You can watch the news or read a headline and see evil all around. Reports of murders, theft, scandals, manipulation and lies fill the atmosphere. Many of us ask how people could do such horrific things. We ask, “Where does evil come from?”
Defining Evil
Before answering the question, “Where does evil come from?” we must first define it.
Biblically, evil is anything contrary to God’s Word. God is holy. Therefore, anything that comes against His holy nature is evil.
You must comprehend truth versus a lie to see where evil comes from.
Truth must be absolute. It cannot change. If it isn’t absolute, meaning it is relative, then by definition, someone’s view of truth must be false, making it an untruth (or a lie). Opinions can be relative, but truth cannot.
Evil starts with a lie.
If humanity, not God, defines what is good or evil, it only ends in…
- Chaos
- Division and disagreement
- An imbalance of power
- Selfishness
The Bible says that God does not change (Malachi 3:6) and cannot lie (an attribute of truth)…
- “God is not a man, that He should lie…”—Numbers 23:19
- “…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began…”—Titus 1:2
- “…that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.”—Hebrews 6:18
The Bible also says that God—Father, Son, and Spirit—is truth.
- “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”—John 14:6
- “…the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”—John 14:17
- “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”—John 15:26
Therefore, what is written in God’s Word must be truth. He gets to define what is good and evil because He is incapable of lying. Therefore, whatever He states as truth is truth and whatever is contrary to Him is a lie and is evil.
