Reference: Evil
Hastings
EVIL is an older form of the word 'ill'; used, both as substantive and adjective, to tr various synonyms and ranging in meaning from physical unfitness to moral wickedness. The former is archaic, but occurs in Ge 28:8 (Authorized Version margin), Ex 21:8 (Authorized Version margin), Jer 24:3 (AV), and Mt 7:18, though the two last passages are not without an ethical tinge. But the word almost invariably connotes what is either morally corrupt (see Sin) or injurious to life and happiness.
1. In the OT the two meanings are at first scarcely differentiated. Whatever comes to man from without is, to begin with, attributed simply to God (Am 3:6; La 3:38; Eze 14:9; Isa 45:7). Destruction is wrought by His angels (Ex 12:23; 2Sa 24:16; Ps 78:49). Moral temptations come from Him (2Sa 24:1; 1Ki 22:23), though there is a tendency to embody them in beings which, though belonging to the host of heaven, are spoken of as evil or lying spirits (1Sa 16:14; Jg 9:23; 1Ki 22:22). The serpent of the Fall narrative cannot be pressed to mean more than a symbol of temptation, though the form which the temptation takes suggests hostility to the will of God external to the spirit of the woman (2Co 11:3, cf. Ge 3:1-3). Then later we have the figure of the Adversary or Satan, who, though still dependent on the will of God, is nevertheless so identified with evil that he is represented as taking the initiative in seduction (Zec 3:1; 1Ch 21:1, but cf. 2Sa 24:1). This marks the growth of the sense of God's holiness (De 32:4 etc.), the purity which cannot behold evil (Hab 1:13); and correspondingly sharpens the problem. Heathen gods are now identified with demons opposed to the God of Israel (De 32:17; Ps 106:37; cf. 1Co 10:20). This tendency, increased perhaps by Persian influence, becomes dominant in apocryphal literature (2Pe 2:4 and Jude 1:6 are based on the Book of Enoch), where the fallen angels are a kingdom at war with the Kingdom of God.
2. In the NT moral evil is never ascribed to God (Jas 1:13), being essentially hostile to His mind and will (Ro 1:18-21; 5:10; 1Jo 1:5-7; 2:16,29; 3:4,9); but to the Evil One (Mt 6:13; 13:19; 1Jo 5:19), an active and personal being identical with the Devil (Mt 13:39; Joh 8:44) or Satan (Mt 4:10; Mr 4:15; Lu 22:31; Joh 13:27), who with his angels (Mt 25:41) is cast down from heaven (Re 12:9, cf. Lu 10:18), goes to and fro in the earth as the universal adversary (1Pe 5:8; Eph 4:27; 6:11; Jas 4:7), and will be finally imprisoned with his ministering spirits (Re 20:2,10, cf. Mt 25:41). Pain and suffering are ascribed sometimes to God (Re 3:19; 1Th 3:3; Heb 12:5-11), inasmuch as all things work together for good to those that love Him (Ro 8:28); sometimes to Satan (Lu 13:16; 2Co 12:7) and the demons (Mt 8:28 etc.), who are suffered to hurt the earth for a season (Re 9:1-11; 12:12).
The speculative question of the origin of evil is not resolved in Holy Scripture, being one of those things of which we are not competent judges (see Butler's Analogy, i. 7, cf. 1Co 13:12). Pain is justified by the redemption of the body (Ro 8:18-25; 1Pe 4:13), punishment by the peaceable fruits of righteousness (Heb 12:7-11), and the permission of moral evil by the victory of the Cross (Joh 12:31; Ro 8:37-39; Col 2:15; 1Co 15:24-28). Accept the facts and look to the end is the teaching of the Bible as a guide to practical religion (Jas 5:11). Beyond this we enter the region of that high theology which comprehensive thinkers like Aquinas or Calvin have not shrunk from formulating, but which, so far as it is dealt with in the NT, appears rather as a by-product of evangelical thought, than as the direct purpose of revelation (as, e.g., in Ro 9, where God's elective choice is stated only as the logical presupposition of grace). St. Paul is content to throw the responsibility for the moral facts of the universe upon God (Ro 9:19-24; cf. Job 33:12; Ec 5:2; Isa 29:16), who, however, is not defined as capricious and arbitrary power, but revealed as the Father, who loves the creatures of His hand, and has foreordained all things to a perfect consummation in Christ the Beloved (Eph 1:3-14 etc.).
J. G. Simpson.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Now, the serpent, was more crafty than any living thing of the field which Yahweh God had made, so he said unto the woman, Can it really be that God hath said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, - Of the fruit of the trees of the garden, we may eat; read more. but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it, - lest ye die.
