From William Dudding @ http://reformingbaptist.blogspot.comThis was one of the topics in a round table discussion at the Shepherds Conference between John MacArthur, Al Mohler, J.Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, and Steve Lawson. It was not spoken of in great detail, but it got me thinking and here's what I came up with....
Why does evil exist? If God is good, then why is evil permitted to exist?There are only three conclusions to why God allowed evil to exist.
1. When God created the world, He was able to foresee the sin and evil, yet he created man as a free agent knowing evil was going to happen apart from His control. He would set a plan in motion that would potentially save the world, but held no guarantees. However, since He is all knowing, He knew that although he would not be able to save all, he would be able to save some, and from the beginning made the decision to create the world knowing the consequences that would come. In this, God still takes responsibility for evil since He is the initiator of creation with the full knowledge of all the atrocities that would follow. Although, God does not create evil, or cause it, he still ordains that it should eventually come into being, because he would have been able to stop it by never creating man. This view is the usual and most popular view of how God allowed evil to come into being. The problem with this theory is that it leaves God impotent against circumstances that would follow once He put things into motion. He would be able to influence the creation in His favor, but not ultimately have full control over all things. Many believe that this is what gets God off the hook: He’s not responsible, because He is not in control over it, He can’t look at it or touch it. But this view still makes God responsible, because He could have prevented it.
2. God did not know that evil would happen, and with the best of intentions, He created the world and all there is in it. He was aware of the possible risk, since he was going to make man a free agent, and went along with it hoping that it would turn out right. Eventually sin did occur and God had to adjust His plans to plan B: The cross. As time goes by and God gains more information about His creation and the choices they make, He is able to improve upon Himself and the choices He makes until He is able to make all things come to pass as He promised. This is called “Open-Theism”. It is a desperate attempt to make God innocent of all the evil that occurs in the world by limiting his sovereignty, immutability, omnipotence, and omniscience. Both of these views are attempts to rescue Christianity from God.
3. The Third and final answer to why evil is allowed to co-exist with a good God is illustrated for us in Romans 11. This chapter talks about the Jewish nation finding mercy in God’s sight, and then turning against God in unbelief. God then turns to the Gentiles and shows mercy on them and judgment on the Jews. His Grace is shown in 11:5, His goodness and wrath are shown in verse 22, His mercy is shown in verse 30, and the conclusion to the totality of His glory is seen as the chief end of this whole redemptive story in verses 33-35.11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.Therefore, we find that God not only allowed evil to come into being but ordained it to be. He was not the creator or the cause of the evil, but evil was created by disobedience and disloyalty first from Satan to the angels and from Adam to all men. The reason that evil must exist by necessity is for God to display His attributes and receive glory for them. This could not happen any other way. How can God display goodness without there being an evil to compare it to? How could God fully express His infinite goodness without infinite “badness” to contrast it?
Wrath
How else could God have displayed mercy without wrath? Love without hate? And how can He display wrath without an object worthy of holy wrath? What would one need to do to merit God’s wrath? To disobey and be disloyal to Him, If there be objects worthy of holy wrath, they must by necessity be only those things that are infinitely wicked for God to utterly detest them. They must be something that have fallen short of His glory. Do we know of any objects that match this description?
Mercy
That brings us to the attribute of His mercy. How could God ever manifest mercy if there be no object that is in need of it? What doth consist of an object to bear necessity of mercy? Well, it would need to be worthy of wrath because of its un-holiness and failure to meet the standard of God’s glory. Such objects would be and could only be qualified for need of mercy if they are guilty of having set themselves up for Divine wrath. For this reason, God could only express mercy to those deserving of His wrath and must need evil to accomplish this end.
Hate
The description of this is the same as wrath. God has a holy hatred for that which is unholy. How can God express that hatred if there be none that are unholy? Think of it like this: What good is it to close your eyes when you are already in a completely dark room? The shutting of your eyes to shut out light is vain if there be no light to shut out. Therefore, God hates all that is unholy, and evil must exist and be permitted to exercise its vices so that God’s full measure of holy wrath may be manifested against all that are worthy of it.
Love
Again, how can God express such deep, unconditional, passionate love to someone and transfer the knowledge of the intensity of his love if that object of love has no way to measure the immensity of that love? He will come expect that love to be normal and nothing of any special value since there is no understanding of hatred in contrast to love. The capacity of love to a thing is only measured by the hatred of the opposite of that thing. God the Father loves His Son, but only as much as He hates all that is completely opposite of what His Son is. That is why God detests, repudiates and utterly hates sin that he was willing to create a place of eternal damnation and fiery torture against the objects of his hate. By that, you can begin to understand the measure of His love. What is so amazing about our salvation, is that God would pour out wrath on the One He loves in order to save those Whom deserved his hatred and wrath because of His love for them. The only way they could be worthy of God’s love is if they could measure up to His glory and holiness. The only way that could be possible is if they were made holy by someone else who is holy and bear the wrath of the unholy upon Himself.
Righteousness
This takes us to God’s righteousness. To be righteous is to be perfect and complete in regards to an obligation. How can God prove his righteousness if there be no obligation for him to meet with full and perfect completion? For this reason, evil must exist to create un-holiness in men, so that they will be worthy of wrath, so that God may meet His own obligation to punish those worthy of His wrath. But it doesn’t end there. In God’s unsearchable wisdom, He puts Himself under obligation to save those who are under His wrath when He is under obligation to destroy them. How could God get Himself out of this impossible obligation that He has placed Himself under? That’s where the cross comes in, He sacrifices the Just for the unjust, the Worthy for the unworthy as a Divine substitution so that He must fulfill the obligation of loving, showing mercy and saving those vessels of wrath whom He has chosen to become vessels of His mercy.
Justice
This is similar to righteousness. God is perfectly just. How can He exercise justice if there be something that has no need of it? Justice is giving what is deserved to someone who has earned it. If there be only a God of infinite good and holiness, then who will give Him what he deserves? Glory Honor and Praise! There must be someone else who will give Him this glory honor and praise so that justice can be served to Him! Since He is the only One Who is worthy of this kind of justice, there would be nobody to serve Him with it. Therefore, God had to create something that would be able to give Him this glory. This was the purpose of creating man: so they may glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. God must exercise justice against the unjust if He is to fully manifest His holy justice, therefore, there needs be an object worthy of Divine judgment. For this reason also, evil must exist so that someone who may come short of His glory, may be deserving of His wrath because they have done what He hates, and they finally are worthy of His Divine justice.
Finally, when God has demonstrated His attributes to all Whom He has created and will have created all those who are the recipients of His love, mercy, wrath, righteousness and justice will acknowledge with their own mouths that God’s choice to serve them with the results of His attributes was good and just, and God will thereby receive the glory due to His name.
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