FAQ Style – Misunderstood – The Logic of Evil – Allowing its Creation and Action does NOT prove its approval
‘If your exegesis of Scripture contradicts another Scripture, it is your exegesis that is wrong and not the Word of God for His Word is Flawless & no man can disarm Holy Scripture’ – Anonymous
“Every word of God is flawless (true, pure); He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.” (Proverbs 30:5)
Some edifying notes regarding this so that I may not be misunderstood over the course of the lengthy write-ups with regards to this (some instructional verses proving each claim made to understand evil correctly ‘as it is written’ – not opinions).
1) The term free will vs Creation’s Will
You are right sir in that “free will” is “not” free absolutely (as the common classical definition of it seems to render) but limited in many ways. Creation’s will is not free from the consequence of its own choice (the heaviest weightage is for this aspect beyond any influence from external sources such as another creation’s role in it).
The classical rendering of that term does a lot confusion, lol
True, I agree and I meant it differently as described in those lengthy write-ups.
I should have avoided the term free will and used creation’s will to not be misunderstood regarding this.
2) Does God do Good ONLY?
Yes, as it is written:
“You (God) are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:68)
“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied, “No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)
3) Is every Good only due to God ONLY?
Yes, as it is written:
“Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of shifting.” (James 1:17)
“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.” (Matthew 7:18) —-> implying that Good cannot exist nor can it be done outside His Influence because He is the True Source of All Good agreeing with the word “every” in James 1:17 above too.
4) Can we do Good without God?
No way because He is that Vine (Good Tree) and we are His branches (when we are abiding in Him to do His Will) —-> His Will refers to Good ONLY —–> and we can do “nothing” (by context of the passage, it refers to ‘Nothing Good only’ and does ‘not’ include evil deeds as so commonly erred) —> simply because the ‘do nothing’ apart from Me refers to ‘Good Deeds through God’s Influence ONLY’ and not evil deeds for God does no evil (James 1:13) in verse below:
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
5) Is God to be blamed for evil in any way? Is He responsible in the slightest way?
Absolutely not! Verses:
“Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” (Job 1:22)
“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.” (Psalm 5:4)
6) Doer of Evil – Who gets the ultimate blame for any evil done?
The Creation which did that action of evil is held most responsible & will be judged for it as described in Principle in Colossians 3: 5 – 10, other verses verses:
“But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.” (Jeremiah 31:30)
“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” (Ezekiel 18:20)
“And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;” (Ezekiel 14:10)
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)
“Now we know that whatever the law says speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.” (Romans 3:19)
“”The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:7)
7) Influencer of Evil – Does God have a role?
God has NO role in any influencing any evil done as ‘it is written’:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” (James 1:13)
8) Then who influences evil?
Only Creation may influence each other in doing evil serving that ‘corruption’ due to ‘sin’ (Romans 8:20).
The ‘knowledge of evil’ from the ‘tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil’ is passed on mysteriously to us after our own forefather’s transgression (Genesis 3:22) proven by the fact that we can ‘understand & know evil when exposed to it by fellow creation’.
Based on this knowledge of evil, we ‘bring evil out of our own desire in our hearts’ toward sin and thus ‘evil is from our own resources as well’ as it is ‘allowed such’ independent of God alone (James 1:14 – 15, Jeremiah 17:9, Jeremiah 17:10, Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21, Luke 6:45, Proverbs 4:23, Mathew 12:34).
Satan brings forth evil from ‘his own resources’ (God allowed him to have such power) which he uses to influence evil in others too (John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Luke 4:6, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 6:12) or works directly too in his authority to do evil (Job 2:7).
9) Is God responsible for the evil done by Satan and the gods?
Of course not.
God is Faithful and cannot be blamed for Satan’s fall simply because just like God created Satan perfect (Ezekiel 28:12)
—-> gave Satan that power to choose evil or good through wisdom given to him (Ezekiel 28:12, 14)
—-> and he chose to do evil by his own “choice” (the phrase “your ways” in Ezekiel 28:15 & “you sinned” in Ezekiel 28:16, “your many sins” in Ezekiel 28:18; also the phrase “you said” in Isaiah 14:13 followed by the many I’s statements indicating his own will/choice in Isaiah 14:13 – 14 to sin)
—–> and continues to act evil likewise (John 8:44, Job 2:7)
—-> together with his hosts too with the dominion given to them ‘as gods’ (Psalm 82:6, 1 Corinthians 8:5) even ‘refusing’ to ‘stop evil immediately on earth’ which is given in their power as mentioned clearly in (Psalm 82:2 – 4)
—-> thus, they will be judged accordingly for it too (Psalm 82:1, Psalm 82:8)
“Rise up, O Judge of the earth,
Render recompense to the proud.” (Psalm 94:2)
“They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly;
All who do wickedness vaunt themselves.
