Can God Do Evil?
Why the Question Itself May Be Flawed
The question "Can God do evil?" is one that sounds provocative and even edgy — but it contains a hidden assumption that deserves careful examination before we attempt to answer it. The assumption is this: that we have a reliable, independent standard of "good" and "evil" by which God's actions can be measured.
My position is not that God is evil, nor that the difficult passages in Scripture are easy to explain. My position is simpler and more foundational: our definition of "good" is too small, too corrupted, and too human to serve as a measuring stick for the character and actions of God.
1. The Source Problem: Who Defines Good?
Before we can ask whether God does good or evil, we have to ask: where does the definition of "good" come from in the first place?
The Psalmist gives us the answer directly: "You are good and do good" (Psalm 119:68). Notice the structure — God's goodness is not derived from an external standard. It is circular to His own nature. He is good, therefore what He does is good. This is not a logical fallacy; it is a theological statement about the source of morality itself.
James reinforces this when he writes that every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights (James 1:17). God is not a recipient of goodness — He is its origin. To judge God by a standard of "good" is to place that standard above God, which is precisely the error.
2. The Corruption Problem: Our Moral Reasoning is Broken
Even if we could agree on an external standard of good, we would be the last ones qualified to apply it. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that all our righteousness — not just our sins, but our best moral efforts — are as filthy rags. This is not a peripheral comment; it strikes at the root of human moral evaluation.
Paul goes further in Romans 3:10-12, citing the Psalms: "There is none righteous, no not one... there is none that understandeth." The word "understandeth" here is critical. It is not merely that we are morally imperfect — it is that we do not correctly understand good to begin with. Our moral compass is not just slightly off; it is fundamentally compromised.
If our understanding of good is broken at the source, then when we look at the flood, or the death of the firstborn in Egypt, or the commands to destroy Canaan, and say "that doesn't seem good to me" — we are using a broken instrument to measure an infinite standard.
3. The Vantage Point Problem: We Cannot See What God Sees
The book of Job is perhaps the most direct biblical engagement with this exact question. Job is a righteous man. His suffering is real. His questions are legitimate. And yet when God finally responds in chapters 38-41, He does not answer Job's "why" — not even once.
Instead, God asks a series of questions: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (Job 38:4). "Have you entered into the springs of the sea?" (Job 38:16). The point is not to humiliate Job — it is to establish that the vantage point required to evaluate God's decisions is one that no human being has ever occupied.
God's response is essentially this: you are asking whether my actions are good, but you lack the standing to evaluate the answer. Not because the answer does not exist, but because the evaluator is not equipped to receive it. Job's response — "I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 40:4, 42:6) — is not the response of a man who received a satisfying explanation. It is the response of a man who encountered a perspective so vast that the question itself collapsed.
4. The Framework Problem: Good Requires a Reference Frame
Isaiah 55:8-9 is perhaps the most explicit statement of this principle in all of Scripture: "For 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."
This is not a vague statement about mystery. It is a categorical claim about the difference in kind — not just degree — between God's moral framework and ours. His "ways" are not just better versions of our ways. They operate at a level we cannot access from our current position.
Isaiah 45:9 anticipates the potter/clay argument Paul would later develop in Romans 9: "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!" The clay does not evaluate the wisdom of the potter's decisions — not because the potter is above accountability, but because the clay fundamentally lacks the perspective to render that judgment.
5. The Wisdom Problem: You Must Fear God Before You Can Understand Good
Proverbs 9:10 tells us that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." This is not simply a pious sentiment. It is an epistemological claim: correct moral understanding does not precede reverence for God — it follows from it.
In other words, the very capacity to correctly evaluate what is good or evil is granted through relationship with and submission to God. The person who approaches the question "Can God do evil?" from a position outside of that reverence is not a neutral evaluator. They are operating without the prerequisite for the very wisdom they are trying to exercise.
Conclusion: The Question Assumes What It Needs to Prove
The question "Can God do evil?" carries a hidden premise: that there is a standard of good and evil that sits above God, by which His actions can be evaluated and found wanting. But Scripture consistently and deliberately dismantles that premise.
God is the source of good, not its subject (Psalm 119:68, James 1:17). Our moral understanding is not just imperfect but fundamentally broken (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10-12). We lack the vantage point to evaluate His decisions (Job 38-41). His ways are categorically above ours (Isaiah 55:8-9, Isaiah 45:9). And correct moral understanding begins with Him, not with us (Proverbs 9:10).
I do not claim that the difficult passages in Scripture are without tension. I claim that the tension exists not because God's actions are evil, but because our definition of "good" is too small, too corrupted, and too earthbound to contain what He is and what He does.
The honest response to that is not to lower God to our standard. It is to raise our understanding — beginning with the fear of the Lord.
Key Scripture References
Psalm 119:68 | James 1:17 | Isaiah 64:6 | Romans 3:10-12
Job 38-41 | Isaiah 55:8-9 | Isaiah 45:9 | Romans 9:20-22 | Proverbs 9:10
it's the infamous "Tenth Plague of Egypt, plus King Herod's Paranoia, plus AntiChrist today, multiplied by 2Cor 5:21 out of context" question. All the woes!
