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 Shining One was more clever than any animal of the field that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God actually say, "You are not to eat from any tree of the garden'?" "We may eat from the trees of the garden," the woman answered the Shining One, read more. "but as for the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, "You are not to eat from it, nor are you to touch it, or you will die.'"
because the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway, and won't allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.
If she's displeasing to her master who selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He does not have the right to sell her to foreign people, because he has dealt unfairly with her.
Flawless is the work of the Rock, because all his ways are just. A faithful God never unjust righteous and upright is he.
They sacrificed to demons not to the real God gods whom they didn't know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared.
No one will be victorious against you for the rest of your life. I'll be with you just like I was with Moses I'll neither fail you nor abandon you. "Be strong and courageous, because you'll be leading this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. read more. Only be strong and very courageous to ensure that you obey all the instructions that my servant Moses gave you turn neither to the right nor to the left from it so that you may succeed wherever you go.
She told them, "Go out to the hill country, so the search party won't find you, and hide for three days. After that, you may go on your own way."
Be sure to keep a distance of about 2,000 cubits between you and it. Don't come near it, so you can be certain where you're going, since you haven't passed this way before."
So Joshua told the Israelis, "Come here and listen to what the LORD your God has to say."
The Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
Later, God's anger blazed forth against Israel, so he incited David to move against them by telling him, "Go take a census of Israel and Judah."
Later, God's anger blazed forth against Israel, so he incited David to move against them by telling him, "Go take a census of Israel and Judah."
"You aren't right about this; My response is that God is greater than human beings.
He inflicted his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, sending destroying angels among them.
Don't be impulsive with your mouth nor be in a hurry to talk in God's presence. Since God is in heaven and you're on earth, keep your speech short.
He has turned the tables on you as if the potter were thought to be like heat. Can what is made say of the one who made it, "He did not make me?' Or can what is formed say of the ones who formed it, "He has no skill?'
"I form light and create darkness, I make goodness and create disaster. I am the LORD, who does all these things.
The LORD told me, "What do you see?" I replied, "Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad figs are very bad. They're too bad to be eaten."
Do not both good and evil things proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
"Now as to the prophet, if through deceit he delivers a message, I the LORD have deceived that prophet! I'll reach out in opposition to him and exterminate him from among my people Israel.
And when an alarm sounds in the city, the people will tremble, won't they? If there is trouble in a city, the LORD has brought it about, has he not?"
Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil; and you cannot tolerate wickedness. So why do you tolerate the treacherous? And why do you stay silent while the wicked devour those who are more righteous than they are?
Then I saw Joshua the High Priest standing in the presence of the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right to oppose him.
Then Jesus told him, "Go away, Satan! Because it is written, "You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'"
And never bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'
A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a rotten tree cannot produce good fruit.
When Jesus arrived on the other side in the region of the Gerasenes, two demon-possessed men met him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could travel on that road.
When anyone hears the word about the kingdom yet doesn't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
The enemy who sowed them is the Devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
"Then he will say to those on his left, "Get away from me, you who are accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!
"Then he will say to those on his left, "Get away from me, you who are accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!
Some people are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. When they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
He told them, "I watched Satan falling from heaven like lightning.
Shouldn't this woman, a descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"
"Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has asked permission to sift all of you like wheat,
You belong to your father the Devil, and you want to carry out the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and has never stood for truth, since there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Now is the time for the judgment of this world to begin. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out.
Then he took a piece of bread, dipped it, and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After he had taken the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus told him, "Do quickly what you are going to do!"
For God's wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God himself has made it plain to them. read more. For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life!
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us. For the creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of God's children, read more. because the creation has become subject to futility, though not by anything it did. The one who subjected it did so in the certainty that the creation itself would also be set free from corrupting bondage in order to share the glorious freedom of God's children. For we know that all the rest of creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time. However, not only the creation, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For we were saved with this hope in mind. Now a hope that can be observed is not really hope, for who hopes for what can be seen? But if we hope for what we do not yet observe, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
And we know that for those who love God, that is, for those who are called according to his purpose, all things are working together for good.
In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, read more. nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.
You may ask me, "Then why does God still find fault with anybody? For who can resist his will?" On the contrary, who are you mere man that you are to talk back to God? Can an object that was molded say to the one who molded it, "Why did you make me like this?" read more. A potter has the right to do what he wants to with his clay, doesn't he? He can make something for a special occasion or something for ordinary use from the same lump of clay. Now if God wants to demonstrate his wrath and reveal his power, can't he be extremely patient with the objects of his wrath that are made for destruction? Can't he also reveal his glorious riches to the objects of his mercy that he has prepared ahead of time for glory including us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but from the gentiles as well?
Hardly! What they offer, they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become partners with demons.
Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
However, I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and pure devotion to the Messiah.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He has blessed us in the Messiah with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, just as he chose us in the Messiah before the creation of the universe to be holy and blameless in his presence. In love read more. he predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus the Messiah, according to the pleasure of his will, so that we would praise his glorious grace that he gave us in the Beloved One. In union with him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us, along with all wisdom and understanding, when he made known to us the secret of his will. This was according to his plan that he set forth in the Messiah to usher in the fullness of the times and to bring together in the Messiah all things in heaven and on earth. In the Messiah we were also chosen when we were predestined according to the purpose of the one who does everything that he wills to do, so that we who had already fixed our hope on the Messiah might live for his praise and glory. You, too, have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed in the Messiah, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until God redeems his own possession for his praise and glory.
and do not give the Devil an opportunity to work.
Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the Devil's strategies.
And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.
You have forgotten the encouragement that is addressed to you as sons: "My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline or give up when you are corrected by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he punishes every son he accepts." read more. What you endure disciplines you: God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline?
What you endure disciplines you: God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline? Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not God's sons.
Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not God's sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. We should submit even more to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn't we?
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. We should submit even more to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn't we? For a short time they disciplined us as they thought best, but God does it for our good, so that we may share in his holiness.
For a short time they disciplined us as they thought best, but God does it for our good, so that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.
When someone is tempted, he should not say, "I am being tempted by God," because God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.
Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.
We consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard about Job's endurance and have seen the purpose of the Lord that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Be clear-minded and alert. Your opponent, the Devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but threw them into the lowest hell and imprisoned them in chains of deepest darkness, holding them for judgment;
He has also held in eternal chains those angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their assigned place. They are held in deepest darkness for judgment on the great day.
I correct and discipline those whom I love, so be serious and repent!
When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. read more. Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like that of earthly scorpions. They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant, or any tree. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them, but were only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion when it stings someone. In those days people will seek death, but never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were victor's crowns that looked like gold, and their faces were like human faces. They had hair like women's hair and teeth like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like iron, and the noise of their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle. They had tails and stingers like scorpions, and they had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months. They had the angel of the bottomless pit ruling over them as king. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
The huge dragon was hurled down. That ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, along with its angels.
So be glad, heavens, and those who live in them! How terrible it is for the earth and the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, filled with rage, knowing that his time is short!"
He captured the dragon, that ancient serpent, also known as the Devil and Satan, and tied him up for a thousand years.
and the Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were. They will be tortured day and night forever and ever.