They crush Your people, O LORD,
And afflict Your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger
And murder the orphans.” (Psalm 94:4 – 6)
“They have said, “The LORD does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.” (Psalm 94:7)
“Pay heed, you senseless among the people;
And when will you understand, stupid ones?” (Psalm 94:8)
“He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke,
Even He who teaches man knowledge?” (Psalm 94:10)
“Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?” (Psalm 94:16)
“They band themselves together against the life of the righteous
And condemn the innocent to death.” (Psalm 94:21)
Best Part:
“He has brought back their wickedness upon them
And will destroy them in their evil;
The LORD our God will destroy them.” (Psalm 94:23)
10) But can’t it be that God is using evil secretly for His Plan in some way?
Of Course not, verses:
“Can a throne of destruction be allied with You (God),
One which devises mischief by decree?” (Psalm 94:16)
11) Maybe God uses evil for His Good Purposes?
No again, verse (in Principle):
“And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come “? Their condemnation is just.” (Romans 3:8)
12) No Evil is from God DIRECTLY; Verses please?
“this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)
“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.” (Psalm 5:4)
13) But didn’t God create evil (Isaiah 45:7) which makes Him ultimately responsible for it?
No! Please consider a sensible analogy with regards to ‘created with the ability of choice’:
God allowed the materials for the creation of the knife.
Now, human beings aided by forces Unknown to them (probably the “gods”, Psalm 82:1 or through the knowledge available by God Himself)
—-> created the knife on earth (God did not create the knife directly but INDIRECTLY only in the sense that He “allowed” the knowledge of ‘how to do it’ and ‘materials needed for it’ to ‘exist’)
—-> Next, God “allowed” the knowledge of “evil” which Man CHOSE WILLINGLY to know though God WARNED against it
—> then, Man combines these elements together with the influence of the “gods” (2 Corinthians 4:4, Psalm 82:2, Ephesians 6:12) to commit the evil of murder.
God will JUDGE both man & these “gods” who influenced that evil done accordingly just like He did it the Fall of Man too (Ecclesiastes 3:17, Jude 1:15, Psalm 82:6 – 8, 2 Thessalonians 1:8 – 9) on the Dreadful Day of the LORD (Amos 5:18, Zephaniah 1:14, Joel 1:15).
14) Doesn’t Foreknowledge put the blame or responsibility on God with regards to evil?
No again because to eliminate the choice of creation whenever it does evil would be to eliminate the freedom of choice to creation itself (this is a self contradiction manner because it’s the same as creating rational creation without choice but just responses such as in the case of animals & even machines).
Thus the blame and/or responsibility for any evil is only according to the role played by creation with regards to the ‘doer of evil’ and ‘influencer of evil’ which does NOT include God in any way (this is the way ‘God created Evil’ to exist and operate temporally in this vanity, independent of Him in causing/doing/influencing evil but only in making available the ‘materials’ [due to lack of a better word] and giving choice for creation to determine their own course of action regarding this with ‘sufficient’ control measures to be able to ‘choose good’ as well proving His Perfect responsibility in the way He allowed evil as written in 1 Corinthians 10:13 quoted earlier too).
15) But how about verses which say that God did that evil such as in Amos 3:6? Isn’t that a contradiction in the Bible?
No, not at all. One sees a contradiction simply because one reasons from a fallacious logic. In this case, the fallacious logic is to assume that God’s Judgment is evil.
Simply put, God’s Judgment (e.g. God causes calamity upon a rapist) is different from creation doing evil (e.g. the act of rape); these are distinct where the former is God’s Will in Judgment (agreeing to Isaiah 3:11 with regards to ‘pain and level of cruelty allowed especially in Hell as His Principles do Not change’ while the latter case is creation’s own act/influence causing that with NO role from God at all in it).
