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In the first article I was looking at if it was possible for a good all-powerful God to allow suffering to exist within our world, or whether the very existence of suffering proved that there is in fact no God at all. I came to the conclusion that in order to define suffering and evil in a meaningful way, the existence of God was necessary. In this article, we will look at the causes of suffering in our world, particularly focussing on the issue of ‘personal evil’. What I mean by this is the kind of suffering that comes about as a result of individuals or groups making decisions that have an impact on others. This includes a very broad range of things from mass evil such as the Holocaust, and 9/11 to everyday decisions.

The necessity of free will

So if God is all-powerful, why does he allow suffering to happen on an individual level? The first point to highlight is that God has given us dignity as humans through giving us free will. This free will is necessary, as without it we are sub-human and do not have a capacity to experience love.  We would merely be robots.  I have been married for 9 months to my wife Jac, and we love each other very much. Imagine though that I had met her and forced her to be in a relationship with me, this would not be love at all, but coercion. God has given us the same dignity of responding to him. He does not coerce us into relationship with him.

Some people will ask ‘if God knew that we would sin, why did he choose to give us free will in the first place?’ The issue here is that relational love could not exist without free will. God could have built a world with androids in it, but he chose something more glorious, a world with relational love, and there are potential consequences to that. God decided that it would be more glorious and praiseworthy to have a human race with love, even at the risk of his own children turning their backs on him, than an enormous bunch of robots who are simply programmed to have to respond to him.

The effects of sin

The reality is that God made men and women in the beginning to experience a relationship with him. If we look in the Genesis narrative we see that there was total harmony (Genesis 1:31), but then Adam and Eve chose to disobey God (Gen 3:6-7) and everything changed.  We have continued as a human race in much the same way. As human beings we certainly have a dignity about us, which enables us to do some very positive things: we are able to be creative with technology, draw wonderful art, make fantastic music, advance scientifically and many more things. This comes from being image-bearers of God who is also creative, but sadly we also exhibit the signs of rebellion.

It doesn’t take much to see this in action in other people such as Hitler and Stalin who were responsible for millions of deaths. Each of these dictators clearly misused their free will in order to gain power, and we rightly label their deeds as morally wrong. However, this rebellion is present in our lives more subtly as Jesus pointed out when he said in Mark 7:21-23:

‘For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.’

Each of us has probably also been responsible for the suffering that someone has experienced in their own life. The pain experienced may range from the relatively trivial to the very severe, but it is worth recognising that as humans we are not faultless. Romans 3:23 indicates that we have fallen short of the standard set out by God. We all stand guilty of misusing the free will given to us by God, and we all stand in need of a redeemer.

Why doesn’t God intervene?

One of the things that we tend to ask when evil happens to us is why God doesn’t intervene in situations? My fourth article will be devoted primarily to the purpose that comes out of suffering which God sovereignly allows, but for now I will make a couple of points.

There is an underlying assumption in this question that God never intervenes in any situation. How can we know this though?

God does intervene; if he didn’t there would be alot more suffering than there is. God does restrain the amount of evil that happens in the world. This is part of his common grace to us, if he handed us over to our desires of rebellion completely then the world would be even worse than it is.

Common Grace

This means that there are actually many wars and evil deeds which are prevented from happening. Through common grace God gives anyone the ability to forgive someone instead of holding a grudge (which we would be pre-disposed to do otherwise) which ceases the chain of bitterness and unforgiveness. How often do we see friendships and family relationships break down over something very small, which is not forgiven and escalates until the two parties no longer speak. Without God’s common grace given to all, this would be experienced on every occasion.

However, God does not always intervene in these situations, and this is because he is able to use such situations for good. I’m sure we can all think of things that have not gone our way in life, but we have come out stronger as a result. We will look at this in more detail in a couple of articles time. There will be other occasions where we can’ t see the good that comes from it, and we end up seeing it later on in life, but also times where we won’t be able to see it in this life. This is when we will need to trust God, based on what he has revealed of himself elsewhere. We can be confident even in mystery that God will use it, after all his thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9), given his perspective (unlike ours) is eternal.

