What Is The Origin Of Evil?
Sermon Notes
Today’s the last week in our teaching series on a book of the bible called Romans. It’s been a great series about renewing our minds for the transformation of our lives, and what we’re talking about specifically today is the origin of evil. What is the origin of evil? How did evil begin, and what’s our hope for dealing with evil? Both skeptics and believers experience evil and suffering. We don’t just see evil and suffering in the world, we also experience it in own lives. It's possible this is why some of you aren’t praying, reading your bible, going to church as much, or why some of you are skeptics. It’s because you experienced evil and suffering in life, and it caused you to start questioning the existence and goodness of God in your life. Theologians call this struggle the problem of evil.
The problem of evil is based on three points. The 1st point is if God is so good, why does he allow evil and suffering to exist?...The 2nd point is if God is so powerful, why doesn’t he stop evil and suffering?...The 3rd point is since evil and suffering exists, it means either God isn’t good for allowing it to exist, he isn’t powerful enough to stop it, or he doesn’t exist at all...That’s what theologians call the problem of evil. It’s internal struggles and questions everybody wrestles with at some point in life when we’re experiencing evil and suffering. We’re like, “If God’s so good, so powerful, so loving, then why would he allow me to go through this hardship? Why would he allow me to experience evil and suffering? Maybe he doesn’t care about me, or maybe God doesn’t exist at all...” Everybody experiences evil, everybody has a problem with evil, so today we’re talking about the origin of evil. What’s the origin of evil, and what’s our hope for dealing with evil? Let’s turn to Romans 16 and get into it. You’ll find Romans in the last quarter of the bible, we’ll be in Romans 16:17-27. Title of the message is What’s the origin of evil? The big idea is evil had a beginning, but it also has an ending...Evil had a beginning, but it also has an ending...
Here’s your context. Romans was written by the Apostle Paul who was a skeptic and enemy of Christianity, until 35 A.D. when he has an interaction with Jesus that changes his life, and he becomes a Christian. He writes this letter to teach others about Jesus and the gospel that transformed his life. In the first 11 chapters he focuses on the gospel and our vertical relationship with God, but in the last 5 chapters he focuses on our response to the gospel and our horizontal relationship with others. Now ch 16’s the last chapter in Romans, and we broke it down into four messages. So far we’ve learned about the importance of Christian community, Satan’s deceptive plans, and God’s judgement. Today we’re learning about the origin of evil. So let’s check it out.
Romans 16:17-27, “Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them, 18 because such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites., They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting with smooth talk and flattering words.” When I preached on this a few weeks ago we learned that Paul’s warning us to watch out for Satan causing divisions and deceptions in the church. Satan’s greatest deceptive plan is for us to walk away from God and the church. He wants us to walk away from our relationship with Jesus and our relationship with each other.
Vs. 19, “The report of your obedience has reached everyone. Therefore I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise about what is good, and yet innocent about what is evil.” Notice even Paul recognizes there’s evil in the world. He says for us to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The bible teaches there’s three kinds of evil in the world, and the 1st is supernatural evil, which we discussed a few weeks ago. It’s evil from supernatural beings like Satan, demons, and evil spirits. The 2nd is moral evil, which is evil from the immoral actions of humans. When we do sinful things like hold grudges against our spouse, lie to our parents, steal resources from our job, gossip about others, cut people up with our words or actions, we’re bringing moral evil into the world. When we sin we’re contributing to the problem of evil, we’re bringing moral evil into the world. The 3rd is natural evil, which is evil from acts of nature. It’s things like hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes causing death and destruction. It’s one of the consequences God gave when Adam sinned. Genesis 3:17, “The Lord said to the man, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree I commanded you not to eat from. The ground is cursed because of you.” That’s the time in history when things like hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes started causing us death and destruction. They existed in the beginning of creation, but they didn’t cause death and destruction until they became cursed and turned into natural evil. So the three kinds of evil in our world are supernatural, moral, and natural evil. But what’s our hope for dealing with it? What’s our hope for dealing with the evil and suffering in our lives?
Hinduism teaches you’ll find hope, if you treat evil and suffering like an illusion. It isn’t real, it’s just an illusion. Their sacred Bhagavad Gita states, “Your sorrow is sheer delusion. Wise men don’t grieve.” So if you want hope, then treat evil and suffering like an illusion.
Buddhism teaches you’ll find hope, if you detach yourself from everything that’s good, including things you love. The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, taught that the cause of suffering is attachment, and so the solution is detachment from everything you love. Buddha states, “The end of suffering comes from the complete cessation of that thirst, giving it up, renouncing it, emancipating oneself from it, detaching oneself from it.” He’s saying you can’t suffer losing anything, if you don’t ever love anything. So if you want hope, detach yourself from everything you love. Both Hinduism and Buddhism can’t give you hope, because the one denies the reality of evil and suffering, while the other detaches you from everything you love.
