1

Michael Frommack

Dr. Steven R. Hake

Omnibus II

11/5/10

Evil: The Antithesis of God

In Augustine’s, Confessions, he writes, speaking to God, “For You evil does

not exist, and not only for You but for the whole of your creation as well, because

there is nothing outside it which could invade it and break down the order which

You have imposed on it.”1 At first glance, this may appear to be heretical to deny

the existence of evil because that would negate Christ’s sacrifice for us, for if there

were nothing to save us from, then why would He have died? However, if we delve

more closely into Augustine’s words here, we begin to see that he was actually

pointing out a very profound truth, which later on shall become more clear.

First, it is imperative that we know what evil actually is, and how it came into

being. Evil is defined as, “the fact of suffering, misfortune, and wrongdoing”2. We

know that God created all things good3, therefore since evil is, “the fact of suffering,

misfortune, and wrongdoing” we know that God cannot have created it. So, if God

created all things, but he did not create evil, then from where did evil originate? If

God did not create evil, then it must have come into existence by itself. But, we

know that cannot be true, since before time there was only God, and God alone has

introduced things into this world4.

1
Augustine’s Confessions, Line 1, VII, 19 (xiii)
2
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evil?show=1&t=1289231875
3
Genesis 1:31-“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…”, Colossians 1:16-“
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for
him.”

4
John 1:1-“ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.”
 2

Therefore, we know that evil did not come from God, and it also did not come

into existence of it’s own accord, as God did, so from where did it gain it’s

existence? The answer is a hard and very difficult one to grasp, but we do have

enough information to formulate a valid answer. God created and defined true love

as having a choice to love. If we had no choice but to love God, it would not be true

love at all. In the process of creating true love, God created a choice that we had

the option to choose. He fabricated the world’s nature to allow us to choose Him, or

ourselves. When Adam and Eve first chose to disobey God, they chose to leave Him,

and to follow their own path thereby perverting God’s perfect creation. They chose

a life, apart from God, and yes, they did repent, but the damage had been done.

Evil had come into the world as a result of Adam and Eve’s choice.

As of yet, this does not yet make complete sense, because there is a key

factor missing from what has been discussed so far, namely, that of evil’s true

being; what evil truly is, and not just of what it consists. Athanasius, in his book, On

The Incarnation, has some deep insight into this. “The presence and love of the

Word had called them into being; inevitably, therefore when they lost the

knowledge of God, they lost existence with it; for it is God alone Who exists, evil is

non-being, the negation and antithesis of good.”5 Athanasius has some valuable

insight here, specifically when he states, “evil is non-being, the negation and

antithesis of good.” This is the essence of evil, that which is apart and totally

separate from God. Evil is a choice that chooses what we want, and a choice that

divides ourselves from God. It is important to note that while Satan made the first

choice to be apart from God, Adam and Eve were the ones who succumbed to
5
Athanasius, On The Incarnation, Book I Part 4 Line 25 “The presence and love of the Word
had called them into being; inevitably, therefore when they lost the knowledge of God, they
lost existence with it; for it is God alone Who exists, evil is non-being, the negation and
antithesis of good. “
 3

Satan’s wiles and fully instilled evil into the earth as a result of their choice. The

consequence for this was total separation from God that could only be remedied by

a pure human sacrifice, which Jesus eventually fulfilled.

Now we can look back at Augustine’s words, and understand what he meant

when he said, “For You evil does not exist, and not only for You but for the whole of

your creation as well,” It makes sense that God would choose not to recognize his

own non-existence, which in and of itself is a complex thought. It is important to

note that Augustine is not stating that there is no such thing as evil, but rather, that

there is no entity, and no force known as evil. Evil is really, plainly, and definitively,

a choice. While Evil is a choice to be apart from God, and a choice to sin and lead

our own sinful lives, there is an important distinction to make between Satan and

evil. Satan was the first creation of God that chose evil, but he is not evil itself.

While Satan is evil, as in, he has evil in him, he is not Evil the choice. He rebelled

against God and chose to be apart from Him. He made the first evil choice, thereby

instilling evil in himself, but he did not create an entity known as evil, he simply

made the first godless choice. The Bible says6 that evil was found in Satan, as in;

Satan made a sinful choice to rebel against God, and introduced evil into his own

heart. When we see “evil”, or as Merriam Webster defined it, “the fact of suffering,

misfortune, and wrongdoing”, it is really just a result of our current choices to sin,

and Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey. Even natural disasters, while not directly

started or maintained by man, are a direct result of the Fall, when Adam and Eve

first perverted God’s creation by choosing life apart from Him. When they chose to

distort what God had created as “good”, it began to deteriorate and collapse. Now,

this does not mean that God abandoned the world to it’s own devices, but He did

6
Ezekiel 28:15-“ 15You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till
unrighteousness was found in you.
 4

allow Adam and Eve’s choice to have it’s full effect. He still remains in absolute

control over all the events of this world, but He does choose to allow certain trials to

remain.

God chose to truly love us, by bestowing upon us the ability to choose, and

by giving us the freedom to make our own decisions. This gift is a loving one, and it

is by our own choices and failures that evil was introduced. It is blasphemy to blame

God for our mistakes7, or for our failures. And through all of this, we see that God

ultimately had a purpose for this. Christ’s sacrifice bridged the gap between man

and God that was created when we first decided to set ourselves apart from God.

Christ died so that we could come back to God and repent for our choice.

7
James 1:13-“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be
tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone”