THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND SUFFERING

1. Sin Brought Dysfunction (Genesis 1:29-31; 3:1-19) 

2. Human Nature Corrupted (Psalm 51:5; Isaiah 64:6-7; Mark 7:20-23; Romans 3:23; 5:18-21) 

3. Triumph of God’s Justice (Romans 8:18, 28, 35-39; Revelation 21:1-5) 

Central Truth: Despite the evil and suffering in this world, God is good. 

Focus: Affirm the goodness of God in a world stained by sin, and trust God to show mercy and justice in His timing. 

Evangelism Emphasis: God may use suffering to draw sinners to Himself. 

Text: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). 

INTRODUCTION 

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines theodicy as a “defense of God’s goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil.” Perhaps this is a new term for you, but it is doubtful this is a new concept in this world of suffering. Every day we turn on the news and hear about terrible things happening on the other side of the world and in our own communities. People endure hardships. Terrorism, murder, violence, sickness, perversion, bitterness, unforgiveness, loneliness, and lovelessness are everywhere. 

It is easy to get angry and confused when we cannot figure out what God is doing, or seemingly not doing. In our attempts to make sense of everything, and in our attempts to comfort one another, we can end up saying things that, in the long run, are potentially destructive. For example, we say “God has a plan” or “God is in control” or “God won’t put more on you than you are able to bear.” These kinds of statements, while well-intentioned, can end up leading us astray and eroding our confidence and faith in God. 

God does have a plan and He is sovereign; but part of His sovereign plan involves the free will of men and women. As we will see in this lesson, the free will given to us has caused a great deal of pain. It is unbiblical to say, “God won’t put more on you than you are able to bear.” That is a misquoting of 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says God “will not allow you to be tempted” more than you are able to bear, but will always make a “way of escape” which enables you to overcome the temptation (NKJV). The fact is, life itself can be more than you can bear. But God never intended you to bear it without His grace. Because of God’s faithfulness, goodness, and love, you can have hope in all circumstances of life, no matter how dire they might be. 

1.  SIN BROUGHT DYSFUNCTION  

A.  God Declared His Creation to Be Good (Genesis 1:29-31) 

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 

The first pages of the Bible deal with the orderly creation of the world, light, life, and nature. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin referred to Creation as “a platform for God’s glory” and a “dazzling theatre.” In the Creation account, we see God setting the stage for everything that would follow. It is the first act in a drama which would reveal God’s glory at all times, in all places, and in all conditions. 

God declared everything He made to be “very good.” From this we see the world is not inherently evil. It was created in such a way that everything was rightly ordered with every other thing. Thomas C. Oden notes that in the first three days everything was created and set in order, which would be necessary to support the living inhabitants created in the subsequent three days. Because of this orderliness, these living creatures, including humankind, were set in a well-prepared place and provided a rhythm of life. The seventh day was for rejoicing over the goodness of the former six, providing a pattern for human life—working six days and resting on the seventh (Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology). 

• Name some of the good things that are still present in the world God made. 

B. Sin Corrupted God’s Good Creation (Genesis 3:1-19) 

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 

God told Adam and Eve they could eat of every tree in the Garden except one—the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. From this instruction we can see that, from the beginning, God set the rules for life in His kingdom. Adam and Eve were given the responsibility to submit to His rule and, as long as they did, everything was perfect. But, tragically, they disobeyed God. 

Look at the process of the fall of man in Genesis 3. In verse 1, the serpent distorted God’s words: “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (NKJV). The serpent made God’s words sound much stricter and confining than what God actually said. God had only put one tree in Eden out of bounds, but the serpent twisted that in an attempt to make it look like God was not good. 

In verses 4 and 5, the serpent again sowed doubt about God’s faithfulness to His word. The serpent painted a picture of God withholding something good and necessary from Adam and Eve out of petty control. “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (NKJV). The serpent was challenging God’s judgment of what is best, and Eve bought into the lie. 

Eve was enticed by how good the fruit looked and the idea that it would make her wise and mature, apart from total dependence on her loving Creator. So, she ate the fruit, then handed some to her husband, who also ate it. The fallout of this decision has rippled down through time. 