Islam teaches you’ll find hope, if you just submit to Allah’s will. Muslim means one who submits to God, so their hope for dealing with evil and suffering is to submit to Allah instead of questioning Allah. You just need to accept that evil and suffering is a part of Allah’s will for you. Allah also doesn’t give you any assurance of entering paradise in heaven. You might get in, you might not. Your evil and suffering might end, or it might intensify in hell. So if you want hope, submit to Allah instead of questioning Allah, and your evil suffering might end or intensify. That can’t give you hope either, since there isn’t any assurance your evil and suffering will ever end.
I’ll give you one more. It’s the atheist naturalist view, which teaches you’ll find hope, if you accept the reality that life’s about survival of the fittest. We live, survive, have a few pockets of joy, but then we suffer, die, and all our joys die too. In the famous Pulitzer Prize book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, author Annie Dillard explains the issue with having an atheist naturalist view. She moved near a creek in the woods of Virginia to observe nature, hoping to find clarity for the societal sufferings she’d seen. But what she found was praying mantises eating each other, and a giant water bug sucking the brains out of a frog. She left sickened by nature’s violence. Dillard states, “Evolution loves death more than it loves you or me...I thought I’d live by the side of the creek to shape my life to its free flow. But I reached a point where I must draw the line. I must part ways with the only world there is.” She’s saying if this world is all there is, our only relief is to part ways with it at death. Dillard continues, “We value the individual supremely and nature values him not a whit…The frog that the giant water bug sucked had presumably a rush of pure feeling for about a second, before its brain turned into broth!” What she’s saying is the atheist naturalist view is violent and hopeless. It’s survival of the fittest, the strong eating the weak, and there’s no hope or remedy for it. So this view can’t give you hope either. None of these views give hope for dealing with evil and suffering...except the next view...which Paul points to next.
Vs. 20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” This is about a future hope we have in Jesus. It’s about a promise God makes back in Genesis 3:15, which is that Jesus will eventually crush Satan forever. In vs 17-19 Paul warns us about Satan’s deceptive plans and that evil will come. But here he reminds us that Jesus is the God of peace, the Prince of peace, who’s coming back to crush Satan, sin, evil, and sufferingforever. This is the Christian view of evil and suffering. It teaches our hope for dealing with evil and suffering is found in Jesus. It teaches the origin of evil and suffering didn’t start with God, it started with Satan. When God created the world he didn’t create evil he created the possibility of evil. Satan and humans are responsible for the origin of evil, because our sins are what turned the possibility of evil into actual evil. The origin of evil isn’t from God, it’s from Satan and human sin turning the possibility of evil into actual evil. But God didn’t just create the possibility of evil, he’s also doing something about it, which Paul’s pointing to in Jesus crushing Satan. He’s saying Jesus is our incarnate God who came to show us evil and suffering won’t have the final victory, and Jesus this proved by rising from the dead. He proved not even the evil suffering of the cross can stop his eternal plans to crush Satan, sin, evil, suffering, and death. It’s a far more hopeful view than the other views, because it gives us a God who can relate with our experiences of evil and suffering, but also promises a greater future without evil and suffering. So if you’ve been experiencing evil, suffering, rejection, betrayal, hurt emotionally, hurt physically, then turn to Jesus because he’s the only God who experienced evil and suffering like you. He’s the only God who loved you enough to die for you, and rose again to prove he has the power to restore you.
Now some people are like, “Yeah but why didn’t God create us without the possibility of evil? I mean he knew we’d turn the possibility of evil into actual evil, then why didn’t he create us without the possibility of evil?” One reason is for us to better understand the concept of good. You can’t understand what’s good, if there isn’t anything evil to compare it with. C.S. Lewis states, “My argument against God as an atheist, was the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how did I get this idea of just and unjust? A man doesn’t call a line crooked, unless he has some idea of a straight line.” His point is you can’t claim anything is evil in nature, if you don’t have anything outside of nature to compare it to. You can’t claim a line is crooked, if you don’t have a straight line to compare it to. You can claim everything that happens is natural, but you can’t claim anything is good or evil unless you have something outside of nature to compare it to. God is the only one outside of nature, the only one who is super-natural. He sets the standard for what’s good, and gives us the possibility of evil to better understand the concept of good.
Another reason God allows the possibility of evil, is to give us free will so genuine love can exist. If Apple programs Siri to say I love you, it isn’t genuine love. She’s only saying that because she’s been programed to say it, which isn’t genuine love. But God didn’t create us to be computers, he created us to be relational. He created us to be in a relationship with him and with others. Free will and the possibility of evil are necessary for our relationships to be genuinely loving. We need to have the freedom to do good or evil, to love or reject, otherwise we’re no different than a computer...Many of us have a hypocritical belief in God, where we get angry with him for allowing us to experience evil and suffering, but we also don’t want him taking away our free will. We can’t have it both ways. For free will to exist, the possibility of evil has to exist...The Christian view is both a more logical and hopeful view for dealing with evil and suffering.
