Introduction
Many theodicies seek to understand man’s relationship to the evil in the world by addressing the basic philosophical questions which Hume presents as he reflects on Epicurus, “Is he (God) willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then where does evil come from?” Other issues that arise are the possible worlds and the maximal worlds concept, as Alvin Plantinga discusses in his defense of free will. Theodicies, such as Theonomy, Greater Good, and Soul Building, as in the case of Irenaeus, seem to add pieces to the overall discussion of why God would allow the amount of evil in this world. However, these theodicies seem to present only snippets of the greater picture of the biblical God.
Too often in discussions on the problem of evil, the question comes from a human perspective: “Why would God allow evil to occur to us?” Questions of God’s goodness and his omnipotence are called before the judgment of humanity in a strikingly similar courtroom, which Job and his fellows call upon God to disclose. Yet, it is in the person and purpose of God that the question of evil finds its answer. The biblical God’s reason for creating humanity is linked to his end purposes for them, and by understanding this end goal of his creative work, evil, too, is answered.
Infinte Goodness
The Westminster Catechism begins with the words, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” This is God’s goal for humanity: that his creatures would experience him. However, how can the finite experience the infinite, and what does it mean to experience him? Second Peter 1:4 reveals that those who are in Christ Jesus “… become partakers of the divine nature … (ESV).” But how can the finite participate in the divine nature of the wholly-other God? Humans will not be omniscient, or omnipresent, or omnipotent. They will not be little divines, for there is only one divine, none before, nor none after (Is. 43:10). So, in what way will humans participate in the divine?
St. Thomas Aquinas, in The Summa Theologiae, wrestles with the concept of God’s will. In Article Three, Aquinas concludes that God necessarily wills goodness because of his divine nature. In this sense, God always chooses to do good, for he wills it. This is reflected in passages such as Psalm 145:17-18 and James 1:17. To this end, it would appear that what humans are to participate in is the goodness of God. However, how can the finite understand goodness? For God to understand and will goodness, it is a simple thing; he is omniscient. The infinite God knows all things, so he knows both what is good and what is evil. Because of this, God does not need to experience evil to know that it is indeed wicked. God understands all concepts related to what would be termed evil. Yet, the finite is limited in knowledge. The finite does not know that goodness is to be desired, and evil is to be shunned. So how does God bring his creatures into an understanding of goodness?
The finite only has access to the infinite through God himself, yet, unlike God, who knows good and evil, the finite does not. That is, unless the finite is shown that goodness is preferable to evil through a mechanism or ability that is granted by the infinite. To do this, God creates a world in which his creatures are given the mechanism or ability to choose freely between good and evil. It is the free choice and the ability to set our will to choose, which becomes the central crux through which the infinite God teaches the finite creature. In this sense, Origen’s concept of necessary purposes and the Teleological Argument can be seen. The image of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil within the Garden of Eden, and the command not to eat of it, reveals this very ability to choose. To choose good is to look to God as the source of all knowledge. In him, the finite understands goodness and has learned to shun evil. However, choosing the tree and its easy access to knowledge of evil leads to an experience of evil. As revealed in the aftermath of Adam and Eve’s actions with the tree, their choice not only leads to moral evil but also affects the natural world, poisoning it.
By allowing the finite to experience evil, God’s purpose is for his creatures to detest it. The cry of the Psalmist to wonder at how long the wicked will triumph (Ps. 94:3) becomes a realization that a person must seek the goodness of God, because the alternative is horrific. When the finite experiences evil through their own choice, it gives reason to search and turn to the infinite God who wills goodness. It is at the point where we ask, “Why does God allow evil?” that we find God’s purpose. The very reason he allows us the freedom to choose is that we would learn that it is, in fact, we who have sought the evil which he desires us to turn away from. That we would see evil’s wickedness and cry out to him. When this occurs, the words of Paul ring, “… we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).” God works even evil out for our good when our choice aligns with his purpose. It is through the finite’s choice to experience evil that they truly understand the goodness of God. In this, they can participate in the divine nature in a way that better grasps what the omniscient God already knows.
The Actual and Future World
It is then, when the finite creatures choose God in his goodness, instead of evil, that he moves his creatures from the actual world to a future world. God’s purposes not only create an actual world in which free choice is possible and evil can be experienced, but also lead to a perfect world where the choices of finite creatures solidify into God. For God’s will is not that the finite would only experience evil, but that by experiencing it now, in the actual world, they may never experience it again, in a future world. The transition from the best world to the greatest of worlds occurs when God brings justice against the evils chosen, making them right in the end.
This is what can be seen in the final pages of Scripture. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more … He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 21:1, 4).”
Therefore, the best of possible worlds in which free choice brings about an understanding of God’s goodness leads to the greatest of possible worlds, where only the goodness of God is experienced. The current experience of evil is merely the weeping in the night before the dawning of God’s good morning (Ps. 30:5). However, the current world is not simply for humans to experience and understand the goodness of God, but is also for the angels. As humans experience both good and evil, angels watch and gain valuable insight (1 Cor. 4:9; Eph. 3:10). This experience in a world where evil is encountered breaks into the world where only the goodness of God is understood, appreciated, and wholly experienced. In this future world, God will establish his utopia, a concept that answers J.L. Mackie’s conundrum.
Conclusion
The God of the Bible seeks a people of his own, who will experience the goodness of who he is. He achieves this by giving the finite the gift of free choice. Through this gift, his creatures may use it to experience the good, which is his intention, and the evil. His goal is that they would seek him, choosing his goodness over their own evil desires. Through this momentary experience, the finite has an opportunity to be brought into the infinite’s goodness and participates in his divine nature. Therefore, the amount of evil experienced in this world is what is necessary to point finite creatures back to their good God. God then sets right even that which was evil in this world, bringing justice to evil. Then, God moves those who have chosen him into a new world in which no evil exists, because as God has always understood, and now his creatures do as well, only in his goodness can one be at peace.
Bibliography
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The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Assembly at EDINBURGH, July 28, 1648. Sess. 19, Accessed November 11, 2025, https://prts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Shorter_Catechism.pdf.
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