A contradiction only exists in the mind of those who cannot see the distinction between “creation acting by its own choice” and “assuming” that God ‘wires/programmes’ or ‘influences’ that creation to do evil (say a rape) which is certainly both absurd & logically inconsistent with plenty of Scripture quoted such as James 1:13, Job 1:22, John 7:7, John 16:8, 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Furthermore Amos 3:6 (the phrase ‘trumpet blown’ itself proves that it is a Judgment case) along with the other Scriptures such as the ones below clearly describe “evil” Judgment allowed or inflicted by God through His direct Act or through the Destroyers (or angels)
—–> matching the “pain & level of cruelty” done by such evil ones “first” agreeing to the principle in Isaiah 3:11 perfectly (also Galatians 6:7)
—-> where some Judgments are on earth while others are certain in Hell:
“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6)
“Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.” (1 Kings 22:23)
“He sent upon them His burning anger, Fury and indignation and trouble, A band of destroying angels.” (Psalm 78:49)
“O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.” (Psalm 7:9)
“The LORD is known by the judgment which He executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Psalm 9:16 – 17)
“Thou hast rebuked nations, Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Their name Thou hast blotted out to the age and for ever (permanently).” (Psalm 9:5)
“And He (the LORD) shall judge the world in righteousness, He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.” (Psalm 9:8)
“God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.” (Psalm 7:11 – 13)
Level of cruelty allowed in His Judgment will match the level of evil they did “first” toward others (equal evil rendered to each evil one accordingly in Judgment be it in this life or in Hell, where Hell = any afterlife punishment):
“Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood. He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, and has fallen into the hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his own head, and his violence will descend upon his own pate.” (Psalm 7:14 – 16)
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
“My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 18:35)
“And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” (Luke 12:47 – 48)
“And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.” (Matthew 18:34)
“Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. “Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.” (Matthew 5:25 – 26)
“And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during.’” – Lord Jesus Christ (Mathew 25:46)
“Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free.” (Proverbs 11:21)
“and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.” (Daniel 11:35)
“Woe to the wicked–it will go badly for them, for what they have done will be done to them.” (Isaiah 3:11)
16) How is God ‘Good ONLY’ in Judgment?
“Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?” (1 Corinthians 6:2)
God is Good ONLY in His Judgments because He repays with Vengeance answering the Request of the Innocent ones who ‘suffered’ in the hands of the wicked whilst on earth:
“and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10)
“The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10)
“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;” (2 Thessalonians 1:6)
“Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” (James 5:4)
“Your gold and silver have corroded, and their rust will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have treasured up in the last days.” (James 5:3)
“You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” (James 5:5)
“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:24)
“’But woe to you — the rich, because ye have got your comfort.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 6:24)
“For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men,nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth. (Psalm 73:3 – 9)
“They say, “How does God know? and is there knowledge with the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.” (Psalm 73:11 – 12)
“When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight. Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!” (Psalm 73:16 – 19)
“for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20)
“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:24)
Good is Good ONLY in Judgment because “despite” evil done, He can Save through His Judgments too by His “Mercy” as it is written:
Please consider these incredible verses revealing the Unstoppable Faith of Jesus Christ effect (Romans 3:3 – 4) to ‘ALL’ causing the ‘Justification unto Salvation for ALL’ (as promised in Romans 3:22) in accordance to ‘Mercy showed to ALL’ (Romans 11:32) with regards to God being able to ‘Save’ without any Time-Space-limit nor any other limits too (be it Hell itself)!, all ‘as it is written’:
(a) God Saves by His Mercy with ‘no’ Judgment
“‘Verily, verily, I say to you — He who is hearing my word, and is believing Him who sent me, hath life age-during, and to judgment he doth not come, but hath passed out of the death to the life.” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:24, YLT)
(b) God Saves by His Mercy ‘during’ Judgment
“For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13)
(c) God Saves by His Mercy ‘after’ Judgment
“but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
For to this end the Good News (Gospel) was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:5 – 6)
On Account of His “Mercy”, God is ‘Good’ to ‘ALL’:
“The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works.” (Psalm 145:9)
17) Did God give us the ability to choose or are we wired secretly to do these sins beforehand as He planned it as some dare assert?
He gave us the ability to choose ‘before’ the ‘fall itself’. Thus the ability to choose is a Good thing and not a sin. However, to choose to disobey His Will (e.g. in eating of the fruit which God told not to) is sin.
