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 hath been subtile above every beast of the field which Jehovah God hath made, and he saith unto the woman, 'Is it true that God hath said, Ye do not eat of every tree of the garden?' And the woman saith unto the serpent, 'Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we do eat, read more. and of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said, Ye do not eat of it, nor touch it, lest ye die.'
and Esau seeth that the daughters of Canaan are evil in the eyes of Isaac his father,
'And Jehovah hath passed on to smite the Egyptians, and hath seen the blood on the lintel, and on the two side-posts, and Jehovah hath passed over the opening, and doth not permit the destruction to come into your houses to smite.
if evil in the eyes of her lord, so that he hath not betrothed her, then he hath let her be ransomed; to a strange people he hath not power to sell her, in his dealing treacherously with her.
The Rock! -- perfect is His work, For all His ways are just; God of stedfastness, and without iniquity: Righteous and upright is He.
They sacrifice to demons -- no god! Gods they have not known -- New ones -- from the vicinity they came; Not feared them have your fathers!
'No man doth station himself before thee all days of thy life; as I have been with Moses, I am with thee, I do not fail thee, nor forsake thee; be strong and courageous, for thou -- thou dost cause this people to inherit the land which I have sworn to their fathers to give to them. read more. Only, be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded thee; thou dost not turn aside from it right or left, so that thou dost act wisely in every place whither thou goest;
and she saith to them, 'To the mountain go, lest the pursuers come upon you; and ye have been hidden there three days till the turning back of the pursuers, and afterwards ye go on your way.'
only, a distance is between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure; ye do not come near unto it, so that ye know the way in which ye go, for ye have not passed over in the way heretofore.'
And Joshua saith unto the sons of Israel, 'Come nigh hither, and hear the words of Jehovah your God;
and God sendeth an evil spirit between Abimelech and the masters of Shechem, and the masters of Shechem deal treacherously with Abimelech,
And the Spirit of Jehovah turned aside from Saul, and a spirit of sadness from Jehovah terrified him;
And the anger of Jehovah addeth to burn against Israel, and an adversary moveth David about them, saying, 'Go, number Israel and Judah.'
And the anger of Jehovah addeth to burn against Israel, and an adversary moveth David about them, saying, 'Go, number Israel and Judah.'
Lo, in this thou hast not been righteous, I answer thee, that greater is God than man.
He sendeth on them the fury of His anger, Wrath, and indignation, and distress -- A discharge of evil messengers.
Cause not thy mouth to hasten, and let not thy heart hasten to bring out a word before God, for God is in the heavens, and thou on the earth, therefore let thy words be few.
Your perversion! as clay is the potter esteemed? That the work saith of its maker, 'He hath not made me?' And the framed thing said of its framer, 'He did not understand?'
Forming light, and preparing darkness, Making peace, and preparing evil, I am Jehovah, doing all these things.'
And Jehovah saith unto me, 'What art thou seeing, Jeremiah?' and I say, 'Figs, the good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, that are not eaten for badness.'
From the mouth of the Most High Go not forth the evils and the good.
And the prophet, when he is enticed, and hath spoken a word -- I, Jehovah, I have enticed that prophet, and have stretched out My hand against him, and have destroyed him from the midst of My people Israel.
Is a trumpet blown in a city, And do people not tremble? Is there affliction in a city, And Jehovah hath not done it?
Purer of eyes than to behold evil, To look on perverseness Thou art not able, Why dost Thou behold the treacherous? Thou keepest silent when the wicked Doth swallow the more righteous than he,
And he sheweth me Joshua the high priest standing before the messenger of Jehovah, and the Adversary standing at his right hand, to be an adversary to him.
Then saith Jesus to him, 'Go -- Adversary, for it hath been written, The Lord thy God thou shalt bow to, and Him only thou shalt serve.'
And mayest Thou not lead us to temptation, but deliver us from the evil, because Thine is the reign, and the power, and the glory -- to the ages. Amen.
A good tree is not able to yield evil fruits, nor a bad tree to yield good fruits.
And he having come to the other side, to the region of the Gergesenes, there met him two demoniacs, coming forth out of the tombs, very fierce, so that no one was able to pass over by that way,
Every one hearing the word of the reign, and not understanding -- the evil one doth come, and doth catch that which hath been sown in his heart; this is that sown by the way.
and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is a full end of the age, and the reapers are messengers.
Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers;
Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers;
and these are they by the way where the word is sown: and whenever they may hear, immediately cometh the Adversary, and he taketh away the word that hath been sown in their hearts.
and he said to them, 'I was beholding the Adversary, as lightning from the heaven having fallen;
and this one, being a daughter of Abraham, whom the Adversary bound, lo, eighteen years, did it not behove to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath-day?'
And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, lo, the Adversary did ask you for himself to sift as the wheat,
Ye are of a father -- the devil, and the desires of your father ye will to do; he was a man-slayer from the beginning, and in the truth he hath not stood, because there is no truth in him; when one may speak the falsehood, of his own he speaketh, because he is a liar -- also his father.
now is a judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast forth;
And after the morsel, then the Adversary entered into that one, Jesus, therefore, saith to him, 'What thou dost -- do quickly;'
for revealed is the wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety and unrighteousness of men, holding down the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which is known of God is manifest among them, for God did manifest it to them, read more. for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, by the things made being understood, are plainly seen, both His eternal power and Godhead -- to their being inexcusable; because, having known God they did not glorify Him as God, nor gave thanks, but were made vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent heart was darkened,
for if, being enemies, we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in his life.