So then Esau beheld that displeasing, were the daughters of Caanan, - in the eyes of Isaac his father:
And Yahweh will pass along to plague the Egyptians, and when he beholdeth the blood upon the upper beam and upon the two door-pests, then will Yahweh pass over the entrance, and not suffer the destroyer to enter into your houses to inflict on you the plague.
If she is uncomely in the eyes of her lord, who hath not assigned her in marriage, then shall he suffer her to be redeemed: to a strange people, shall he not have power to sell her in that he hath dealt treacherously with her.
A Rock! faultless his work, For, all his ways, are just, A GOD of faithfulness and without perversity, Right and fair, is he!
They sacrificed to mischievous demons to a No-GOD, Gods whom they knew not, - New ones lately come in, Your fathers never shuddered at them!
No man shall stand before thee, all the days of thy life, - as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee, I will not fail thee, neither will I forsake thee. Be firm and bold, - for, thou, shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I sware unto their fathers, - to give unto them. read more. Only be very firm and bold, taking heed to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee, do not turn aside therefrom, to the right hand or to the left, - that thou mayest prosper, whithersoever thou goest.
And she said unto them - To the mountain, get you, lest the pursuers, fall in, with you, - and hide yourselves there, three days until the pursuers return, and, afterwards, shall ye go your way.
Yet shall there be, a distance, between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure, - do not come near unto it that ye may get to know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way, heretofore.
Then said Joshua, unto the sons of Israel, - Draw near hither, and hear ye the words of Yahweh your God.
Then God let go a spirit of mischief between Abimelech and the owners of Shechem, - and the owners of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:
But, the spirit of Yahweh, departed from Saul, - and there terrified him a sad spirit, from Yahweh.
And again was the anger of Yahweh kindled against Israel, - so that he suffered David to be moved against them, saying, Go, count Israel and Judah.
And again was the anger of Yahweh kindled against Israel, - so that he suffered David to be moved against them, saying, Go, count Israel and Judah.
Lo! in this, thou hast not been right - let me answer thee, For, GOD, is greater than, man.
He sent among them the heat of his anger, Wrath and indignation and distress, - A mission of messengers of misfortune:
Be not rash with thy mouth, and, with thy heart, be not in haste to bring forth a word, before God, - for, God, is in the heavens, and, thou, upon the earth, for this cause, let thy words be few.
Your perverseness! As if like clay, the potter could he reckoned; For shall, the thing made say of him that made it, he made me not? Or hath the thing fashioned ever said of him that fashioned it, He hath no understanding.
Forming light and creating darkness, Making prosperity, and creating misfortune, - I - Yahweh, who doeth all these.
Then said Yahweh unto me, - What canst thou see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs: the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, for badness.
Out of the mouth of the Most High, Proceed there not misfortunes and blessing?
Yea the prophet himself when he suffereth himself to be deceived, and speaketh a word, Yahweh have suffered that prophet to be deceived, Then will I stretch forth my hand against him, and destroy him out of the midst of my people. Israel:
Or a horn be blown in a city, and, a people, not tremble? Or calamity happen in a city, and, Yahweh, not have wrought with effect?
Thou whose eyes are too pure to look with approval on wrong, to respect oppression, canst not endure, - Wherefore, shouldst thou respect the treacherous? Be silent, when the lawless, swalloweth up, one more righteous than he?
And he shewed me, Joshua the high priest, standing before the messenger of Yahweh, - and, the Accuser, standing at his right hand, to accuse him.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Withdraw, Satan! for it is written, - The Lord thy God, shalt thou worship, and, to him alone, render divine service.
And bring us not into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
It is, impossible, for a, good tree, to be bearing, evil fruit, neither doth, a worthless tree, produce, fine fruit.
And, when he, came, unto the other side, into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him, two men demonized, out of the tombs, coming forth, - fierce exceedingly, so that no one could pass that way;
When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, the wicked one cometh, and catcheth up that which hath been sown in his heart, - this, is he, by the pathway, sown.
And, the enemy that sowed them, is the adversary, and, the harvest, is, the conclusion of an age, and, the reapers, are, messengers.
Then, will he say unto those also, on his left hand: Depart ye from me, accursed ones! Into the age-abiding fire, which hath been prepared for the adversary and his messengers;
Then, will he say unto those also, on his left hand: Depart ye from me, accursed ones! Into the age-abiding fire, which hath been prepared for the adversary and his messengers;
And these are they beside the pathway where the word is sown, - and, as soon as they hear, straightway, cometh Satan, and snatcheth away the word which hath been sown into them;
And he said unto them - I was beholding Satan, when, like lightning, out of heaven, he fell!
