Natural Evil – Answering By Exegesis
May 21, 2009 Posted by Aaron Snell
“If God is good and all-powerful, why is there so much evil?”
The problem of evil in Christian theology has received much attention, both from those within the faith as well as from objectors outside the faith. In the former category, many fine Christian minds have applied themselves to offering theodicies – justification of the presence of evil in a world created by a good and all-powerful God – that seek to philosophically address this problem of evil, both natural evil (death and suffering caused by events in the natural world, such as tsunamis, earthquakes, and diseases) and moral evil (death and suffering caused by human actions). Many of these arguments are philosophically sound, but (in my opinion) biblically unsupported, and ignore certain key texts that should be informing a Christian response to this challenge. This post is just a small contribution that seeks to remedy this tendency.
First of all, I think the problems of natural evil and moral evil are to some extent distinct, and should be treated as such. I’d like to propose an answer to the problem of natural evil based on (a necessarily brief) biblical exegesis, specifically of Romans 8. The answer I arrive at may or may not sit well with our human-centered sensibilities, but I’m trying to be faithful to God’s Word and let Scripture determine my apologetic. I think the Bible speaks directly to this issue, and we should listen.
Romans 8 begins with the conclusion of Paul’s preceding argument: that because of justification by faith, those who are in Christ Jesus are no longer condemned, being set free as we are from the law of sin and death (btw, there’s a direct line connecting those two things together). We are therefore indwelt by the Spirit of God, our spirits made alive by him, even though our bodies, our flesh, is still corrupted and “dead.” However, because of the Spirit of God living in us, we do not need to live in slavery to the corrupt nature of our flesh, but can continuously put that to death by walking in the Spirit, in the hope that God will redeem our bodies (sarx) just as He has redeemed our spirit (pneuma). Then, at verse 16, we read:
16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Notice here that there is an end, a purpose, a telos to our suffering as Christians – our future glorification with Christ. This end is so great, it makes all the suffering totally incomparable and totally worth it. But it is not only us who were meant for or eagerly anticipate this end:
19For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
“Creation” (singular) here could refer to mankind as a whole, a hypothetical man, or all of creation (the natural world). For reasons given below, I’m opting for the latter. Longing, then, would be somewhat of an anthropomorphism, along the lines of a restrained boulder “yearning” to roll downhill. Other translations render this as “eager expectation” which helps capture the word here, which literally means “to watch with the head stretched out” – there’s an end for which creation was created, and creation groans (see v. 22) for this end like a dam groaning under the weight of water that wants to flow down to the sea. This end is the “revealing of the sons of God” – the glorification of the adopted elect at the end of the age.
20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Just as man is a slave to corruption [a ruining of an original intent, a spoiling, decay] through sin, so is the natural world. This is described in v. 20 as subjection to futility, or uselessness; but it is a subjection or slavery imposed upon creation by God for a specific purpose: to be set free. The purpose is release/redemption, and without prior bondage and slavery, this would not be possible.
22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
Here, following the pattern of suffering while waiting for glorification in the life of believers, the suffering of the creation is likened to childbirth – something painful, damaging and dangerous, but with an end result – a new life in the world – that is worth it all. I can’t speak from experience here, but my wife says (and I’ve heard other women say the same) that a mother’s labor pains may be very bad, but the memory quickly fades after the child is born. “Until now” can here be understood not in the sense that the groaning and suffering has now ended, but that it is still happening up to this very day. Again, the suffering of the natural world is acknowledged, but it is not purposeless – it is to be redeemed in the end when our bodies are redeemed at the resurrection:
23And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
This is why I decided to understand “creation” as the natural world, and not mankind in general – the clear distinction here between creation and believers, plus the way “creation” is characterized as eagerly awaiting the glorification of believers (which would not be an accurate way to describe the unregenerate rest of mankind), eliminates the other possibilities.
24For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
25But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
So, just as we suffer in expectation of redemption, so does the rest of creation. It is not something that has arrived yet, but it will. So the answer to, “If God is good and all-powerful, why is there so much natural evil?” based on Romans 8, is this: God did not purpose a perfect creation, but a redeemed creation, so the natural world has been made such that it produces pain and suffering, yet so that it may be redeemed with the children of God at the end of the age. If this answer doesn’t sit well, I’d suggest it is because we see how bad the suffering is, but don’t understand how good the redemption will be.
Related posts:
- Evil and the Cross
- The Problem of Evil
- Scott Clark On Natural Law And Gay Marriage
- President Bush on the problem of evil
- Can God be Loving and Vengeful?
- A Greater Good than Peace
Posted in Aaron's Posts, Apologetics, Exegesis, Main Page, Theology
content rss
Recent Comments