Does God Create Evil? A Biblical Examination of Divine Sovereignty

(Aired on June 24, 2025)

The question of whether God creates evil has troubled believers throughout the ages, yet Scripture provides clear answers when we allow the word of God to interpret itself. Understanding this truth requires us to embrace God’s higher thoughts and ways, for as Isaiah declares, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). When we approach this subject with human wisdom rather than spiritual understanding, we inevitably stumble into confusion and contradiction.

The foundation for understanding God’s relationship to what we call “evil” rests firmly upon the bedrock of His absolute sovereignty. Scripture declares unequivocally that God “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11), and this “all things” encompasses every aspect of creation without exception. The prophet Isaiah provides the most direct answer to our question when he records God’s own words: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). Here, the Almighty Himself declares His authorship of both light and darkness, peace and evil, establishing beyond doubt that nothing exists outside His sovereign will and creative power.

To properly understand this truth, we must recognize that God’s definition of “evil” differs vastly from man’s earthly comprehension as dust of the ground. The Hebrew word “ra” translated as “evil” in Isaiah 45:7 encompasses not merely moral wickedness but calamity, judgment, and adversity—the very instruments God employs to accomplish His perfect purposes through both vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. When Daniel proclaimed that God “doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35), he testified to this same truth that God’s sovereignty extends over all circumstances, including those we perceive as negative or harmful.

The spiritual significance becomes clearer when we understand that God’s creation of what appears as “evil” serves His ultimate purpose of conforming His people to the image of Christ. Paul reveals this divine strategy when he writes, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). The “all things” includes what is evil, calamity, and suffering, yet these serve as instruments in God’s hands to produce spiritual transformation and growth in His elect. “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)

Scripture consistently reveals that God uses evil to accomplish His righteous purposes. When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery—an act that was thoroughly evil—Joseph later testified, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20). This passage illuminates the divine principle: what is evil in human eyes serves God’s greater purpose of salvation and blessing. The brothers’ intentions were wicked, yet God orchestrated even their evil actions to fulfill His predetermined plan.

The book of Job provides another profound example of this truth. When Satan afflicted Job with devastating losses and physical suffering, Scripture reveals that these trials came only with God’s command and were bound by His sovereignty. God said to Satan, “he is in thine hand; but save his life” (Job 2:6), demonstrating that Satan’s destructive work operates under divine constraint and serves God’s purposes. Through Job’s suffering, God revealed His character, tested Job’s faith, and ultimately blessed him with greater understanding and material restoration. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”  (1 Peter 1:7-9)

Understanding God’s creation of evil requires us to believe that He does create evil. While God creates light and establishes peace, His creation of “evil” often manifests through His using natural consequences to unfold according to His purpose. When Paul describes how God “gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts” (Romans 1:24), we see this principle in operation. God directly implants wicked desires. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

The cross of Christ stands as the ultimate demonstration of how God employs evil to accomplish perfect good. The crucifixion represented the culmination of human wickedness—religious leaders plotting murder, disciples betraying and abandoning their Master, civil authorities perverting justice, and soldiers carrying out brutal execution. Yet Peter declared that Christ was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23), revealing that even this greatest evil served God’s predetermined plan of redemption. What appeared as Satan’s victory became his ultimate defeat, and through God’s momentary abandonment of His Son came the means of salvation for all. “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.” (Isaiah 54:7)

This divine principle extends to the spiritual realm where God uses darkness to call light into human hearts. Paul explains that “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Just as God created physical light by separating it from darkness, He creates spiritual illumination by causing believers in this age to experience the contrast between their former darkness and present light in Christ. “Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” (Psalms 139:12)

The parabolic nature of Scripture reveals deeper truths about God’s creation of evil. When Jesus spoke “in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them” (Matthew 13:34), He demonstrated that spiritual realities require spiritual understanding. The natural man perceives only the surface appearance of events, seeing tragedy, injustice, and what appears to be meaningless suffering. However, those taught by Christ discern God’s hidden purposes working through evil to accomplish His Father’s eternal plan. “O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.” (Isaiah 63:17)

God’s creation of evil also serves to manifest His attributes that could not otherwise be displayed. Without creating the possibility of rebellion, how could God demonstrate His mercy and forgiveness? Without causing suffering, how could He reveal His compassion and comfort? Without causing injustice, how could He show His ultimate justice? Romans 9:22-23 explains that God endures “with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” in order “that he make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” Both categories of vessels serve God’s purpose of manifesting His character.

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty over evil provides tremendous comfort to believers who understand that nothing touches their lives outside their heavenly Father’s permission and purpose. When David faced Shimei’s cursing, he recognized God’s hand in this evil, saying, “let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him” (2 Samuel 16:11). This spiritual perception enables believers to rest confidently in God’s goodness even when circumstances are hostile or appear meaningless. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:” (1 Peter 4:12)

Furthermore, understanding God’s creation of evil prevents us from the dangerous error of dualism—the false teaching that suggests an eternal conflict between equally powerful forces of good and evil. Scripture knows no such division. Isaiah’s declaration that God creates both light and darkness, peace and evil, establishes that no power exists independent of or in opposition to God’s sovereignty. Satan himself operates only within divinely imposed boundaries and ultimately serves God’s purposes, though unwillingly.

The eternal perspective reveals the perfect justice and wisdom of God’s creation of evil. The injustices and cruelty from our limited temporal viewpoint will be vindicated when God’s eternal purposes are fully revealed. As Paul acknowledges, “we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). The believer’s faith rests not upon understanding every detail of God’s plan but upon trusting His character as revealed in Scripture.

In conclusion, Scripture clearly teaches that God creates evil as an instrument of His sovereign will, not as an end in itself but as a means to accomplish His perfect purposes. This truth challenges human understanding but aligns perfectly with biblical revelation of God’s absolute sovereignty, perfect wisdom, and His righteousness. Rather than diminishing God’s character, this doctrine magnifies His power and wisdom in using evil to accomplish His eternal plan of redemption and glory. As the apostle Paul concludes, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). And “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” (Romans 11:22)