(2) Pain, sorroiv, disease, and death. — The
EVIL
551
Gospels lend no countenance to the view that moral evil is the only genuine evil, and that physi- cal evil is not evil in the strict and projier sense. Pain, sorrow, disease, and death were regarded by .lesus as things which ought not to be, and He .spent much of the time of His public ministry in combating them : ' He went about doing giicid, and healing all that were oppressed with the tlevil : for God was with him ' (Ac lO^"). He committed the ministry of healing to the Apostles and other be- lievers : ' Preach, saying. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils ; freely ye have received, freely give' (Mt 10'). Death was regarded by Jesus as in an especial sense ' the enemy.' Its ravages allected Him with acute distress (eVe^pi- /XTjtraro -ry nfevf/.a.Ti Kal irapa^iv eai'roc . . . edaKpucrev, Jn Iissn-, where consult the commentators). Three of His most striking recorded miracles were vic- tories over death (Mk 5^', Lk 7", Jn 11'''); and His own resurrection, according to the energetic expression of the Apostle, ' abolished death, and brought life and incorruption to li"ht ' (2 Ti l'").
As to the causation of physical evil, there is a great diHerence of point of view between the OT and the NT. The OT ujion the whole (Job 1. 2. is an exception) regards physical evil as inflicted directly by God. According to the NT, however, physical evil is mainly the work of the devil. God tolerates, permits, and overrules, rather than directly in- flicts it. Pain and disease and death belong to the devil's kingdom, not to God's ; and their universal prevalence is a sign of the usurped authority over the human race of ' tin' jiriiiii' of this world.' The preaching of the Kingclom of (Jod and the emanci- pation of mankind from the devil's thraldom were consequently accompanied by an extensive minis- try of healing, and Christ appealed to His miracles as evidence that ' the kingdom of God is come upon you' (Lk ll^"). The NT does not, however, deny that physical evil is often inflicted by God for disciplinary or retributive purposes. He 12' lays especial stress upon the wholesome chastening of affliction ■which all the sons of God receive. Examples of penal or retributive affliction are Mt 9- (palsy), Mt '23*' (war and massacre), Jn 5" (con- stitutional infirmity), Ac 5'' (death), Ac 13" (blind- ness). Jesus, however, strongly protested against the idea that e\'ery calamity is to he regarded as a punishment for "individual sin. This specially Jewish idea, which Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar develop at length in the Book of Job, is definitely condemned (Lk 13^ Jn 9").
3. MoKAL EVIL.— (1) Its nature and origin.— The only possible way of accounting for moral evil witliout making God the author of it, is to attri- bute it to the abuse of free will on the part of created beings, angelic, or human, or both. The doctrine of free will has been severely criticised in all ages by the advocates of philosophical and theological necessity ; but it has, notwitlistanding, held its ground, and is at the present time the faith of all the most progressive races of mankind. That it was held by Jesus does not admit of reason- able doubt. Thus He habitually spoke of the power which men possess to resist God and to frus- trate His benevolent intentions : ' O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how often would I (ijfl^XTjtra) . . . and ye would not' (Kal ouk rtdeXriffaTe, Lk 13'*; cf. Jn 5^", Mt IP"'''). His general invitations to all men to be saved imply the same doctrine : ' Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest' (Mt 11=8) . .And I, if I be lifted up from" the earth, will draw all men unto myself ' (Jn 12''-).
speak the latij^uage of Predestination,
lot disproverl by at first siglit to 1 of UeterminiBui
EVIL ONE
EVOLUTION (CHRIST AND)
X".)- Predestination wus not so lield in xclude free will. Josephus says of the 'V say tliat all things happen by fate, they i men the freedom of acting as they think is that it hath pleased God to mix up the lan's will, so that man can act virtuously
(Jn ea'- 39, Mt 2IS^ • Christ's time as to Pharisees ; ' When tl do not take awa\- fro fit ; since their notio decrees of fate and and viciously ' (^ n(. x\iii. i. 3).
Jesus accordingly attributed the origin of evil not to the will of God, but to the perversity of God's creatures. Mankind, according to Hira, is in rebellion against God ; but the whole guilt of rebellion is not his. Before man existed, there were myriads of finite spirits, higher in the order of creation than he, and of these some fell from their original innocence and became devils. The chief of tliese, Satan, is ever seeking to seduce tlie human race from its allegiance to its Creator, and is therefore emphatically called ' the tempter ' (6 Treipdfuv, Mt 4', 1 Th 3^), and the slayer of men {avepuwoKTdi'o!, Jn 8"). This last is the one certain allusion to the fall of Satan to be found in the Gospels (Lk 10'* is doubtful). From it we learn that he once existed in a state of innocence (if rfi aXrideiif), but did not persi-st in it (reading oOk laT-qKev with WH).