Theodicy Revised

Theodicy: Augustine’s Answer and What It Means

Why is there evil in the world? What is the cause of this evil? Does this evil support the claim that there is no God? Does it mean that God is not wholly good? Could it mean that God is not all-powerful? People have these troubling questions when they come to the question of evil. Theologians and philosophers alike have tried to answer these difficult questions, some using them as arguments against the existence of God. Therefore, we have this difficult question: if God is good and all-powerful why does He let bad things happen?

This was a troubling question for the young Augustine. He struggled with the ideas of evil and suffering and how could they exist in relation to a righteous and holy God.

But again I said: ‘Who made me? Is not my God not only good but the supreme Good? Why then have I the power to will evil and to reject good? It is to provide a reason why it is just for me to undergo punishments. Who put this power in me and implanted in me this seed of bitterness (Heb 12:15), when all of me was created by my very kind God? If the devil was responsible, where did the devil come from? And if even he began as a good angle and became the devil by a perversion of the will, how does the evil will by which he became devil originate in him, when an angle is wholly made by a Creator who is pure goodness?’[1][i]

If God created everything, and He is a good God, wherefore did evil, pain, sin, and suffering come from?

The first thing we must learn from Augustine and Scripture is this: God did not, will not, and cannot create evil; “Since piety…forbade me to believe that the good God had created an evil nature”[2] “For everything created by God is good.”[3][ii] The problem came when Augustine tried to find away to resolve the matter. He followed the Manichean thought of dualism and concluded that there were two forces, one evil and one good, with the evil being much smaller than the good. However, he came to understand that this was wrong. Nothing exists outside of God, apart from which He created, and He could not create something evil. There weren’t two forces out there, so how do you explain for evil?

In a wonderful paragraph, Augustine says this,

It was obvious to me that things which are liable to corruption are good. If they were supreme goods, or if they were not good at all, they could not be corrupted. For if they were supreme goods, they would be incorruptible. If there were not good in them, there would be nothing capable of being corrupted. Corruption does harm and unless it diminishes the good, no harm would be done. Therefore either corruption does not harm, which cannot be the case, or (which is wholly certain) all things that are corrupted suffer privation of some good. If they were to be deprived of all good, they would not exist at all. If they were to exist and to be immune from corruption, they would be superior because they would be permanently incorruptible. What could be more absurd then to say that by losing all good, things are made better? So then, if they are deprived of all good, they will be nothing at all. Therefore as long as they exist, they are good. Accordingly, whatever things exist are good, and the evil into whose origins I was inquiring is not a substance, for if it were a substance, it would be good. Either it would be an incorruptible substance, a great good indeed, or a corruptible substance, which could be corrupted only if it were good. Hence I saw and it was made clear to me that you made all things good, and there are absolutelyno substances which you did not make. As you did not make all things equal, all things are good in the sense that taken individually they are good, and all things taken together are very good. For our God has made ‘all things very good’ (Gen 1:31).[4]

Now understanding that God did not create evil we need to look at what He did create. First, He created things that were incorruptible and corruptible. Incorruptible things are superior to corruptible things because they cannot be corrupted. However, it would be foolish to say that corruptible things are evil, because for them to be corruptible they must be good. If good no longer existed, they would fail to exist—because all things created are good.

Is evil created? No. Evil is not created. For something to be created it must be either an incorruptible or a corruptible thing. It does not make sense to say that evil is incorruptible because we all understand it to be what brings corruption. No one would say that evil and good are the same things. If evil and good are not the same, then evil cannot be a corruptible thing either. If evil was corruptible then it must have had some good in it form the beginning, but even if it did and the good failed to exist then it would altogether fail to exist because nothing without good can exist. So evil is not a created thing, because it is not a thing—therefore evil, as many understand it, does not exist.

