Is God the Creator of Good and Evil? (Part One)

January 6

 

Is God the Creator of Good and Evil? (Part One)

 

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isa. 45:7)

 

Based on this passage some have declared that God is the creator of all darkness and evil. Did God actually create evil as He did the earth, the heavens, angels, animals, and humans? Can evil even be considered a created thing? Such an idea contradicts other Scriptures concerning the nature and character of God. For example, we are told that God is “Light” (1 John 1:5). If there is no darkness in God then how could He have created it? Jesus said only that which is in a person is what comes out of Him (Matt. 15:18-20; 12:35).

Other passages teach that God is a God of peace, who only desires peace, and not evil (1 Cor. 14:33; Jer. 29:11). If God is the author of peace and only wants to give peace rather than evil, how could He be the creator of evil? The Bible also makes it implicitly clear that God hates evil and that He has absolutely nothing to do with it (Psalm 5:4; Prov. 8:13; Jer. 44:4-5; Prov. 6:16-19; Zech. 8:17; Deut. 28:31; Hab. 1:13; Job 34:10-12). If God hates evil then why would He create it? This would appear to be an extreme contradiction.

To solve what appears to be an apparent contradiction, based on the above, some commentators say that God is not the creator of moral evil, i.e. sin, but that He is the One who directs calamities and disasters in His providence. Certainly God is not the author of moral evil (1 John 2:16; James 1:13; Eccl. 7:29) and theologians are correct in stating that the “evil” in Isa. 45:7 is not the evil of sin but of its punishments.[1] From this theologians attempt to vindicate God by saying that He is the creator of the disasters, troubles, woe, and hardships which are the punishments for evil.

However, I do not find this to be very helpful. It still makes God responsible for certain types of horrendous evils that harm and destroy, which contrasts with a number of statements by Jesus concerning Himself (John 10:10; Luke 9:51-56). Can one still trust God if He is not the author of moral evil but is still the author of “natural evil?” We will delve further into this tomorrow.

http://www.vindicatinggod.org


http://www.cvbibleteachingcenter.org

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[1] Other translations render Isa. 45:7 as God “creating calamity” (New American Standard Bible), “create disaster” (New International Version), “preparing evil” (Young's literal Translation), “I cause troubles” (New Century Version), “sending troubles” (Bible in Basic English), “I create woe” (The Complete Jewish Bible), “create hardship” (Peshitta - Lamsa Translation).