By choosing to eat the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve decided to try to live their lives and to govern the garden of God’s good creation on their own. They wanted to continue living in Eden, but they did not want to follow the leading of God, rely on His judgment, or obey His commandments. In doing this, they usurped the divine authority under which they were supposed to be governing creation. In effect, they staged a mutiny against God. 

This is the “original sin” of humankind. It was a desire to live life by man’s own rules. Desiring to be gods of their own world, Adam and Eve brought the earth under the dominion of rebellion and sin, and the results were disastrous. People began to live by their own rules, apart from God’s justice, truth, righteousness, and holiness. 

Adam and Eve’s reaction to the presence of God, when He was seeking them out, shows us their relationship with God was distorted. They did what all of us do when we are ashamed and afraid—they hid (v. 8). They no longer knew God in love but, instead, experienced Him in fear. And when they finally did speak to God, they tried blame-shifting. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent (vv. 12-13). The relationship they had with each other was now distorted. In addition to this, the work which was part of humankind’s created calling became much harder. “Cursed” creation resisted man’s labor to get food from the ground (vv. 17-19), and childbirth became a painful experience for the woman (v. 16). 

Resisting Our Passions 

True peace of heart is found by resisting our passions, not by obeying them. There is then no peace in the heart of a carnal man, nor in him who is given up to outward things, but in the fervent and spiritual man.—Thomas à Kempis 

2. HUMAN NATURE CORRUPTED 

A. The Universal Sinfulness of Humanity (Psalm 51:5; Isaiah 64:6-7) 

Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.    

There are contemporary voices in the culture telling us all we need to do to flourish as human beings is to lay aside our “false self” and allow our “true self” to emerge from within. This ideology fails to take into account the sinful heart of man as revealed in Scripture. 

The Bible leaves no doubt about the condition of humankind as a result of the Fall. In Psalm 51:5, we see David declaring his sinfulness from before his birth. However, he does not use this as an excuse for his sins. Instead, he confesses his evil deeds to God (vv. 3-4) and asks for purging and restoration (vv. 7-12). 

The prophet Isaiah portrays the desperate condition of people living according to their own dictates. Their “morality” is filthy; they are unstable, blown about by the winds of sin; and they are fading fast (v. 6). Because they have refused to seek after God, He has hidden Himself from them, and they are being consumed by their own iniquities (v. 7). 

Start From Where We Are 

We must see the soul and the person in its ruined condition, with its malformed and dysfunctional mind, feelings, body, and social relations, before we can understand that it must be delivered and reformed and how that can be done. One of the greatest obstacles to effective spiritual formation in Christ today is simple failure to understand and acknowledge the reality of the human situation as it affects Christians and non-Christians alike. We must start from where we really are.—Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart 

B. Sin Proceeds From the Heart (Mark 7:20-23) 

23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. 

Jesus’ words are particularly important to a proper understanding of the sinful condition of humankind. He tells us our sinfulness proceeds from our hearts. Of course, Jesus is not speaking of the heart as the organ which pumps blood through our bodies. Instead, the heart can be understood as the “executive center of our being.” When a person is alienated from a loving relationship with God, the heart is misdirected. “Evil thoughts” can lead to “adulteries, fornications, murders” (v. 21). And a heart filled with “coveting . . . envy . . . pride” (v. 22 NASB) can destroy us and people around us. 

Sin should not be dismissed as merely a case of “bad habits” which can be overcome by self-discipline, nor is it simply ignorance which can be overcome by education. Sin is also not merely a result of faulty social structures that can be fixed by an enlightened worldview with an engineered solution governed and shaped by politics. Sin is rooted in a relational breakdown between humanity and God. It can be overcome only by accepting the forgiveness of God, rooted in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, resulting in God’s love being “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 5:5). 

• Why must we deal with our heart before we try to lead better lives? 