What is evil then? Augustine says that it is the “privation of some good.”[5] It is not a creation, because if it was it could not be without good. If not a creation, then it is not a thing. Therefore, evil is the privation and perversion of good. This is a difficult statement to understand, so let me try to simplify it. We know that evil was not created because for it to be so it would have to be good. Evil, by definition is the opposite of good. When we think about good and evil, it is best to compare them to light and darkness. A question, is darkness a thing? No. Darkness isn't a thing. Rather, it is the absence of something—light. Now light is something that has been created.[6] Was darkness created? No. Darkness war there before the light in creation.[7] When we talk about darkness, we are not talking about something, but the absence of something. So is true with evil. Evil is not something, but the lack of and perversion of good.

Example: A mighty king oppressed his people. He killed the innocent, raped the women, taxed the poor, and freed the wrongdoers. We would say that this was an evil man. However, the truth is, the man is good. In the fact that he is a creation of God, he is good. If he were not good then he would not exist. So how do we explain for his evilness? Well, though he is good, the good is perverted and there is a privation of the good, which results in us thinking him to be evil. But this evil, is not physically in him, because it does not exist. What we would say is that the good in him being so perverted and deprived to such a great level means that the man’s will is evil. The will, not being something physical, but the disposition of a man, has become evil, resulting in his actions being evil, though his physical nature is still good. So there is this idea of evil in the world, but it is not something physical or substance, because if it was it would be good.

That, however, does not help us when it comes to understanding why this evil is present. Though it isn’t created, as darkness isn’t created, it still exists. Why did God allow the privation of good? This is a much more difficult question to grasp. To do so we will begin with a look at the origin of sin. In doing so, we will not look at the origin of sin in the creative order of earth and man, but at His higher creation in the angles. Augustine ask this,

Why then do I have the power to will evil and reject good? Is it to provide reason why it is just for me to undergo punishments? Who put this power in me andimplanted in me this seed of bitterness (Heb. 12:15), when all of me was created by my very kind God? If the devil was responsible, where did the devil himself come from? And if even he began as a good angle and became devil by a perversion of the will, how does the evil will by which he became devil originate in him, when an angel is wholly made by a Creator who is pure goodness?[8]

At some time in creation, God created the heavenly host (that is the angels). Some time between their creation and the fall of Adam, a third of them fell, including the red dragon, which is Satan.[9] So why did Satan fall?

Ezekiel says, “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.”[10] Scripture, thus, supports that God’s creation, even the devil, was perfect in the beginning. Isaiah says that he desired to make himself like the Most High[11], and that he desired to raise his throne above the stars of God.[12] The fall, the reason the devil is the enemy of God, was that he had pride and desired to be greater than his Creator. How interesting is it that pride was the root of his unrighteousness? So we see that God is not the author of evil, pain, suffering, and sin. Rather, the wickedness came out of the will of the devil. His good nature, holy and blameless in the sight of the Lord, was defiled, perverted, and deprived making him evil in nature. Therefore, evil that we speak of comes not out of creation, but from the will; and it was allowed to come forth out of the devil’s free will.

God created angels differently than us, having the ability to know good and evil. Good being that they knew what was right, and evil being that they knew that they could do differently. Man and woman, as seen in Genesis, appear to have not known the difference apart from the only call of obedience they had—not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.[13] Therefore, out of the free will, the devil chose to try to elevate himself higher than God, causing himself to become evil in nature and the enemy of God. In the third chapter of Genesis, we see him wage war against God and His creation leading Adam and Eve into sin[14], which came out of their free will.

Now, we understand that evil isn't a thing, but rather the privation of good, as Augustine said, and that it originated out of the free will of the devil. When we sin it is because we have a free will to do so, and thus we choose to sin. We are therefore to blame for the pain and suffering of the world. Because of our privation of good, sin is in the world; and with sin came death.[15]

Why did a loving, gracious, and kind God allow the devil to fall? It was the best way for God to accomplish His will in allowing choice. It appears evident that God wanted His creation to choose Him freely. Out His love for them, He makes creation able to choose Him out of there free will. It is possible, maybe more than possible, that if God wanted the earth to remain perfect, He could have given us no choice, not allowing us to fall. Does this mean that God willed sin? No. It does not mean that God willed sin, but that He willed that it could happen, to accomplish His plan. Both angels and man had freedom to choose prior to their fall and this was pleasing to God because that is how He created it. At least for some time, they lived in perfection, holy and blameless, and fulfilled the will of God. It was not until the privation of good that they sinned. It would not have pleased God for them to live without a choice.

