The Problem of Evil – Lenten Presentation for March 9th 2015
1. The concept of sin is not directly part of the Old Testament because
Hebrew language doesn’t have a word that corresponds to the New
Testament’s theological understanding of sin. HB uses a large variety
of words each of which has a profane use, to designate sin. The other
thing to remember is that the four Gospels, as it regards evil/sin, are
conceptually part of the Old Testament because the application of a
theology of sin developed by the Apostle Paul by using Greek
philosophical principles is doesn’t emerge until Pauline literature is
written.
2. As noted above Hebrew language doesn’t have a single word that
directly relates to the New Testament concept of sin but there are four
or five words that roughly refer to sinful behaviors, However, under
the influence of the Greeks the Old Testament was written in Greek
and Greek concepts of sin become part of Hebrew thought.
3. There are theological concepts of sin that are retroactively applied to
the Old Testament and to the Gospels. This is okay but recognizing
the Old Testament concepts of Evil should be recognized. For
example: In the Lord’s Prayer we have “forgive us our trespasses
(debts), as we forgive those who trespass against us.” If the trespass
was against a human being, the wrong-doer must make it right with
1
the person, and after reconciliation is affected in accordance with the
law, and then the offering for the wrong doing is to be made. But in
the Lord’s Prayer Jesus commutes the law to a one sided
reconciliation with wrong doing that one receives and to being
compassionate as God is compassionate by asking the Father to
forgive his own wrong doing as he forgives those who have wronged
him. While from our perspective this is easily seen as sin but from the
perspective of Jesus I suggest it is more about Evil and more
connected to Satan than Pauline notion of personal sin. The
interpretation of trespass is often called sin in Christian theology. But
in Hebrew it is wrongdoing to others which is to lose sight of the
dignity of the human person and that the person is created in the
image of God.
Decalouge – revealing the concept of Evil
Perhaps the best Old Testament scripture verse that reveals the concept of
evil is the Decalogue or the 10 commandments.
1. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him alone shall you serve.
2. You shall not take the name the Lord your God in Vain.
3. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. (The Sabbath was make for
man, not man for the Sabbath. (MK 2: 27)
4. Honor your Mother and Father
5. You shall not Kill. (Anger: Matt 5: 21 -26)
2
6. You shall not commit Adultery (Matt 5: 27-30)
7. You shall not steal
8. You shall not bear false witness
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
10.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male or female
slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him.
(Evil, Miss the mark, rebellious, Breach of a contract or agreement,
corruption of the Good, denial of reality, folly, being a trouble maker.)
Notice that the first commandment is a direct reflection Genesis
You are to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul
and with all your heart. To love God in this fashion there is no
commandment that will be violated. In essence the key to keeping the
commandments is never to place our self above God. Speaking from, a
psychological perspective we place our self above God when we feel sorry
for our self, or have self-pity. Connected to either of these is anger.
(Jesus’ behavior in the temple.)
Blessed be God, Blessed be his holy name and repeat
1. We see in the third chapter of Genesis that the Serpent who is the
most subtle of all beasts is attributed as an outside force that tempts
3
Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and therefore overtime
is seen as evil. Scripture stresses that evil is a force in its own right
and just not the absence of Good; that is God.
2. The Old Testament does not reveal the ultimate origins of evil; it
identifies a number of intermediate sources. However, scripture
records that God created all things in the heavens, on the earth and
under the earth.
3. THE DEVIL IS THE SOURCE OF EVIL. Ge 3:1 “The serpent
was the most subtle of the wild beasts that Yahweh God had made.”
The serpent is a disguise figure for an intelligent being hostile to God
and an enemy of man. “The great dragon, the primeval serpent,
known as the devil or Satan, who had deceived all the world, was
hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him.
(Rev 12:9)” “One day the Sons of God came to attend on Yahweh,
and among them was Satan. Job 1:6” In the Gospels of Matthew,
Mark and Luke Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist and then goes
into the wilderness and was tempted by the Devil. “All you need say
is “Yes” if you mean yes, “No” if you mean no; anything more than
this comes from the Evil One. Mt 5: 37” And do not put us to the test,
but save us from the Evil One.” Mat 6:15. The healing of crippled
woman on the Sabbath who was a daughter of Abraham whom Satan
has held bond for 28 years. (Luke 13: 10 - 17) Jn 17:15 The devil
4
prompts Judas to betray Jesus Christ. Ac 5:3 Ananias lies to the Holy
Spirit at Satan’s instigation. 2Co 4:4; 12:7 Paul’s thorn in the flesh
from Satan .
4. Non Satanic evil powers. The epileptic Demoniac, Mt 17: 14
– 18, Mk 9: 14 – 27, Lk 37 – 42. “For it is not against human
enemies that we have to struggle, but against the
Sovereignties and the Powers who originate the darkness in
the world; the spiritual army of evil in the heavens.” Eph 6:12.
“Now the spirit of Yahweh had left Saul and evil spirit from
Yahweh filled him with terror. 1 Samuel 16: 14.
5. Fallen human nature as a source of evil. “Yahweh saw that
the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that the
thoughts in his heart fashioned nothing but wickedness but
wickedness all day long.” Genesis 6: 5 – 6. But the things that
come out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is these that
make a man unclean, For from the heart come evil intentions:
murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. These are
the things that makes a man unclean. Mt. 15: 18 – 20. “Never,
when you have been tempted, say, “God sent the temptation”,
God cannot be tempted to do anything wrong, and he does not
tempt anybody”. James 1: 13.
5
6. As one can see form the above review of the concepts of Evil
that it easy for the Christian scholars to imply first Pauline
theology of sin, then the Church Fathers, particularly
Augustine, and then the Scholastics and modern scholarship
with the various theologies of sin.
7. Next we look at the Christian theology of sin in Scripture, which
primarily means Paul’s theology which is bound to the passion,
death and resurrection of Jesus.
6