If God wired or programmed us in advance to commit that sin, only then He is responsible for all sins indirectly. God does NO such thing as James 1:13 & Job 1:22 clearly contradict this position in principle and thus the verses being true proves such ideas as false (no verse exists that God Preordained ‘sin’).
Also, if God wired us in advance to ‘sin’, then it proves that God has secret darkness in Him contradicting 1 John 1:5 too. Also, it would make no logical sense for God to Judge against evil with respect to “every” deed done (Ecclesiastes 3:17) if it was Him working out your ‘sin’ too.
God can only Judge sin (as it is the case) if ALL sin is NOT due to Him in any way (be it in the Influence or Action through any creation’s thought, word or action) agreeing with plenty of verses quoted in this write-up too pointing to this (such as James 1:13, James 1:17, James 1:14 – 15) and to know this avoids deceptive thoughts against God’s Holy Word (James 1:16).
If God did not give us choice, we would be programmed or wired to be like robots or animals. He wants us to be able to have to make a choice to be in His Image as He is able to make choices too at the Beginning itself before the fall.
Here are some verses proving God that God gave us choices together (in Deuteronomy 30:15, Deuteronomy 30:19, Deuteronomy 11:26, Luke 12:57, Psalm 82:2, Luke 4:6 ) with sufficient ability to choose the ‘good’ in each of our choices too as He is Faithful (though we can’t see the full details proving this from our earthly limitations) as it is written in verse below too (proving that choice given is ‘Perfectly Fair’ and the ‘choice to do evil by us’ puts the blame on us, the doer and the creation [if any] that played a role in influencing it):
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
18) Didn’t God Preordain everything? That is He Predestined everything?
Yes, God Predestined everything including the ‘Good which He approves’ (referring to things which are in accordance to His Will) and the ‘Evil which He does NOT approve’ (those things against His Will). He created choice for Rational Creation to be able to choose as we discussed earlier giving creation a freedom & ability to choose so that we are not robots nor animals (point 14 prior).
God allowing creation to be able to do the ‘evil which He does NOT approve’ (Matthew 7:21) does NOT bring any responsibility of evil upon Him in any way because of ‘the manner He created evil to exist’’(as discussed in points earlier especially points 13, 14 & 15)
—-> follows principles of choice without Him influencing them to do that evil in any way (James 1:13)
—> even making sufficient ability in each person (though can’t be seen from our limited perception) to be able to ‘choose evil or good’ in a ‘fair’ way proving that ‘He is Faithful’ & makes that ‘way of escape’ in ALL creation’s decisions as 1 Corinthians 10:13 testifies, all ‘as it is written’.
Now, by creating evil in such a way (Isaiah 45:7) understood with Scriptures pointing to the various aspects with regards to this as discussed, we see that God in His Wisdom did NO evil.
He even allowed evil to happen to Him Willingly on His Cross and even Purposed a Predestined Solution to ‘save the world’ through His Good Act only (1 John 4:14, Colossians 1:16).
Men find it difficult to understand that God can create evil in such a way agreeing to the Good Principles with regards to its limitation & aspects with sufficient Grace to choose either way making each decision to do evil to be the ‘responsibility of the doer and influencer’ of evil ONLY.
God is Perfect in this and didn’t make a mistake in all this and neither did He Will the fall or any to perish (not His Plan nor His Will ever, 2 Peter 3:9, Ezekiel 18:23) though He allowed it even making a Solution to save the world despite it (John 3:17, 1 John 2:2, John 1:29).
God does NOT change and He didn’t change in the ‘creation’ of ‘evil’ either. He Himself is the Perfect example of the One knowing Good and Evil but never doing Evil at all.
Thus, the Knowledge of Evil does NOT lead to Sin for God never sinned. Our decision to sin is by our own choice.
Only by a dependency upon Him that we can stop sinning permanently as promised by His liberation (not by creation’s will but Him who set it in Hope regarding this as Romans 8:20 – 21 testifies as well through His Acts alone 1 Corinthians 15:25 – 28).
Just like in the case of Adam & Eve, creation by its OWN will and Evil influence toward each other Fell and missed the Perfection of God in some way (Romans 3:19) due to sin leading to death & the sin not leading to death (1 John 5:16 – 17) as well as ‘good within creation’s power but it did NOT do it by its OWN will/choice’ (James 4:17).
God Judges ‘all’ perfectly according to the measure given to each (Romans 3:23, Luke 12:47 – 48, Luke 16:10). That is, God didn’t Create them evil but with a CHOICE as discussed prior too in this complex Web of creation’s will affecting each other.