It was the best way for God to accomplish His will for out benefit. We know from Revelation, that written were the names of the elect in the Lamb’s Book of Life, from the foundation of the world. John Piper says, “This is God’s universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less satisfaction in self and the world.”[16] There has been much pain and suffering in this evil world. God, having predestined those He loves to suffer this brief time, allowed sin and death to enter the world so that in the end or this age we might be like His Son? “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is”[17] and “although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”[18]

It was the best way for God to accomplish His will in revealing His glory. It seems odd to us to think that God might have designed things with the knowledge of their corruption. Many have taken the idea of open-theism to resolve this matter (He does not know the future). Others have taken up the idea that God isn’t all-powerful and does not have the power to control all events. Some have even gone so far as to say that God is not perfect.[19][iii] God, loving and kind, created all things to display His glory and created them knowing what would happen to fulfill that purpose. God created some things as vessels for dishonorable use, as vessels of wrath, and others as vessels for honorable use, as vessels of mercy, for the purpose of His glory?[20] Does this make God cruel and unjust? No. God created everything perfect in His good will. It was because of our freedom that we choose to go against His good nature. Therefore, God is just to bring some into His mercy to bring glory to Him and others into His wrath to bring glory to Him. His ways are higher than our ways[21] and He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.[22]

Thus, God has allowed us to have a free will so that we could freely choose Him so that we would be like His Son and He would receive the glory. By allowing us a free will, though we fell into sin and became evil in nature, God’s chosen have benefited. God has allowed man to suffer pain and sorrow so that he might understand the gravity of his sin, and so that he might repent and turn to Him. If God had not given us this option in our freedom we would have never known His righteousness and holiness, mercifulness and justice. What is clear is that God is a God of love who has power to do as He wills. Sin does not display a weakness in Him, but the glory of His mercy for allowing any of us salvation in His Son.

[1]Augustine Confessions 7.5. (pg. 114)

[2]Augustine Confessions 5.20. (pg. 85)

[3]1 Timothy 4:4 (NASB)

[4]Augustine Confessions 7.18. (pgs. 124-125)

[5]Augustine Confessions 7.18. (pg. 124)

[6]Genesis 1:3 (NASB)

[7]Genesis 1:2 (NASB)

[8]Augustine Confessions 7.5. 114

[9]Revelation 12:4 (NASB)

[10]Ezekiel 28:15 (NASB)

[11]Isaiah 14:14 (NASB)

[12]Isaiah 14:13 (NASB)

[13]Genesis 2:16,17 (NASB)

[14]Genesis 3:6 (NASB)

[15]Romans 5:12 (NASB)

[16]John Piper Desiring God http://www.desiringgod.org/dg/id179.htm

[17]1 John 3:2 italics mine (NASB)

[18]Hebrews 5:8 (NASB)

[19]Kushner When Bad Things Happen to Good People “Are you capable of forgiving and loving God even when you found out that He is not perfect, even when He has let you down and disappointed you by permitting bad luck and sickness and cruelty in His world, and permitting some of those things to happen to you? Can you learn to love and forgive Him despite His limitations, as Job does, and as you once learned to forgive and love your parents even though they were not as wise, as strong, or as perfect as you needed them to be?” (pg. 148)

[20]Romans 9:21-23 (NASB)

[21]Isaiah 55:9 (NASB)

[22]Romans 9:15 (NASB)

[i]Oxford New York 1998: Translation, Introduction, and Notes © Henry Chadwick 1991

[ii]Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

[iii]Schocken Books New York ©1985