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 other {wild animal} which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God indeed say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, read more. but from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God said, 'You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die'."
Then Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan [were] evil in the eyes of Isaac his father,
And Yahweh will go through to strike Egypt, and he will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to come to your houses to strike [you].
If {she does not please her master} who selected her, he will allow her to be redeemed; he has no authority to sell her to foreign people, since he has dealt treacherously with her.
The Rock, his work [is] perfect, for all his ways [are] just; [he is] a faithful God, and {without injustice}; righteous and upright [is] he.
They sacrificed to the demons, not God, [to] gods whom they had not known, new [gods] [who] came from recent times; {their ancestors had not known them}.
No one will stand before you all the days of your life. [Just] as I was with Moses, [so] will I be with you; I will not fail you, and I will not forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you will give the people this land as an inheritance that I swore to their ancestors to give them. read more. Only be strong and very courageous {to observe diligently the whole law} that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn aside from it, [to] the right or left, so that you may succeed {wherever you go}.
And she said to them, "Go to the mountain, so that the pursuers will not find you, and hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers return, and afterward you may go {on your way}."
[But] there will be a distance between you and it of about two thousand cubits in measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way that you must go, for you have not passed on [this] way {before}."
And Joshua said to the {Israelites}, "Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your God."
And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem, and the lords of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech,
Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him.
Again Yahweh [was] angry with Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go count Israel and Judah."
Again Yahweh [was] angry with Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go count Israel and Judah."
"Look, [in] this you are not right--I will answer you: Indeed, God is greater than a human being.
He sent against them his fierce anger, rage and indignation and trouble, a band of {destroying} angels.
Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be quick to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you [are] on earth; therefore, let your words be few.
Your perversity! As if {a potter} shall be regarded as [the] clay! That [the] product of its maker [says], "He did not make me," and [the] thing made into shape says of its {potter}, "He has no understanding."
form light and create darkness; make peace and create evil; I [am] Yahweh; do all these [things].
And Yahweh asked me, "What [are] you seeing, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs--the good figs, very good, and the bad [figs], very bad, that cannot be eaten because of [their] bad quality."
[Is] it not from the mouth of the Most High [that] disaster and good will come?
And the prophet, if he is deceived and he speaks a word, I Yahweh, I have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him, and I will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Or is a horn blown in a city and people are not afraid? Or does a disaster occur in the city and Yahweh has not done [it]?
Your eyes [are] too pure to see evil, and you are not able to look at wrongdoing. Why do you look at the treacherous? [Why] are you silent when the wicked swallows up [someone] more righteous than him?
And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing {before} the angel of Yahweh; and Satan was standing on his right to accuse him.
Then Jesus said to him, "Go away, Satan, for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'"
And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
A good tree is not able to produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree to produce good fruit.
And [when] he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from among the tombs met him, very violent, so that no one was able to pass by along that road.
[When] anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand [it], the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown on the side of the path.
And the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
Then he will also say to those on [his] left, 'Depart from me, [you] accursed ones, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!
Then he will also say to those on [his] left, 'Depart from me, [you] accursed ones, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!
And these are the ones beside the path where the word is sown, and whenever they hear [it], immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
So he said to them, "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven.
And this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound {eighteen} long years--is it not necessary that she be released from this bond on the day of the Sabbath?"
"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat,
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father! That one was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand firm in the truth, because truth is not in him. Whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own [nature], because he is a liar and the father {of lies}.
Now is the judgment of this world! Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out!
And after the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, "What you are doing, do quickly!"
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and unrighteousness of people, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is evident among them, for God made [it] clear to them. read more. For from the creation of the world, his invisible [attributes], both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created, so that they are without excuse. For [although they] knew God, they did not honor [him] as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasoning, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
For if, [while we] were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, by much more, having been reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the glory that is about to be revealed to us. For the eagerly expecting creation awaits eagerly the revelation of the sons of God. read more. For the creation has been subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected [it], in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its servility to decay, into the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers agony together until now. Not only [this], but we ourselves also, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves [while we] await eagerly [our] adoption, the redemption of our body. For in hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we await [it] eagerly with patient endurance.
And we know that all [things] work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to [his] purpose,
[No], but in all these [things] we prevail completely through 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 height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore you will say to me, "Why then does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will? On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded [it], "Why did you make me like this"? read more. Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that [is] for {honorable use} and [one] that [is] for {ordinary use}? And [what] if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And [he did so] in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory, us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
[No], but that [the things] which they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become sharers with demons.
For now we see through a mirror {indirectly}, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know completely, just as I have also been completely known.
But I am afraid lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds may be led astray from the sincerity and the purity of [devotion] to Christ.
Blessed [is] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, [that] we should be holy and blameless before him in love, read more. having predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace that he bestowed on us in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, that he caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in him, for the administration of the fullness of times, to bring together all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in him in whom also we were chosen, having been predestined according to the purpose of the One who works all [things] according to the counsel of his will, [that] we who hoped beforehand in Christ should be for the praise of his glory, in whom also you, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when you believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
nor give place to the devil.
Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil,
[When he] had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a display of [them] in public, triumphing over them by it.
And have you completely forgotten the exhortation which instructs you as sons? "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, or give up [when you] are corrected by him. For the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves, and punishes every son whom he accepts." read more. Endure [it] for discipline. God is dealing with you as sons. For what son [is there] whom a father does not discipline?
Endure [it] for discipline. God is dealing with you as sons. For what son [is there] whom a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, in which all [legitimate sons] have become participants, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
But if you are without discipline, in which all [legitimate sons] have become participants, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had {our earthly fathers} who disciplined [us], and we respected [them]. Will we not much rather subject ourselves to the Father of spirits and live?
Furthermore, we have had {our earthly fathers} who disciplined [us], and we respected [them]. Will we not much rather subject ourselves to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined [us] for a few days according to what seemed [appropriate] to them, but he [does so] for our benefit, in order that [we] can have a share in his holiness.
For they disciplined [us] for a few days according to what seemed [appropriate] to them, but he [does so] for our benefit, in order that [we] can have a share in his holiness. Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.
Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.
No one who is being tempted should say, "I am being tempted by God," for God {cannot be tempted} by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
Therefore subject yourselves to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Behold, we consider blessed those who have endured. You have heard about the patient endurance of Job, and you saw the outcome from the Lord, that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Be sober; be on the alert. Your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but held [them] captive in Tartarus with chains of darkness [and] handed [them] over to be kept for judgment,
And [the] angels who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling place, he has kept in eternal bonds under deep gloom for the judgment of the great day,
As many as I love, I reprove and discipline. Be zealous, therefore, and repent!
And the fifth angel blew the trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key of the shaft of the abyss was given to him. And he opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke went up from the shaft like smoke from a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. read more. And out of the smoke locusts came to the earth, and power was given to them like the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was told to them that they should not damage the grass of the earth or any green [plant] or any tree, except those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And it was granted to them that they should not kill them, but that they would be tormented five months, and their torment [is] like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person. And in those days people will seek death and will never find it, and they will long to die, and death will flee from them. And the appearance of the locusts [was] like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads [were something] like crowns similar in appearance to gold, and their faces [were] like men's faces, and they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like [the teeth] of lions, and they had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings [was] like the sound of many {horse-drawn chariots} running into battle. And they have tails similar in appearance to scorpions, and stings, and their power to injure people [for] five months [is] in their tails. They have [as] king over them the angel of the abyss, {whose name} in Hebrew [is] Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
And the great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Because of this, rejoice, you heavens, and those who live in them! Woe [to] the earth and [to] the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great anger, [because he] knows that he has little time!"
And he seized the dragon--the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan--and bound him [for] a thousand years,
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet also [are], and they will be tormented day and night {forever and ever}.