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The Genesis account describes how Adam and Eve disobeyed God at the instigation of a snake. Could this be interpreted to suggest that God had made a mistake in his creation? A mistake that would have devastating implications for humanity. The fact that the snake spoke should be noted, and suggests an alternative understanding of the event. There was nothing created in the seven days or eras apart from humans that could speak. The only beings that could were created before the earth was formed, that is, the angels. In fact, throughout the Bible ‘snake’ has been representative of Satan or the Devil (Rev: 12:9, 20:2). Satan is an angel who envied God’s power, tried to usurp the throne of God, and who was thus thrown out of heaven.

Did God ‘put’ the snake in the Garden of Eden?

The Bible does not explain systematically, like a textbook, the events of the Fall (when Adam and Eve turned against God after the snake tempted them). We have the narrative of the first few chapters of Genesis describing Satan as a ’snake’ who incited Eve to disobey God. It seems to be suggested in the text that the snake was a created creature like any other animal, so in one respect God did ‘put’ the snake in Eden. Yet, no normal, natural snake speaks. This factor combined with other scripture passages using ‘snake’ as refernce for the Devil suggests that the snake was influenced by another supernatural entity.

The omnipotence of God

Did God ‘put’ Satan in the Garden of Eden? I have mentioned above that the Bible does not give exhaustive detail on this point. The other passages, apart from the opening chapters of Genesis, that refer to the fall of Satan are Isaiah 14:4-21, Ezekiel 28:1-17. These two sections of text are poetical and have more than one meaning. As such there are things that we can know about how and why Satan (the snake) was in the Garden of Eden, but there are aspects of the event that we cannot discover from scripture. Yet scripture is clear on this point: God never intiates evil. Instead this has always been a result of the choices made by the created: angels and humans (James 1:13-14). The Bible provides records of God’s actions in history. It is not written as a theology essay, explaining who God is and how he acts in detailed academic exposition. Nevertheless, within the records of the Bible , God’s sovereignty is displayed very clearly, in so-far-as nothing happens that is outside of God’s control. This includes the snake’s presence in the Garden of Eden.

God’s providence

Does the above mean that God is somehow to blame for the Fall of man? Was it God’s mistake? Within a human context, if someone has complete control over another, the one who is subject to the other has no power to initiate free action. Therefore the one who is in control must ultimately take responsibility for any action taken by the one who is subject. The image that comes to mind is a puppeteer in control of the strings. This is not an analogy that can be transfered to the God of the Bible and his relation to humanity. God is beyond us, and therefore his actions cannot be equated to that of a human, and his ultimate control does not negate our free action. God is at the same time distinct from his creation, and working through it. Human action is very real and effective, therefore each human is accountable for what he/she does.

Human free will and God’s providence are not opposed to each other. Many times the Bible represents a scenario where a human freely chooses to act, but the Bible declares that God ultimately governed the outcome of the event (Acts 2:23, 4:27-28, Luke 22:22, Matt 18:7). Therefore there is a paradox which is represented – humans act and choose freely, and are therefore accountable, but God works his purposes in and through the willing free actions of humans. Thus God cannot ever be accused of causing the Fall; humanity chose to reject God, and Satan decided to incite us. We remain accountable.

For a more detailed exposition read: Grudem, Wayne Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Chapter 16: God’s Providence.

But did God make the ‘mistake’ of not preventing the Fall?

Firstly, because we are beings that are made in the image of God we have the freedom to choose, as I have outlined above. Therefore when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God they had to take responsibility for it. The highest human virtue is love. Part of the essence of love is choice. We need to be free to choose in order to love; and we need to be free to choose in order to do evil. The Fall was caused by our choice to reject God’s governace over our lives.

Secondly, however, God knew that the snake would incite Eve; could he not have stopped it, as he is all powerful? Simply: yes, but realistically, this is a question that is very difficult to answer because it requires information that humanly we do not possess. Such as, God’s thoughts and eternal intentions. How can God not prevent evil and be not partly to blame? I will let Calvin’s words serve as an answer, because he expresses it so well: ‘Let those for whom this seems harsh consider for a little while how bearable their squeamishness is in refusing a thing attested by clear Scriptual proofs because it exceeds their mental capacity’ (Calvin, John. Institutes). The point is this: If God has all the attributes we expect of him he is far beyond our capacity to intellegibly dissect. Paradoxically, however, at the very moment that humanity betrayed God’s law, which he foreknew, God also knew the extremes to which he would go to save humanity from the results of the Fall. This is the very irony of the question: why did God not prevent this evil for our sakes? A result of evil entering creation was the suffering God knew he would undergo for us. The Bible tells us that it is because of his great love for us.