For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory about to be revealed in us; for the earnest looking out of the creation doth expect the revelation of the sons of God; read more. for to vanity was the creation made subject -- not of its will, but because of Him who did subject it -- in hope, that also the creation itself shall be set free from the servitude of the corruption to the liberty of the glory of the children of God; for we have known that all the creation doth groan together, and doth travail in pain together till now. And not only so, but also we ourselves, having the first-fruit of the Spirit, we also ourselves in ourselves do groan, adoption expecting -- the redemption of our body; for in hope we were saved, and hope beheld is not hope; for what any one doth behold, why also doth he hope for it? and if what we do not behold we hope for, through continuance we expect it.
And we have known that to those loving God all things do work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose;
but in all these we more than conquer, through him who loved us; for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor messengers, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, read more. nor things about to be, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of god, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thou wilt say, then, to me, 'Why yet doth He find fault? for His counsel who hath resisted?' nay, but, O man, who art thou that art answering again to God? shall the thing formed say to Him who did form it, Why me didst thou make thus? read more. hath not the potter authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make the one vessel to honour, and the one to dishonour? And if God, willing to shew the wrath and to make known His power, did endure, in much long suffering, vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on vessels of kindness, that He before prepared for glory, whom also He did call -- us -- not only out of Jews, but also out of nations,
no, but that the things that the nations sacrifice -- they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not wish you to come into the fellowship of the demons.
for we see now through a mirror obscurely, and then face to face; now I know in part, and then I shall fully know, as also I was known;
and I fear, lest, as the serpent did beguile Eve in his subtilty, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in the Christ;
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who did bless us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, according as He did choose us in him before the foundation of the world, for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love, read more. having foreordained us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He did make us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have the redemption through his blood, the remission of the trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, in which He did abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the secret of His will, according to His good pleasure, that He purposed in Himself, in regard to the dispensation of the fulness of the times, to bring into one the whole in the Christ, both the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth -- in him; in whom also we did obtain an inheritance, being foreordained according to the purpose of Him who the all things is working according to the counsel of His will, for our being to the praise of His glory, even those who did first hope in the Christ, in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth -- the good news of your salvation -- in whom also having believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory.
neither give place to the devil;
put on the whole armour of God, for your being able to stand against the wiles of the devil,
having stripped the principalities and the authorities, he made a shew of them openly -- having triumphed over them in it.
and ye have forgotten the exhortation that doth speak fully with you as with sons, 'My son, be not despising chastening of the Lord, nor be faint, being reproved by Him, for whom the Lord doth love He doth chasten, and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;' read more. if chastening ye endure, as to sons God beareth Himself to you, for who is a son whom a father doth not chasten?
if chastening ye endure, as to sons God beareth Himself to you, for who is a son whom a father doth not chasten? and if ye are apart from chastening, of which all have become partakers, then bastards are ye, and not sons.
and if ye are apart from chastening, of which all have become partakers, then bastards are ye, and not sons. Then, indeed, fathers of our flesh we have had, chastising us, and we were reverencing them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of the spirits, and live?
Then, indeed, fathers of our flesh we have had, chastising us, and we were reverencing them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of the spirits, and live? for they, indeed, for a few days, according to what seemed good to them, were chastening, but He for profit, to be partakers of His separation;
for they, indeed, for a few days, according to what seemed good to them, were chastening, but He for profit, to be partakers of His separation; and all chastening for the present, indeed, doth not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow, yet afterward the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised through it -- it doth yield.
and all chastening for the present, indeed, doth not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow, yet afterward the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised through it -- it doth yield.
Let no one say, being tempted -- 'From God I am tempted,' for God is not tempted of evil, and Himself doth tempt no one,
be subject, then, to God; stand up against the devil, and he will flee from you;
lo, we call happy those who are enduring; the endurance of Job ye heard of, and the end of the Lord ye have seen, that very compassionate is the Lord, and pitying.
Be sober, vigilant, because your opponent the devil, as a roaring lion, doth walk about, seeking whom he may swallow up,
For if God messengers who sinned did not spare, but with chains of thick gloom, having cast them down to Tartarus, did deliver them to judgment, having been reserved,
messengers also, those who did not keep their own principality, but did leave their proper dwelling, to a judgment of a great day, in bonds everlasting, under darkness He hath kept,
'As many as I love, I do convict and chasten; be zealous, then, and reform;
And the fifth messenger did sound, and I saw a star out of the heaven having fallen to the earth, and there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss, and he did open the pit of the abyss, and there came up a smoke out of the pit as smoke of a great furnace, and darkened was the sun and the air, from the smoke of the pit. read more. And out of the smoke came forth locusts to the earth, and there was given to them authority, as scorpions of the earth have authority, and it was said to them that they may not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but -- the men only who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads, and it was given to them that they may not kill them, but that they may be tormented five months, and their torment is as the torment of a scorpion, when it may strike a man; and in those days shall men seek the death, and they shall not find it, and they shall desire to die, and the death shall flee from them. And the likenesses of the locusts are like to horses made ready to battle, and upon their heads as crowns like gold, and their faces as faces of men, and they had hair as hair of women, and their teeth were as those of lions, and they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings is as the noise of chariots of many horses running to battle; and they have tails like to scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their authority is to injure men five months; and they have over them a king -- the messenger of the abyss -- a name is to him in Hebrew, Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath a name, Apollyon.
and the great dragon was cast forth -- the old serpent, who is called 'Devil,' and 'the Adversary,' who is leading astray the whole world -- he was cast forth to the earth, and his messengers were cast forth with him.
because of this be glad, ye heavens, and those in them who do tabernacle; woe to those inhabiting the land and the sea, because the Devil did go down unto you, having great wrath, having known that he hath little time.'
and he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, who is Devil and Adversary, and did bind him a thousand years,
and the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night -- to the ages of the ages.