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
Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For the Scripture says, 'You must do homage to the Lord your God, and worship him alone!' "
And do not subject us to temptation, But save us from the evil one.'
No sound tree can bear bad fruit, and no poor tree can bear good fruit.
When he reached the other side, in the region of Gadara, two men possessed by demons came out of the tombs and confronted him; they were so extremely violent that nobody could go along that road.
When anyone hears the teaching of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and robs him of the seed that has been sown in his mind. That is what was sown along the path.
The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.
Then he will say to those at his left, 'Begone, you accursed people, to the everlasting fire destined for the devil and his angels!
Then he will say to those at his left, 'Begone, you accursed people, to the everlasting fire destined for the devil and his angels!
The ones by the path are those into whose hearts the message falls, and as soon as they hear it Satan comes and carries off the message that has been sown in their hearts.
He said to them, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning!
And did not this woman, who is a descendant of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, have to be released from those bonds on the Sabbath day?"
O Simon, Simon! Satan has obtained permission to sift all of you like wheat,
The devil is the father you are sprung from, and you want to carry out your father's wishes. He was a murderer from the first, and he has nothing to do with the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in his true character, for he is a liar and the father of them.
The judgment of this world is now in progress. Its evil genius is now to be expelled,
After he took the bread, Satan took possession of him. Then Jesus said to him, "Be quick about your business."
For God's anger is breaking forth from heaven against all the impiety and wickedness of the men who in their wickedness are suppressing the truth. For all that can be known of God is clearly before them; God has shown it to them. read more. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature??is eternal power and divine character??ave been clearly perceptible through what he has made. So they have no excuse, for, though they knew God, they have not honored him as God or given thanks to him, but they have indulged in futile speculations, until their stupid minds have become dark.
If, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, it is far more certain that now that we are reconciled we shall be saved through sharing in his life!
For I consider what we suffer now not to be compared with the glory that is to burst upon us. For creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be disclosed. read more. For it was not the fault of creation that it was frustrated; it was by the will of him who condemned it to that, and in the hope that creation itself would be set free from its bondage to decay, and have the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation has been groaning in agony together until now. More than that, we ourselves, though we have in the Spirit a foretaste of the future, groan to ourselves as we wait to be declared God's sons, through the redemption of our bodies. It was in this hope that we were saved. But a hope that can be seen is not a hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But when we hope for something that we do not see, we wait persistently for it.
We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good.
But in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor their hierarchies nor the present nor the future read more. nor any supernatural forces either of height or depth will be able to separate us from the love God has shown in Christ Jesus our Lord!
"Why, then," you will ask, "does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" On the contrary, who are you, my friend, to answer back to God? Can something a man shapes say to the man who shaped it, "Why did you make me like this?" read more. Has not the potter with his clay the right to make from the same lump one thing for exalted uses and another for menial ones? Then what if God, though he wanted to display his anger and show his power, has shown great patience toward the objects of his anger, already ripe for destruction, so as to show all the wealth of his glory in dealing with the objects of his mercy, whom he has prepared from the beginning to share his glory, including us whom he has called not only from among the Jews but from among the heathen?
No, but that what the heathen sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.
For now we are looking at a dim reflection in a mirror, but then we shall see face to face. Now my knowledge is imperfect, but then I shall know as fully as God knows me.
But I am afraid that just as the serpent by his cunning deceived Eve, your thoughts will be led astray from their single-hearted fidelity to Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. Through him he chose us out before the creation of the world, to be consecrated and above reproach in his sight in love. read more. He foreordained us to become his sons through Jesus Christ, in fulfilment of his generous purpose, so that we might praise the splendid blessing which he has given us through his beloved Son. It is through union with him and through his blood that we have been delivered and our offenses forgiven, in the abundance of his mercy which he has lavished upon us. He has given us perfect insight into his secret purpose and understanding of it, in following out the design he planned to carry out in Christ, and in arranging, when the time should have fully come, that everything in heaven and on earth should be unified in Christ??11 the Christ through whom it is our lot to have been predestined by the design of him who in everything carries out the purpose of his will,
to win praise for his glory, by having been the first to believe in Christ. You also have heard the message of the truth, the good news of your salvation, and believed in him, and through union with him you have been marked with the seal of the holy Spirit that was promised, read more. which is the advance installment of our inheritance, so that we may get full possession of it, and praise his glory for it.
you must not give the devil a chance.
You must put on God's armor, so as to be able to stand up against the devil's stratagems.
He disarmed the principalities and dominions and displayed them openly, triumphing over them through him.
and you have forgotten the challenge addressed to you as God's sons, "My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline, Or give up when he corrects you. For it is those whom the Lord loves that he disciplines, And he chastises every son that he acknowledges." read more. You must submit to it as discipline. God is dealing with you as his sons. For where is there a son whom his father does not discipline?
You must submit to it as discipline. God is dealing with you as his sons. For where is there a son whom his father does not discipline? But if you have none of that discipline which all sons undergo, you are illegitimate children, and not true sons.
But if you have none of that discipline which all sons undergo, you are illegitimate children, and not true sons. When our earthly fathers disciplined us we treated them with respect; should we not far more submit to the Father of our spirits, and so have life?
When our earthly fathers disciplined us we treated them with respect; should we not far more submit to the Father of our spirits, and so have life? For they disciplined us for a short time and as they thought proper, but he does it for our good, to make us share his holiness.
For they disciplined us for a short time and as they thought proper, but he does it for our good, to make us share his holiness. Discipline is never pleasant at the time; it is painful; but to those who are trained by it, it afterward yields the peace of character.
Discipline is never pleasant at the time; it is painful; but to those who are trained by it, it afterward yields the peace of character.
No one should think when he is tempted that his temptation comes from God, for God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil, and he does not tempt anyone.
Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will fly from you.
Why, we call those who showed such endurance happy! You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen what the Lord brought out of it, for the Lord is very kind and merciful.
Be calm and watchful. Your opponent the devil is prowling about like a roaring lion, wanting to devour you.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but plunged them into Tartarus, and committed them to dark dungeons to await their doom,
and the angels who neglected their responsibilities and abandoned their homes he has put in everlasting chains to be kept in darkness for the judgment of the great Day,
I reprove and discipline all whom I love. So be earnest and repent.
Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen on the earth from the sky. He was given the key to the pit of the abyss, and he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke like the smoke of a great furnace poured up out of the pit, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. read more. Out of the smoke locusts descended upon the earth, but with powers like those of earthly scorpions. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only the men who did not have the mark of God's seal upon their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill anyone, but only to torture them for five months, and the torture they inflicted was like that caused by a scorpion when it stings a man. In those days men will seek death and never find it. They will want to die, but death will fly from them. In appearance the locusts were like war-horses armed for battle; on their heads were what appeared to be crowns like gold; their faces were like human faces; they had hair like a woman's; their teeth were like those of lions; their breasts were like iron breast-plates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of a great number of chariots and horses rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions; it was in their tails that their power lay to harm men for five months. They had over them as king the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he is called Apollyon.
So the great dragon, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.
Therefore, rejoice, you heavens and you who live in them! But alas for the earth and the sea, for the devil has descended upon you in a great rage, for he knows that he has only a short time left."
He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
and the devil who led them astray was flung into the fiery, sulphurous lake, where the animal and the false prophet were, there to be tortured day and night forever and ever.