Dear Professor Theophilus:

In "God and Evil," you seem to say because of free will, we are more or less equally able to choose evil or good, but the Bible speaks of us as being "slaves to sin," dead in our trespasses. You also write that "Without free will, we would also escape the very possibility of the greatest goods . . . [being] able to receive His love and to love Him in return." But Scripture seems to that say we were created for His glory. How can you make such a statement without backing it up from Scripture?

Reply:

That column sure stirred up a lot of people. I’m not surprised; conversations about free will often do. Let me sort out the threads in your letter.

To begin with your last point: Of course we should never contradict Scripture. But although the Bible tells us everything necessary for salvation, it doesn't tell us everything else about God. It even tells us that it doesn't tell us everything (you can look that up in Job). For the rest of the things we'd like to know, we just have to gather all the clues and use our heads. That's what theology is. By "all the clues" I mean all the clues in the Bible and all the clues in the rest of the created world, for creation reveals His glory (and you can look that one up in Psalm 19).

Here's an example. The Bible makes clear that normally we have enough free will to be held responsible for our choices: "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. . . . " (Deuteronomy 30:19, NIV) It also makes clear that the way we use our free will is somehow impaired: "For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members." (Romans 7:22-23, NIV)

Exactly how are these two propositions related? The Bible doesn't tell us. That's up to us to figure out. Of course the Bible contains more clues to the puzzle than these, but we still have to think hard, relying on the Holy Spirit for help.

By the way, don’t forget that the will after redemption is not in the same condition as the will before. The phrase you quote about being “slaves to sin” is mainly about its condition before. In that state, the damage to our will makes loving God seem more like an onerous duty than a joy, so that it isn’t really love. When Christ redeems us, He also begins to heal that damage. For the first time we are able to love God a little — and that little grows and grows.

Now about glory: You’re posing a false alternative, because the love of God cannot be separated from the glory of God. "The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. When all the Israelites saw . . . they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, "He is good; his love endures forever." (2 Chronicles 7:2-3, NIV) Take a look at Psalm 26:8 and Psalm 115:1, too.

Grace and peace,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

PREDESTINATION

Dear Professor Theophilus:

I can't help but notice the role that free will plays in your column. How can you neglect what the Bible says about predestination? I won't go into detail but there are no verses that say we have free will — the Bible only says that God predestines us for stuff, and only that we are able to choose the things in our nature. I would say that because we are fallen, our nature is evil and the only choice in our nature is evil.

Reply:

As I explained to the last guy, Scripture does affirm that we have free will — enough, at least, for us to be held responsible for what we choose. Many people become confused because they confuse "free" will with "completely unimpaired" will, but Scripture does not say our free will is unimpaired.

About predestination: There is more than one view of what this term means. The Bible makes clear that we are genuinely responsible for our choices; it makes clear that nothing can happen contrary to His will; and it makes clear that He knows who will be saved. What it doesn't tell us is how to square these three truths, and Christian thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin have proposed various solutions. You are reading a particular solution back into the Bible itself. When I give you my own view, I'm not claiming that the Bible endorses it. I'm only saying that I try my best not to forget any of the biblical clues – and that's what you should be doing, too.

About this business of our nature being evil: Here's how I see it. I explained in “God and Evil" that the term "nature" is ambiguous. The most fundamental meaning of the term "human nature" is our created design. Sometimes, though, when we speak of something's nature, we mean merely its condition, "how it is." Our nature in the first sense is good — how could God make a bad design? That's biblical. Our nature in the second sense is bad — we're fallen. That's biblical too. Like a car with a faulty steering linkage, we still have that good design, but we aren't operating normally. The result is that although we really can make some genuinely good choices, we always have mixed motives for making them; our will is never pure. Of course, the reason this happened to us in the first place is that we tried to put ourselves in the place of God, and because it did happen, we can't choose well enough to get right again except by His help — in theological language, "through His unmerited grace."

Grace and peace,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

THE GOOD SORT OF EVIL

Dear Professor Theophilus:

You said that God cannot create evil. I think He can if it leads to a greater good. For instance Pharaoh's heart was hardened by God Himself. So that means no evil is really bad, ‘cuz it leads to good. I think this would reassure people.

Reply:

"Bad" and "evil" mean the same thing, so when you say evil isn't really bad, what you are really saying is that there isn't any evil. That's not a reassurance to a person in affliction; it's a mockery. According to the Bible, evil is really evil, and God really hates it — even though He is able to turn it to His good purposes. I think it is more reassuring that He takes it seriously.