God’s plan

From the beginning God had a plan to save people from the Fall, to totally and ultimately defeat evil through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who willingly went to the cross to suffer in our place because of our rejection of God. At the Fall, when God is cursing the snake he said this: ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal’ (Genesis 3:15). This is a promise that Satan and evil will be trampled under the feet of one man – Jesus Christ.

For more information on Genesis 3:15 see: http://biblescripture.net/First.html

Further Reading

1. Wright, Christopher J H, The God I Don’t Understand, Zondervan, 2008, Chapter 1, 2, 3.

2. Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Inter-Varsity Press, 1994, Chapter 16

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Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:26-28)

The image of God

Out of all the creatures God made, only one creature, man is said to be made “in the image of God.” To understand what this means, we may use the following definition: The fact that man is in the image of God means that man is like God and represents God.

The words “image” and “likeness” are used to refer to something that is similar but not identical to the thing it represents or is an “image” of. There’s a sense of distinction involved.

Various characteristics of man serve as examples in which the image of God is primarily seen – man’s intellectual ability, his power to make moral decisions and willing choices, his ability to socially relate, or his exercise of dominion over the earth.

But the passage does not list these characteristics out, because no such list could do justice to the subject: the text only needs to affirm that man is like God, and the rest of the Bible fills in more details to explain this.

As we read more of the Bible, we realize that a full understanding of man’s likeness to God would require a full understanding of who God is in His being and in His actions and a full understanding of who man is and what he does.

The more we know about God and man, the more similarities we will recognize, and the more fully we will understand what scripture means when it says that man is in the image of God.

Sin and the distortion of the image of God

Imagine you are an artist, the very best at what you do. You’ve just put in hours, days, weeks, even months into painting the most beautiful picture your mind has ever conceived. You take great delight in your master piece. This is a one of a kind. Never have you nor will you create something as beautiful. You want to show it to the world. Your heart flutters with anticipation! This is the moment you’ve lived your life for. You can’t contain your pride in your work. And then someone walks up to your creation and vomits all over it.

That is what man did to God when he sinned.

Sin is our failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude or manner.

The question that then arises is whether man could still be thought to be like God after he sinned.

The question is answered quite early in Genesis where God gives Noah the authority to establish the death penalty for murder among human beings just after the flood: God says

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”

Even though men are sinful, there is still enough likeness to God remaining in them that to murder another person is to attack the part of creation that most resembles God. Man is still in God’s image.

However, since man has sinned, he is certainly not fully like God as he was before. His moral purity has been lost and his sinful character certainly does not reflect God’s holiness. Though man is still in the image of God, in every aspect of life, some parts of that image have been distorted or lost.

To return to my earlier illustration, though the painting has been defaced, it has not lost its original image. God makes a wonderful provision to have the mess removed and His precious creation restored to its original beauty – He sent His only Son to die on a cross for the forgiveness of sin. (Rom 5:1; John 3:16)

The recovery of the image – becoming more like God

It is encouraging to read then that because of the forgiveness that comes from Jesus, we can progressively grow into more and more likeness to God. Paul says that as Christians we have a new nature that is “being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Col 3:10)

As we gain in true understanding of God, His Word, and His World, we begin to think more and more of the thoughts that God Himself thinks. In this way we are “renewed in knowledge” and we become more like God. (2 Cor 3:18)

In fact, the goal for which God has saved us is that we might be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29) and thus be exactly like Christ in our moral character.

It is the Holy Spirit who produces in us those character traits that cause us to resemble Jesus more – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23)

The beauty of this is that God works in you to recover His image in you. Paul writes, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Phil 2:13), thus indicating something of the way God transforms us – both by causing us to want His will and by giving us the power to do it.

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