C. Jesus Offers Lasting Hope (Romans 3:23; 5:18-21) 

5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Sin is a universal problem: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23 NKJV). The consequence of the Fall in Eden resulted in judgment coming to all humanity. “By the offence of one judgment came upon all” (5:18a). But good news follows the bad news: “Through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men” (v. 18b NKJV). Also, by “one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (v. 19 NKJV). 

This is why it is vital for us to embrace the full humanity and deity of Christ. In Christ, God broke into the middle of a world gone terribly wrong. Humankind was so far off course, there was no hope of return. By our own decisions we had positioned ourselves as enemies of God. We violated His law and His very nature. We ignored who we were created to be and, as a result, chaos ensued. So, God, who never stopped loving us even in our sin, entered into our world, taking on flesh and being born to a virgin girl named Mary. 

The Son of God existed from eternity. However, in the Incarnation we see the beginning of the story of the man Jesus. It was also a new beginning for the human story. Jesus entered our world, where “sin abounded,” bringing grace in much greater abundance (Rom. 5:20). Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, every human being has the opportunity to experience new birth and a fresh start. The disorder of this world is going to be set right by the one Paul refers to as the “last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45). Because of Jesus’ sacrificial death and victorious resurrection, we are able to experience in this life a foretaste of the fullness of joy we will have in eternity with Him (Rom. 5:21). 

• Contrast the reign of sin with the reign of grace (5:21). 

3.  TRIUMPH OF GOD’S JUSTICE

A. Hope in the Midst of Suffering (Romans 8:18, 28) 

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

The consequences of the Fall impacts us to this day. That is not to say every time we face a trial it is because we have sinned; it only means the world we live in at this time in history is fallen from its original design as a result of rebellion against God’s reign. In this lesson, we have seen the ripple effect sin has from one generation to the next, as well as the effect it has on those around us in our own generation. The trial you face today may be a result of the sin of another person. Or, it may just be the result of living in this fallen world. 

The good news for the Christian is that no matter what trials we face, we have hope. We will certainly experience hardship and suffering in various ways and degrees, but if we are willing to suffer with Christ, we will also be glorified with Him in the coming age (v. 17). No matter what we suffer in this life, it cannot compare to the glory we will experience in the life to come (v. 18). The sons and daughters of God filled with the Spirit of God are right now being transformed into the image of God’s Son (see 2 Cor. 3:18). We cannot imagine what God has in store for His children when that process is realized in our transformed and glorified bodies and when we see the fullness of our co-inheritance with Christ. 

Until that time, we should take comfort in knowing no matter what we may be facing, it is never beyond God’s ability to redeem and use for our good. However, the “good” Paul refers to in Romans 8:28 should not be understood as earthly comfort. Instead, we see from verse 29 that Paul is referring to conformity to Christlikeness. Those who are in Christ have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. This idea of predestination is not about God choosing who will be saved and who will not be saved, as some teach. Instead, it is saying God’s foreordained plan for all who accept His offer of salvation is conformity to the image of His Son. 

• For Christians, how will future glory outweigh present sufferings? 

B. Kept by the Love of God (Romans 8:35-39) 

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 

No matter the trial being faced, we as Christians have hope for a good outcome based on God’s faithfulness and ability to ultimately redeem all circumstances for our good. Hope for the future is powerful. But it is the very present love of God that enables us to overcome fear and endure through the trials of life. Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (v. 35). The answer is found in verse 39, which says nothing is “able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

When we realize how the people of God are suffering and dying for their faith in many parts of our world, we may be tempted to protest this declaration by Paul. We might point out things Paul listed and ask, How can you say nothing separates us from the love of God? What about “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (v. 35). What about our brothers and sisters who, for the sake of Christ, are “killed all the day long” and “accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (v. 36)? 

The word of the Lord comes to us in verse 37: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (NKJV). Paul was not blind to the reality of suffering. He himself had suffered much persecution (see 2 Cor. 11:23-27). Even more importantly, God is not detached from our suffering. On the contrary, God himself entered into and endured our suffering in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. He humiliated Himself to become a lowly human, and He allowed Himself to experience brutal torture and execution even though He was innocent. 

