God is not the creator of evil

As I have promised you yesterday, now I will answer to the next question that I was asked by a reader of the portal:

Why did God create the evil and the hell?

From the beginning I thought I could answer to this question in an article, but the question is too wide. Today I invite the reader to look at the first two chapters of the book of Genesis and to follow up every mention of the words evil and good and what God does in regarding to these definitions.

All God’s creation is good

The Book of Genesis is the book of all beginnings or of the origins. In the first chapter of the book, the word “good” appears for the first time after the third day of Creation was described.

Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:11–12)(NASB)

The phrase “God saw that it was good” or “they were good” will be repeated further on at the end of every day of Creation’s description, and in the end…

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)(NASB)

God defines what is the good and the evil

The second chapter of Genesis relates details about the placing of the man by God in the garden Eden and about the creation of the woman. When the garden Eden is described, the Word of God says:

Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)(NASB

I want to draw the attention of the reader that this verse DOES NOT say that God is the creator of the evil, but it says that He caused to grow a tree in the garden Eden, and its fruit opens the eyes to know the difference between good and evil. This verse rather shows us that God is the One who defines what is good and what is evil. Unfortunately, nowadays people make their own definitions and they call evil what is good, but good is conceived as evil.

God respects the right of the man to choose

Undoubtedly, that someone may ask you, then why did God place the man on the garden of Eden, why did He offer this opportunity to know the good and the evil to the man? Because God respects the personality of man that was made “in God’s image, according to His likeness”. The Most High respects the right of the man to choose and He wants to have a relation only with those who CHOOSE to live in obedience to Him. This is the greatest difference between all that lives and man. The man was gifted with the ability to choose and God never lacks us of this. But it is important to remember one thing, that all our choises bring blessings or consequences afterwards.

God warned the man against the danger of knowing the evil

After he had placed the man in the garden Eden, God gave the next commandmnet to the man:

From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16–17)(NASB)

Since the man received this commandment, he was placed in front of a choise, to remain in union with God, or to die. The knowledge of evil brings death as a consequence, or separation from God. Unfortunately, man knew the evil in a short time and all of us experience the consequences of this knowledge.

God does good to people

Immediately after He gave this commandment to them, the next verse says:

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18)(NASB)

When the man wasn’t yet conscious of his need, God saw it and He came to fulfill it. So, the woman was created. And after the first people’s fall into sin, God continued to do good to them, and He does this with each of us nowadays too. In His Sermon on the Mountain, the Lord Jesus Christ said:

for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (the Gospel of Matthew 5:45)(NASB)

In the kindness that He shows to all people, God has a purpose – our salvation, as He means in the Epistle to Romans when He says:

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Romans 2:4–5)(NASB)

I invite you tomorrow to come again on this portal to see together, how the man came to know evil and what the consequences of this knowledge were, according to the third chapter of the book of Genesis.

Translated by Djugostran Felicia