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
And the serpent was more crafty than any animal of the field which Jehovah Elohim had made. And it said to the woman, Is it even so, that God has said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; read more. but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, and ye shall not touch it, lest ye die.
And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the sight of Isaac his father.
And Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.
If she is unacceptable in the eyes of her master, who had taken her for himself, then shall he let her be ransomed: to sell her unto a foreign people he hath no power, after having dealt unfaithfully with her.
He is the Rock, his work is perfect, For all his ways are righteousness; A God of faithfulness without deceit, Just and right is he.
They sacrificed unto demons who are not +God; To gods whom they knew not, To new ones, who came newly up, Whom your fathers revered not.
None shall be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee; I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee. Be strong and courageous, for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I have sworn unto their fathers to give them. read more. Only be strong and very courageous, that thou mayest take heed to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
And she said to them, Go to the mountain, that the pursuers may not meet with you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned; and afterwards go your way.
yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Ye shall not come near it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of Jehovah your God.
And God sent an evil spirit between Abim'elech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abim'elech;
And the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him.
And again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.
And again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.
Behold, I will answer thee in this, thou art not right; for +God is greater than man.
He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and distress, a mission of angels of woes.
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in the heavens, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.
Oh your perverseness! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay, so that the work should say of him that made it, He made me not; or the thing formed say of him that formed it, He hath no understanding?
forming the light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil: I, Jehovah, do all these things.
And Jehovah said unto me, What seest thou, 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 doth not there proceed evil and good?
And if the prophet be enticed and shall speak a word, I Jehovah have enticed that prophet; and I will stretch out my hand against him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and Jehovah not have done it?
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on mischief: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and keepest silence when the wicked swalloweth up a man more righteous than he?
And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
Then says Jesus to him, Get thee away, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve.
and lead us not into temptation, but save us from evil.
A good tree cannot produce bad fruits, nor a worthless tree produce good fruits.
And there met him, when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, two possessed by demons, coming out of the tombs, exceeding dangerous, so that no one was able to pass by that way.
From every one who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and catches away what was sown in his heart: this is he that is sown by the wayside.
and the enemy who has sowed it is the devil; and the harvest is the completion of the age, and the harvestmen are angels.
Then shall he say also to those on the left, Go from me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Then shall he say also to those on the left, Go from me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
and these are they by the wayside where the word is sown, and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
And he said to them, I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven.
And this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, ought she not to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, to sift you as wheat;
Ye are of the devil, as your father, and ye desire to do the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks falsehood, he speaks of what is his own; for he is a liar and its father:
Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out:
And, after the morsel, then entered Satan into him. Jesus therefore says to him, What thou doest, do quickly.
For there is revealed wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety, and unrighteousness of men holding the truth in unrighteousness. Because what is known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them, read more. for from the world's creation the invisible things of him are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity, so as to render them inexcusable. Because, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but fell into folly in their thoughts, and their heart without understanding was darkened:
For if, being enemies, we have been reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much rather, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in the power of his life.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us. For the anxious looking out of the creature expects the revelation of the sons of God: read more. for the creature has been made subject to vanity, not of its will, but by reason of him who has subjected the same, in hope that the creature itself also shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now. And not only that, but even we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, we also ourselves groan in ourselves, awaiting adoption, that is the redemption of our body. For we have been saved in hope; but hope seen is not hope; for what any one sees, why does he also hope? But if what we see not we hope, we expect in patience.
But we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to purpose.
But in all these things we more than conquer through him that has loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, read more. nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 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 does he yet find fault? for who resists his purpose? Aye, but thou, O man, who art thou that answerest again to God? Shall the thing formed say to him that has formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? read more. Or has not the potter authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour? And if God, minded to shew his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory, us, whom he has also called, not only from amongst the Jews, but also from amongst the nations?
But that what the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God. Now I do not wish you to be in communion with demons.
For we see now through a dim window obscurely, but then face to face; now I know partially, but then I shall know according as I also have been known.
But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ; according as he has chosen us in him before the world's foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love; read more. having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has taken us into favour in the Beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of his grace; which he has caused to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself for the administration of the fulness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; in him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who have pre-trusted in the Christ: in whom ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance to the redemption of the acquired possession to the praise of his glory.
neither give room for the devil.
Put on the panoply of God, that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil:
having spoiled principalities and authorities, he made a show of them publicly, leading them in triumph by it.
And ye have quite forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. read more. Ye endure for chastening, God conducts himself towards you as towards sons; for who is the son that the father chastens not?
Ye endure for chastening, God conducts himself towards you as towards sons; for who is the son that the father chastens not? But if ye are without chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
But if ye are without chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Moreover we have had the fathers of our flesh as chasteners, and we reverenced them; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
Moreover we have had the fathers of our flesh as chasteners, and we reverenced them; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they indeed chastened for a few days, as seemed good to them; but he for profit, in order to the partaking of his holiness.
For they indeed chastened for a few days, as seemed good to them; but he for profit, in order to the partaking of his holiness. But no chastening at the time seems to be matter of joy, but of grief; but afterwards yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it.
But no chastening at the time seems to be matter of joy, but of grief; but afterwards yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it.
Let no man, being tempted, say, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted by evil things, and himself tempts no one.
Subject yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Behold, we call them blessed who have endured. Ye have heard of the endurance of Job, and seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is full of tender compassion and pitiful.
Be vigilant, watch. Your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour.
For if God spared not the angels who had sinned, but having cast them down to the deepest pit of gloom has delivered them to chains of darkness to be kept for judgment;
And angels who had not kept their own original state, but had abandoned their own dwelling, he keeps in eternal chains under gloomy darkness, to the judgment of the great day;
I rebuke and discipline as many as I love; be zealous therefore and repent.
And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet: and I saw a star out of the heaven fallen to the earth; and there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss. And it opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit. read more. And out of the smoke came forth locusts on the earth, and power was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have power; and it was said to them, that they should not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but the men who have not the seal of God on their foreheads: and it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall in no way find it; and shall desire to die, and death flees from them. And the likenesses of the locusts were like to horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as crowns like gold, and their faces as faces of men; and they had hair as women's hair, 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 to war; and they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and their power was in their tails to hurt men five months. They have a king over them, the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew, Abaddon, and in Greek he has for name Apollyon.
And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, he who is called Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole habitable world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Therefore be full of delight, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great rage, knowing he has a short time.
And he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are both the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for the ages of ages.