We should never say God is detached or watching us from a distance. He is Immanuel, “God with us,” at all times, even in our darkest moments. No matter the source or outcome of the suffering, God’s love does not waver. If we remain faithful to Him by His grace, we are made “more than conquerors” (NASB, “overwhelmingly conquer,” Rom. 8:37) by the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us. This is true in life and in death. It is true no matter who is behind the suffering—even if it is the work of principalities and powers. Because of the ever-present love of God, we do not have to be afraid. 

Indian Ocean Catastrophe 

In December 2004, Southeast Asian nations around the rim of the Indian Ocean were struck by a massive tsunami triggered by an earthquake which registered 9.1 on the Richter scale. According to britannica.com, at least 225,000 people were killed. One-third of the deceased were children, and hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. 

In the wake of this disaster, many people had questions about God. One journalist said, “If God is God, He’s not good. If God is good, He’s not God. You can’t have it both ways, especially after the Indian Ocean catastrophe” (Ron Rosenbaum quoted in Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism). Christians would disagree with such a judgment about the nature of God, even in light of tragic circumstances. But it is necessary for us to be prepared to share a thoughtful and more Biblical response when we are inevitably faced with such questions. 

C. God Will Prevail Over All (Revelation 21:1-5) 

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 

Everything that went wrong in the Garden of Eden is going to be made right. God promises to “make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). First, creation itself, including heaven, is renewed (v. 1). It is unclear whether John is referring to our concept of “sky” when he mentions heaven here, but this is a possibility, as it was customary among other first-century writers. Whether or not that is the case, the renewed quality of creation is vital because it signifies the goal of the redemptive process began in the Garden has been reached. 

Second, the New Jerusalem comes down to the earth (v. 2). That is, it does not appear to be a place where people go one by one. Instead, the New Jerusalem comes down to them from the realm of the heavens and they enter it corporately. 

Third, the New Jerusalem is an urban city. The end of human history does not take us back to the Garden of Eden, as some suppose, but places us in a physical city along with God. 

Fourth, God literally lives in the city with His redeemed people (v. 3). This is not figurative language, for the remainder of the passage describes the wedding of the city with the Lamb himself, symbolizing the perfect union between God and people. So, naturally no sanctuary is necessary for worship, as even the distinctions between sacred and secular are erased. In the New Jerusalem, God is truly all-in-all, in perfect relationship with humankind again. 

Verse 4 describes what life with God will be like: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and eliminate death entirely. No one will mourn or weep any longer. The pain of wounds will no longer exist, for the old order has ceased” (TPT). 

GOD IS NOT FINISHED BEING GOD 



Suffering and trials are a present reality for everyone in the world; becoming a disciple of Jesus does not exempt us. It often seems the opposite is true, as men and women suffer hardship to one degree or another due to their confession of faith in Jesus Christ. At times in history, past and present, entire governments seem bent on eradicating people of various religions, including (and, at times, specifically targeting) Christians. 

Also, Christians are not exempt from experiencing physical and mental illness, financial loss, deprivation, and relational breakdowns. When we do not understand what is happening in our lives at any given moment, remember “God is not finished being God for us yet.” We must keep our minds and hearts focused on the present reality of God’s love and the hope of His ultimate faithfulness to make all things as they should be, whether in this life or the life to come. We need to rely on our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ to help us during those times. None of us should walk through hardship alone. We need to remember the words of Scripture exhorting us to [not forsake] “the assembling of ourselves together” (Heb. 10:25) in order to encourage one another at all times and to remind one another of the truth of God’s love and faithfulness. 

Daily Devotions  

M.  Suffering, Though Righteous (Job 1:1, 13-22) 

T.  Questions About God’s Justice (Jeremiah 12:1-4, 14-17) 

W.  Watch for God’s Justice (Habakkuk 1:1-5) 

T.  Give an Account on Judgment Day (Matthew 12:33-37) 

F.  The Dilemma of Sin (Romans 7:14-25) 

S.  Christ’s Final Triumph (Revelation 19:11-21) 

Adopted from the Evangelical Sunday School Lesson Commentary 2020-2021.

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay.