for why evil exists through mankind, you probably won’t like His answer for why He allows it to continue through mankind either. Because the basic answer that compatibilistic theodicy gives for why God allows us to continue to commit evil acts is simply because He can use it. Again I defer to Romans 8:28. We know that God works all things for good, even evil. God can use evil for His glory because there is nothing outside of His sovereignty. As Paul says in Ephesians 1:11 “11 In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will.” I know this is a lot to take in for one post, but this is the essence of what God has revealed to us about the evil in this world. The reason for every single evil act that takes place could have a multitude of answers that we can’t even comprehend, but God can. As we are reminded of time and time again in the Old Testament, we can’t understand God’s use of good and evil, we just know that He is still in control. And how does the New Testament confirm this? Because we can see that even in a sinful, fallen world, God can still use evil for His glory, and only a perfect being can do such a thing. We may think in our fallen nature, and finite minds that the best way to show the glory of God to others is by the elimination of evil, but perhaps God knew from the beginning that the best way to reveal His perfect nature is not by eliminating evil, but by using it for good.

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Sources

[1] “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.Com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., www.biblegateway.com/. Accessed 2023

[2] MacArthur, John & Mayhue, Richard. A Systemic Summary of Bible Truth: Biblical Doctrine. Wheaton, Crossway, 2017