You do raise a good point about Pharaoh. God is unwilling that anyone should perish — but, yes, for the sake of His glory He manipulates those who oppose Him. Another important point is that a person who rebels against God does not have the option of being exactly as bad as he wants, and no worse; God is too merciful for that. He has designed us in such a way that if we are determined to make ourselves stupid and wicked, we end up even stupider and wickeder than we had planned. The reason I call this "merciful" is that if it keeps up, the rebel may finally be so wretched that he comes to his senses. I suspect that some people can't be brought to repent in any other way. Pharaoh, of course, never did.

Grace and peace,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN BEFORE ALL WORLDS

Dear Professor Theophilus:

All right, just read "God and Evil." Got just a little something that might be worth some thought. Has anyone ever considered the possibility that our Fall and Christ's death and resurrection were planned for God's glory since before the dawn of creation? I mean, what if God allowed the Fall so Christ could come? If the Fall had never happened, maybe we'd still be in the Garden, sort of serving God but not knowing what we were doing. God can't do evil, but He can use what He has to, to mold and shape us and show His glory even more -- for example by rescuing us. I'm not saying you haven't thought of this (*shrug*) — just some thoughts. Keep writing!

Reply:

As a matter of fact, yes, these ideas have occurred to quite a few people. Paul says God planned our redemption through Christ "before the foundation of the world," "before the ages" (Ephesians 1:4-8, 1 Corinthians 2:7, RSV). If that's true, then we know one thing for sure: The Fall didn't catch God by surprise. Still, you're skating awfully close to the edge, because it doesn't follow that God wanted us to fall.

Some Christians who have reflected on the catastrophe in Eden have even exclaimed, "O blessed sin!" Of course they didn't mean that literally. Insofar as the disobedience of our first parents was sin, it wasn't blessed, but wretched. But insofar as it provided the occasion for God's saving grace, we have reason for unending awe: After we had sinned, He did that for us? Yes, yes, and again yes.

But I think you're making a mistake about Eden, too. How do you know what would have happened if our first parents had obeyed? Is God so small that His glory depends on our sin? After all, it isn't for disobedience that He promises blessings, but for obedience.

Grace and peace,
PROFESOR THEOPHILUS

AN ANSWER FOR MISS CARRIE

Dear Professor Theophilus:

I have an 8-year old friend (no kidding!) who plies me regularly with theological questions of depth and importance. Although I have a postgraduate degree, sometimes I find myself at a loss as to answering. Here's the latest from Miss Carrie: "How do we know that God is good? I mean, couldn't Satan really be the good one, and God be lying? I mean, how do we know who is telling the truth?"

I did give her an answer (after some time to pause, to sigh, and to reflect), but I bet she isn't the only one to wonder about this, and a cogent, intelligible answer would be a good thing to have.

Reply:

I would answer Miss Carrie this way: We know Satan is bad and a liar because he has never done anything good for us, and every time we've listened to him, everything has gone wrong. We know God is good and truthful because he has always done good for us, and everything he says comes true. Even after we began to do bad things, he worked to get us straightened out. He saved the Israelites from slavery under Pharaoh. He gave Moses the Ten Commandments, with rules you can see to be good — like respecting your Mommy and Daddy, not telling lies to get people in trouble, and not wanting other people's things to be your own. When He came as Jesus, He went around healing people, even when he was tired. He taught us a lot more good things too, like loving people instead of hating them, even when they're mean to us. The greatest thing was that He died to save us from our own sins. When He rose to life again, He brought a new kind of life that we can all share.

This is where Miss Carrie might say, "But you only know about all those good things by reading the Bible. How do you know He wasn't lying in the Bible? Maybe He didn't do those good things at all." I would answer her like this. God couldn't have been lying in the Bible, because He didn't write the Bible. He gave wisdom to the people who wrote the Bible — we call that inspiring them — but they did the writing. So when the Bible talks about all the good things God has done, it isn't God saying, "Here are all the good things I've done." No, it was the people themselves saying, "Here are all the good things God has done, and we know they really happened because He did them for us." That's how we know it's all true.

This doesn't answer every possible question, but Miss Carrie hasn't asked every possible question, and it's best not to give the answers before you get the questions.

God must have given you such a friend for some good reason. Maybe her good, maybe yours.

Grace and peace,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

If you have questions you’d like to Ask Theo, send us an email and we'll pass it along to him.