But, this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo! eighteen years, was there not a needs-be that she should be loosed from this bond, on the day of rest?
Simon! Simon! lo! Satan, hath claimed you, to sift as wheat;
Ye, are, of your father - the adversary, and, the covetings of your father, ye choose to be doing. He, was, a murderer, from the beginning, and, in the truth, he stood not; because truth is not in him: Whensoever he speaketh falsehood, of his own, he speaketh; because, false, he is, and, the father of it.
Now, is there, a judging, of this world, - Now, the ruler of this world, shall be cast out;
And, after the morsel, then, entered, Satan, into that man. Jesus, therefore, saith unto him - What thou art doing, do quickly!
For there is being revealed an anger of God from heaven - against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, the truth, in unrighteousness, do hold down; - Inasmuch as, what may be known of God, is manifest among them, for, God, unto them, hath made it manifest, - read more. For, the unseen things of him, from a world's creation, by the things made, being perceived, are clearly seen, even his eternal power and divinity, - to the end they should be without excuse; Inasmuch as, having come to know God, not, as God, did they glorify him, or give him thanks, but were made fruitless in their reasonings, and darkened was their undiscerning heart,
For, if being enemies we were reconciled unto God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
For I reckon that unworthy are the sufferings of the present season to be compared with the glory about to be revealed towards us; For, the eager outlook of creation, ardently awaiteth the revealing of the sons of God, - read more. For, unto vanity, hath creation been made subject - not by choice, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope That, creation itself also, shall be freed - from the bondage of the decay into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God; For we know that, all creation, is sighing together, and travailing-in-birth-throes together until the present, - And, not only so, but, we ourselves, also, who have the first-fruit of the Spirit - weeven ourselves, within our own selves do sigh, - sonship ardently awaiting - the redeeming of our body; - For, by our hope, have we been saved, - but, hope beheld, is not hope, for, what one beholdeth, why doth he hope for? If, however, what we do not behold we hope for, with endurance, are we ardently awaiting it ; -
We know, further, that, unto them who love God, God causeth all things to work together for good, - unto them who, according to purpose, are such as he hath called;
Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquering through him that hath loved us. For I am persuaded that - neither death nor life, nor messengers nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, read more. Nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thou wilt say to me, then - Why longer findeth he fault? For, his purpose, who hath withstood? O man! Who, nevertheless, art, thou, that art answering again unto God? Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it - Why didst thou make me thus? read more. Or hath not the potter a right over the clay - out of the same lump, to make some, indeed, into a vessel for honour, and some for dishonour? And, if God - wishing to shew his anger and to make known his power - bare, in much patience, with vessels of anger already fitted for destruction, In order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory, - Whom he also called, even us, not only from among Jews, but also from among the nations, what then?
On the contrary - that, the things which the nations sacrifice, unto demons, and not unto God, they sacrifice; and I wish not that ye should become, sharers together with the demons!
For we see, as yet, through a dim window, obscurely, but, then, face to face: as yet, I gain knowledge, in part, but, then, shall I fully know, even as I was also fully known.
But I fear lest, by any means, as, the serpent, completely deceived Eve, in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the singleness and the chastenesswhich are due unto the Christ.
Blessed, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing, in the heavenlies, in Christ, According as he made choice of us, in him, before the founding of a world, that we might be holy and blameless in his presence; in love, read more. marking us out beforehand unto sonship, through Jesus Christ, for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, Unto the praise of the glory of his favour wherewith he favoured us in the Beloved One, - In whom we have the redemption through his blood, the remission of our offences, according to the riches of his favour, which he made to superabound towards us; in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the sacred secret of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him, - For an administration of the fulness of the seasons, to reunite for himself (under one head) the all things in the Christ, the things upon the heavens, and the things upon the earth, in him: In whom also we were taken as an inheritance, according to the purpose of him who energiseth all things according to the counsel of his will, That we should be for the praise of his glory - we who had hoped beforehand in the Christ, - In whom, ye also - hearing the word of the truth, the glad-message of your salvation, - in whom also believing, - were sealed with the Spirit of the promise, the Holy Spirit , Which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of the acquisition; - unto his glorious praise.
Neither be giving place unto the adversary;
Put on the complete armour of God, with a view to your having power to stand against the strategies of the adversary;
Spoiling the principalities and the authorities, he made of them an open example, celebrating a triumph over them thereby.