19) How is God Sovereign then?
God Works out the “Mystery or Secret” of “His Will” (His Actions of Good ONLY, no evil) “despite” creation’s evil to do good toward these “all things” as well (Ephesians 1:8 – 11, 1 Corinthians 15:25 – 28, Acts 3:21, Revelation 21:5, Colossians 1:20, 2 Corinthians 5:19, 2 Samuel 14:14) and that’s how we clearly see that God Alone is Good (Mark 10:18).
That’s how God’s Will prevails to achieve Good ONLY in the end over any man’s will (Proverbs 19:21) or creation’s will (Romans 8:20 – 21) “despite” the evil done by our OWN will in “vanity” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 – 10, Romans 8:20, Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 1:14) Where only God is “not” included (excepted) from this vanity part through “His Will” (Good ONLY) done by Himself or through some creation at times (1 Corinthians 15:27).
20) Does God’s Purposes refer to Good ONLY and NO evil by His Will?
Yes, example:
“Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My pleasure’;” (Isaiah 46:10)
How do we know that “God’s Purpose” (or His Will, example in Isaiah 46:10 above) refers to “Good ONLY”? It’s seen in us (‘believers’) as the example verse below clearly states that ‘His Good Purpose’ (please notice the word ‘good pleasure’ in verse below, etymology of this original word in Greek proves this) is ‘what God refers to in us’ (and NOT the ‘evil’ we sometimes choose to do, not included as His Will) when He ‘leads us by His Will’ (John 15:5, 1 John 3:10) and when we transgress, we fall out (John 15:6, 1 John 3:8):
“for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)
His Purpose being established “despite” creation’s fall into ‘evil’ by ‘its own choice’ is what’s meant by things ‘not done’ yet with regards to the ‘end’ as we saw earlier too in similar verses giving meaning to the phrase ‘Who (God) works out everything after the counsel of His Will’ (Ephesians 1:11, referring to His Acts ONLY by doing Good ONLY toward Creation in making it New [Revelation 21:5], Restoring it [Acts 3:21], Gathering it as one in Christ [Ephesians 1:10], Reconciling them all [Colossians 1:20] by His Mercy to all [Romans 11:32 in context of Romans 11:15 too]
—-> in the end even NOT counting ‘all the world’s sins against them anymore’ when He does this Good ONLY [2 Corinthians 5:19]) all ‘as it is written’ Gloriously in Holy Scripture (‘Flawless’, Proverbs 30:5, Psalm 18:30, Psalm 12:6).
So, that’s How God has Predestined to ‘Overcome Evil by Good only’ (not through evil but despite evil which agrees with this verse too) as God ‘never’ changes from His Perfect Principles either:
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – apostle Paul (Romans 12:21)
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:44 – 45)
How is God Good also toward those against Him?
Indeed, even allowing those who “break” His Commandments to enter or be in the kingdom of the Heavens eventually “despite” their ‘own evil’ & Judgment received proving that God Alone is Good & Perfect (Which Commandments are referred to by verse below, context? any Law, context is in verses prior to it, namely Matthew 5:17 – 18)
“Whoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments and shall teach others the same, he will be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whoever shall keep and shall teach them, he will be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:19)
Why?
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:48)
He is that ‘same’ God from Ancient times too (God ‘never’ changed):
“We will certainly die and be like water poured out on the ground, which can’t be recovered. But God would not take away a life; He would devise plans so that the one banished from Him does not remain banished.” (2 Samuel 14:14)
‘Let us choose Holy Scripture over opinions’ – Unknown
“namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses (the world’s sins) against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)
*(Emphasis mine throughout)
P/S: Reality – Are we all connected to God right ‘now’?
With regards to existence (‘in Him we have our being’) & He gave us the ability to Choose our Acts (‘as we move’), yes (Acts 17:28, Colossians 1:17).
With regards to obeying His Word —> not all of us yet (a temporal disconnection John 8:47, John 10:26, John 8:44, 1 John 3:10)
Those who obey Him are adopted back as sons of God by His Will (1 John 3:9, John 1:12 – 13, Romans 8:15) —-> rest of creation will be adopted back as children of God later as Romans 8:21 promises too!
Indeed,
“the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:8 – 9)
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12 – 13)
“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” (1 John 2:1)
‘Blessed Saviour of the World’
