The first thing that needs to be said is that this is one of those things that the Bible does not tell us. The Bible makes no attempt to be an encyclopaedia explaining everything in the universe. In fact, the Bible insists that man cannot know and understand everything. There are gaps (big gaps) in human knowledge. Humans are very limited and finite creatures. The angels in heaven have gaps in their knowledge too. Only God can know all things for only God is infinite and unlimited. We need to keep in mind that it is not only the existence of evil that is an ultimate mystery to us, but so is the existence of good, the existence of God. The very first words of the Bible confront us with something (someone) we cannot fully explain or understand: "In the beginning God". His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, just as the heavens are higher than the earth (Isaiah 55:9). And since one of God’s "ways and thoughts" was to allow evil to come into the universe, the reasoning for that is so infinitely high that it is beyond us. We would need infinite intelligence to understand it. There would be no point God telling us, for even if He did, we’d still be in the dark. So, like Paul, we admit the gaps in our knowledge: "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor"?

However, that does not mean that we should say nothing about the origin of evil. While we cannot say what the explanation for evil is, we can certainly say what it is not. In other words we can ‘creep up’ on the correct answer even if we never quite get all the way to it. For example, Christians can and should say the following sorts of things ...

1) God could have prevented evil from happening. He could have made a universe where evil was an impossibility, a non-event. But for wise reasons known only to Himself, God chose to allow evil. So evil is perfectly consistent with God’s complete control of the universe. Whatever the explanation for evil is, it certainly is not that God had no choice or that He lost control. It didn’t happen when God wasn’t looking! God is always looking. He is always sovereign.

2) God’s choice to allow evil was not an ‘easy’ decision. It wasn’t made lightly or capriciously. It wasn’t like a ‘toss of a coin’: heads for evil, tails for no evil. On the contrary, God knew at the start the full and terrible consequences of it. He knew the chain of historical events which would unfold in heaven and on earth. He knew about sin and death and suffering. He knew it would mean that He Himself would be the main target: He would be dishonoured and denied, and His truth would be twisted and His blessings despised and thanklessly received by His creatures and used as weapons against God! Worse, He knew how costly it would be to rescue sinners from this evil. God Himself would enter into the extremity of the suffering and curse and punishment that evil brings. He did so in the person of the Son of God, the man of sorrows familiar with grief. So God not only allowed for evil but, from all eternity, He graciously planned to enter into its terrible consequences so He could defeat it and bring greater glory to His name in the saving of sinners. So whatever the reason for the origin of evil is, it is not that God allowed it because He was unaffected by it or callously indifferent to it.

3) In allowing evil, God is not the author of evil. He is not the cause of evil or the promoter of evil. He hates evil and warns every creature to do the same. God is light: there is no darkness or shadow in Him (James 1:17). So the Westminster Confession of Faith declares: "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures" (WCF 3:1). Evil is the complete opposite to God’s nature. So in allowing evil to exist, God is not approving evil or condoning it, nor is He responsible for it. And it is important to say that God did not allow evil so He could tempt men. God never tempts anyone. "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).

4) The wonderful and amazing thing is that God uses even the Devil to bring about His good purposes. God rules and over-rules evil so that evil is made to serve His wise plans. It is well stated in Proverbs 16:4, "The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil". He makes use of Satan in the same way as a good man makes use of a savage dog. The man doesn’t like the dog, and the dog doesn’t like anyone, but he keeps thieves out. God doesn’t like the Devil, and the Devil hates everyone, but God uses his savagery to bring good results. When Satan stirred up hatred to kill Christ, that death for one man became life for millions: eternal life. This evil act of the evil king was where he shot himself in the foot! It ensured the salvation of multitudes of sinners out of his evil kingdom. The death of Christ is the death of death. How this must annoy the Devil, that God turns his evil against him. The more Satan raged against the Christian martyrs, many being burned at the stake, the more people were converted to Christ. As Satan fanned the sparks of opposition, God made it into a bushfire of faith. God fights fire with fire. Just as the poison of snakes has been made into the medicine that saves from snakebite (antivenene) so God uses darkness to make the light of Christ even clearer and more desirable.

5) By allowing and overcoming evil, certain of God’s characteristics are made prominent (as they should be). For example, Mercy is best seen where there are wicked doomed wretches whom God freely forgives. Justice is most treasured where the evil opposite, injustice, exists,. Goodness is seen in its warmest glow against the evil backdrop of malignancy and callous hatred. Grace comes into its own in an evil world. Essentially, grace is God’s taking the consequences of our evil upon Himself so that the unbearable penalty is borne, and what is impossible for man is made possible, namely, a righteous (non evil) standing with God. Love is repeatedly defined in the Bible as God giving up His Son as a sacrificial offering on behalf of His guilty people. This supreme love of God is only possible in a universe where evil exists. So again, while we cannot know why evil exists, we can see how it is not irrational or unproductive for God to allow it.