Again vs. 20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. 21 Timothy, my coworker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen, greet you. 22 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.” In the 1st century it was common to have your secretary record what you’re saying when writing a letter. Tertius was Paul’s secretary, his scribe, and he’s recording what Paul’s saying in real time.
Vs. 23, “Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you. 25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles.” Paul’s ending Romans the same way he started it, which is to find our hope in the power of the gospel, to find our hope in the power of Jesus. He says in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel,, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” He starts this letter by pointing to the power of the gospel for salvation, and now he’s ending it pointing to the power of the gospel for strengthening. He’s saying the power for eternal salvation and daily strengthening comes through faith in the gospel, through faith in Jesus as our incarnate God who died for our sins on the cross. It’s faith in Jesus that marks the beginning of a relationship with Jesus, but it’s daily reliance on Jesus that gives us the daily strengthening we need to make it through evil and suffering. Paul calls it my gospel instead of the gospel, because it’s a personal decision we make ourselves. We have to decide to put our faith in Jesus or to put our faith in something else for eternal salvation and daily strengthening. There’s a lot of stuff in our culture promising to heal the suffering in your heart, but only Jesus can eternally save and daily strengthen your heart. Only Jesus can give you the hope of enjoying a better eternal future.
Vs. 27, “To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to him be the glory forever! Amen.” Paul ends on the infinite wisdom and glory of Jesus. This is important, especially for those of you in a season of evil and suffering right now. When you’re in a season of evil and suffering life can feel like a grind. It can feel like you’re constantly swimming upstream, and you’re tired, ready to break, wondering if Jesus even cares, because you can’t think of one good reason why he’d allow you to go through what you’re going through. In tough seasons like that we need to remember the infinite wisdomand glory of Jesus. We need to remember Jesus is infinite in wisdom, and we’re finite in wisdom. So he could have an infinite amount of reasons for allowing us to be in a tough season, even if we can’t think of one reason in our finite wisdom. Tim Keller states, “If you have an infinite God who’s big enough to be mad at for the suffering in the world, then you also have an infinite God who’s big enough to have reasons for it, that you can’t think of.”
So in tough seasons we need to remember the infinite wisdom of Jesus, but we also need to remember the infinite glory of Jesus. The infinite glory of Jesus gives us hope that our tough seasons won’t last forever, because his glory will one day shine so radiantly, it’ll eradicate all darkness forever. All the darkness of evil, suffering, Satan, sin, and death will be eradicated from our lives forever, when Jesus returns to rule his created kingdom in radiant glory forever. I know in life it sometimes feels like you’re being abandoned, but with Jesus you’ll never be abandoned! In life it sometimes feels like you’re getting crushed, but with Jesus you’ll never get crushed it’s Satan who gets crushed! In life it sometimes feels like you’re hanging on to the end of the rope, but with Jesus holding the rope you’ll never be without hope! City Awakening Jesus is our greatest hope!...In the words of William Lane Craig, “If God doesn’t exist, then we’re locked without hope in a world filled with pointless unredeemed suffering...But God is the final answer to the problem of suffering, for he redeems us from evil, and takes us into everlasting joy with him.”
So the big idea of the message is that evil had a beginning, but it also has an ending...Evil had a beginning, but it also has an ending...Paul ends Romans like he started it, which is pointing us to the gospel, pointing us to Jesus for salvation and strengthening. The reality is everybody faces tough seasons in life, and in your finite mind you can’t ever fully understand why Jesus is allowing you to go through those tough seasons. But the one thing you can know, is that it can’t me he doesn’t love you or care about you. I mean if Jesus really is our God who was willing to put on human flesh to save us, to feel pain like we feel pain, to experience the evil and suffering of Roman crucifixion for our sins. If he was willing to do all that for us, then it can’t mean he doesn’t love and care about us. If he didn’t love and care about you, he wouldn’t have sacrificed his life for you. So don’t run from in him your tough seasons, instead run to him.
If you’re a skeptic make a decision today, to put your faith in Jesus for eternal salvation. If you’re a believer make a decision today, to rely on Jesus for daily strengthening. Let all of us make a decision today, to turn to Jesus for hope when dealing with evil and suffering, because he’s coming back to give us a better future with him. In the words of Tim Keller, “The bible tells us God didn’t originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death. But Jesus came to redeem where it’s wrong, and to heal the world where it’s broken. His miracles aren’t just proof he has power, they’re also foretastes of what he’s going to do with that power. Jesus’ miracles aren’t just a challenge to our minds, they’re a promise to our hearts, that the world we want is coming.”...Evil had a beginning, but it also has an ending, and the world we want is coming. Evil had a beginning, but it also has an ending, because our Savior Jesus...is coming...Let’s pray.