Does God cause evil?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

God is perfectly holy, completely free from evil, and never tempts anyone to sin (James 1:13; 1 John 1:5; Deuteronomy 32:4). Evil entered the world through human rebellion against God, beginning with Adam and Eve, and it continues through the sinful desires within us (Genesis 3:1–6; Romans 5:12; James 1:14–15).

Though God is fully righteous, He remains sovereign over all events, even those involving evil actions. Joseph recognized this truth when he told his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

The clearest example of this is the crucifixion of Jesus, which happened according to God’s plan yet was carried out by “lawless men” who were responsible for their actions (Acts 2:23). Though we may struggle to understand how God can ordain events involving evil without being its cause, His wisdom and ways are far beyond ours (Isaiah 55:8–9; Romans 9:20–21). Through it all, we are called to trust that our sovereign God works through even the darkest moments to accomplish His good purposes.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• God’s character is perfectly righteous and incapable of evil. Scripture teaches that “all his ways are justice” (Deuteronomy 32:4). This means that even His sovereign hand over evil is just.
• Evil is rebellion against God, a divergence from His perfect nature. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God (Genesis 3:1–6), that act of rebellion introduced sin into the world, corrupting it and bringing death (Genesis 3:17–19; cf. Romans 5:12; 8:20–22).
• God is sovereign over all, even when adversity occurs (cf. Amos 3:6; Ecclesiastes 7:14). That doesn't mean that God is guilty of evil; it only means that He can work through even our evil acts to accomplish His will. For example, while Joseph’s brothers were guilty for selling Joseph into slavery (Genesis 37:28), God used what they did to save the Israelites from famine. Joseph said to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20).
• The Assyrians were a wicked people God raised to punish Israel (Isaiah 10:5–6). Though they were doing what God ordained, they were responsible for their evil acts, and God promised to hold them accountable (Isaiah 10:12–15).
• We may find it difficult to understand how God can ordain evil without being the actual cause of it, but as finite human beings, we can't possibly fully understand God’s ways (Isaiah 55:8–9). Because of this, we can and must trust in our omniscient, omnipotent Creator (Proverbs 3:5-6).

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• The apostle James wrote, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one (James 1:13). God is perfectly holy without any “darkness” (sin or evil) within Him (1 John 1:5). He is neither evil nor an evil hand behind the scenes involved in the evil we do.
• Evil arises from our sinful desires being birthed into sin (James 1:14–15), so God holds us accountable even for events He ordained. Peter, speaking to the Israelites about Jesus' death, said that He had been “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). But Peter also noted the culpability of those who put Jesus to death, noting that He was "crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23).
• Paul, when answering the rhetorical question of how God can blame us for sin if He ordained it, answered, “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” (Romans 9:20–21). We must bow our knee to our all-wise Creator.
• God being sovereign means His hand is at work in all things, including evil, even if we cannot fully reconcile His will with our guilt for sin (Ephesians 1:11).

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

In a murder mystery, the author writes all of the characters, including who gets killed and who kills her. But though the author wrote in the murder, no one blames the author for the murder. Instead, the character who committed the murder is held accountable.

In this still-imperfect analogy, God is like the author writing the story, while we are the characters living it out. He has ordained everything, but everything we do is what we want to do. God has not forced us to sin against our will, which is why He justly holds us responsible for sin.

And God does not have to justify Himself, either in the authoring nor in the judging. Job, for example, demanded that God explain why evil was happening to him. God refused to because He is God and Job was not (Job 38–41). What we learn is that part of trusting God is trusting that everything He does is good, regardless of whether we understand it.

Evil in the world today demonstrates our depravity. God has promised to judge each based on what we have done (Romans 2:6). However, He offers His Son in our place (1 Peter 3:18). For all who trust in Jesus, God counts Jesus’ death as sufficient to pay our punishment. However, that requires taking ownership of our sin and repenting of it. We cannot blame anyone else—not others, not Satan, and certainly not God.

UNDERSTAND

• God is perfectly holy and never commits or tempts anyone to evil.
• Evil originates from rebellion, not from God.
• God remains sovereign over all events and ordains even evil acts to accomplish His good purposes, while those who actually commit the evil remain responsible.

REFLECT

• How does recognizing both God’s holiness and His sovereignty affect the way you think about suffering and evil in the world?
• When you struggle to understand why God allows certain events, how can remembering His perfect character help you respond?
• How do you trust God’s wisdom and justice even when His purposes are difficult to understand?

ENGAGE

• How do passages like the story of Joseph or the crucifixion of Jesus help us understand how God can use evil actions to accomplish good purposes?
• What are the dangers of either denying God’s sovereignty over evil events or accusing Him of being responsible for evil?
• How should Christians explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility when discussing the problem of evil with others?