And ye have quite forgotten the exhortation which, indeed, with you as with sons, doth reason: - My son! be not slighting the discipline of the Lord, neither be fainting, when by him, thou art reproved; For, whom the Lord loveth, he doth, discipline, and scourgeth every son whom he doth welcome home. read more. For the sake of discipline, persevere! As towards sons, God, beareth himself, towards you; for who is a son whom a father doth not discipline?
For the sake of discipline, persevere! As towards sons, God, beareth himself, towards you; for who is a son whom a father doth not discipline? If however ye are without discipline, whereof, all, have received a share, then, are ye, bastards, and, not sons.
If however ye are without discipline, whereof, all, have received a share, then, are ye, bastards, and, not sons. Furthermore, indeed, the fathers of our flesh, we used to have, as administrators of discipline, and we used to pay deference: shall we not, much rather, submit ourselves to the Father of our spirits and, live?
Furthermore, indeed, the fathers of our flesh, we used to have, as administrators of discipline, and we used to pay deference: shall we not, much rather, submit ourselves to the Father of our spirits and, live? For, they, indeed, for a few days, according to that which seemed good to them, were administering discipline; but, he, unto that which is profitable, with view to our partaking of his holiness:
For, they, indeed, for a few days, according to that which seemed good to them, were administering discipline; but, he, unto that which is profitable, with view to our partaking of his holiness: But, no discipline, for the present, indeed, seemeth to be of joy, but of sorrow: afterwards, however - to them who thereby have been trained, it yieldeth peaceful fruit, of righteousness.
But, no discipline, for the present, indeed, seemeth to be of joy, but of sorrow: afterwards, however - to them who thereby have been trained, it yieldeth peaceful fruit, of righteousness.
Let, no one, while tempted, be saying - From God, am I tempted, - for, God, cannot be tempted by things evil, and, himself, tempteth no one;
Range yourselves, therefore, under God, but withstand the adversary, and he will flee from you:
Lo! we pronounce them happy who have endured; - Of the endurance of Job, ye have heard, and, the end of the Lord, have ye seen, - that, of much tender affection, is the Lord, and full of compassion,
Be sober! be watchful! Your slanderous adversary, as a roaring lion, is walking about - seeking to devour:
For - if, God, spared not, messengers, when they sinned, but, to pits of gloom, consigning them, in the lowest hades, delivered them up to be kept, unto judgment, -
Messengers also, even them who had not kept their own principality, but had forsaken their proper dwelling, unto the judgment of the great day in perpetual bonds under thick gloom, hath he reserved.
I, as many as I tenderly love, I convict and put under discipline: be zealous, therefore, and repent.
And, the fifth messenger, sounded; and I saw a star, out of heaven, fallen unto the earth, and there was given unto him the key of the shaft of the abyss. And he opened the shaft of the abyss; and there came up a smoke out of the shaft, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened, by reason of the smoke of the shaft. read more. And, out of the smoke, came forth, locusts, upon the earth; and there was given unto them licence, as the scorpions of the earth have licence. And it was bidden them that they should not injure the herbage of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, - but only the men who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads. And it was given unto them, that they should not slay them, but that they should be tormented five months; and, the torture of them, was as of a scorpion's torture, whensoever it smiteth a man. And, in those days, shall men seek death, and in nowise shall find it, and shall covet to die, and death fleeth from them. And, the likenesses of the locusts, were like unto horses prepared for battle; and, upon their heads, as it were crowns, like unto gold, and, their faces, were as the faces of men, and, they had hair, as the hair of women, and, their teeth, were, as of lions, and they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and, the sound of their wings, was as the sound of chariots of many horses, running into battle; and they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings, and, in their tails, is their licence to injure men five months. They have over them, as king, the messenger of the abyss, whose name, in Hebrew, is Abaddon "=Destroyer", and, in the Greek, he hath for name, Destroyer.
And the great dragon was cast out, - the ancient serpent, he that is called Adversary and the Satan, that deceiveth the whole habitable world, - he was cast to the earth, and his messengers, with him, were cast.
For this cause, be joyful, O heavens, and ye who, therein, are tabernacling. Woe! unto the earth, and the sea, because the Adversary hath come down unto you, having great wrath - knowing that, but a little season, he hath.
and he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is Adversary and the Accuser, and bound him for a thousand years, -
and, the Adversary that had been deceiving them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where were both the wild-beast and the false-prophet; and they shall be tormented, day and night, unto the ages of ages.