Why Does God Allow Evil in the World?
- Heather Erdmann
- Sep 27
- 9 min read
What the Bible Says About The Problem of Evil
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
It’s no surprise that almost every book or movie plot portrays some form of battle between good and evil. Whether it’s an obvious hero versus villain story or a more subtle battle of someone triumphing in the face of adversity, evil is an ever-present element in our lives. Yet, it makes us question, “If God is good, why does God allow evil in the world?”
It Starts with Sin
We were created by God and for God, and because of that, we are ultimately accountable to Him. Yet, often, we want to go our own way, choosing our will over His. Because He is good and all His ways are good, this clash for authority means we either submit to God and His perfect plan, or choose to be our own authority and invite problems into our lives or the lives of others. This struggle is at the heart of sin and is the beginning of our problem with evil.
Before humans even existed, the Bible tells us that a clash for authority occurred between God and His created angels when the devil sought to take God’s glory and reign in His place:
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
(Isaiah 14:12-15)
Shortly after the creation account, the devil attempted to include man in his rebellion against God when he tempted Eve to choose her will over God’s commands:
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
"You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
(Genesis 3:1-5)
At the heart of this rebellion was a distrust of God and His Word (a tactic the enemy still uses on us today), and an appeal to pride as the devil told her she could “be like God.” It was a difficult offer to refuse, and she did not. How often today do we also ignore or abandon God’s Word in favor of our own will?
Why We Are Part of the Problem
But you may protest, Adam and Eve sinned—not me! So, why am I included in the curse of this fallen world? The Bible tells us that through one man, sin entered the world, and we are all born with an inclination to sin:
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—” (Romans 5:12)
Even in the perfect, optimal circumstances in the Garden of Eden, man still chose to sin and follow his own will rather than obey God. Not one of us goes a single day—or even a single hour—without sinning in some way. If the ultimate command is to love God above everything else, who among us could say we’ve never broken that command? Left to ourselves, we default to doing what pleases us first. Man is not “basically good” since the fall into sin in the garden long ago. Man is not even morally neutral. Jesus told us:
“…What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:20-23)
When someone asks, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” the answer is that it actually only happened once—to Jesus Christ, who was completely sinless, yet cruelly crucified. There are no truly good people. Only God is good.
As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10)
The battle for control between God and man is as old as time and is the main reason evil exists in this world today, because people put themselves before God and others.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
(James 4:1-4)
Why Does God Allow Evil in the World?
This age-old question is one of the most commonly asked about God. It started in the Garden when man disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Man literally chose to know and experience evil by this act of rebellion.
Yet, we still ask, why would God allow evil in the world, knowing we would make that choice? One reason is that for us to love God freely, He also created us with the ability not to love Him.
Because He is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, we know He must have reasons for allowing evil to be a part of His master plan. He knows what we cannot know and sees every aspect of every situation. It has been said that if we could see every detail of any scenario the way God sees it, we would respond exactly as He does. It is comforting to know that He is our wise Father and His thoughts and deeds are always greater than ours:
8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
Six Reasons God Allows Evil in the World
1.) The contrast defines good and evil.
Have you ever been seriously ill and then realized how amazing it feels to be healthy? We rarely appreciate our health until it is taken from us. It is something we easily take for granted. Yet, hardship gives us a newfound appreciation for what is good and right when things go completely wrong. Because there is evil, we can know what good is.
2.) God’s goodness is showcased.
In that same manner, evil in this world showcases how exemplary God is when contrasted with how horrific evil is. To see the brilliance of a diamond, the jeweler sets it against a dark cloth. We see the magnificence, power, and glory of God when we realize He is lifting us out of the darkness of this world and into His marvelous light to live with Him forever.
3.) God’s love is displayed.
As contradictory as it may sound, allowing evil into the world was one of the greatest ways God could demonstrate both His infinite goodness and the depth of His love. By letting us see just how horrible sin and suffering can be, we can also see just how far He would go to prove His love for us. Because not only did He come and partake of the worst suffering Himself, He did it as a rescue mission to save us from it, and His motive was love:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) (emphasis mine)
4.) It points us to our eternal hope.
The existence of evil in this world creates in us a longing for our eternal home. Having an eternal perspective helps keep this life and all of its challenges in their proper place. It doesn’t mean every trial will be painless, but knowing that our suffering is temporary alleviates some of the burden and gives us hope for a brighter future:
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.”
(1 Peter 5:10)
5.) It draws us to Jesus.
When we suffer, we can turn to the only one who can truly rescue, save, heal, restore, and protect us—our Lord Jesus. We look to Him to provide all we need as we seek Him in prayer and His Word.
Maybe you’ve seen this in your own life. When circumstances are going well, we tend to neglect time with God and forget to pray and praise Him for all His blessings. Then, when trouble strikes, we call on Him fervently seeking His help. The Israelites repeated this pattern of disobedience, suffering, and calling out to God for help throughout the Old Testament. Human nature hasn’t changed much with time.
6.) We are sanctified.
Through all of our experiences, God is working to make us more like His perfect Son, Jesus. A caring parent will allow certain circumstances and consequences in their child’s life to teach them for their ultimate good. (See Hebrews 12:5-11.)
God loves us, and we can trust Him as a child trusts their father. Nothing helps us exercise that trust more than when we experience pain or hardship, or when facing the uncertainties of life.
We have little problem placing our lives into the care of a skilled airline pilot without knowing the first thing about how to operate the plane’s controls or even about the pilot himself. Yet God, who has revealed Himself to us through His Word and who has created all, sees all, and knows all, is even more worthy of our complete trust. Everything He does is for our eternal good and His glory.
What’s the Solution to the Problem of Evil?
Knowing why God allows evil in the world differs from just handling or enduring it in our lives. Better yet, how do we overcome it and live victoriously?
In one simple, yet extremely profound answer: the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!
At the cross, Jesus defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil once and for all. The battles we face are against a defeated foe. At their core, all of our battles are spiritual:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:2)
Our true enemies aren’t other people who, like us, are made of flesh and blood, but the evil forces at work in the world. If the problem of evil comes from our rebellion against God’s authority, then our solution is in surrendering to God and trusting Him as the Lord and ruler of our lives.
When we do, He gives us the grace to handle our trials, the strength to fight against our sinful flesh, and the power to overcome the temptations we face each day. He fills us with the Holy Spirit, who guides us into all truth and turns our hearts towards Him so that we want to live according to His will rather than our own.
Jesus is making all things new, and one day our eternal reality will be a place where everyone lives in the power of God’s love and grace and where sin and evil no longer exist! That was the ultimate result of Jesus’s finished work on the cross. He has already won the victory on our behalf:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
When we are in Him, we, too, are overcomers:
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
(Romans 8:37)
So, take heart! We are on the winning side! God is in control, even when our lives sometimes seem out of control. We can trust that God is working all things for our good and His glory. We can take comfort in knowing that life on Earth is not all there is; it is just a tiny blip on the spectrum of eternity. He promises that anything we face here pales in comparison to the future awaiting us in Him:
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
God’s Word helps us keep an eternal perspective with our eyes focused on Him and our hearts trusting in His promises.
(This article was taken as an excerpt from “Why the Bible Makes Life Make Sense: Pursuing a Purposeful Life with a Biblical Perspective.” To read the full content, get your copy HERE!)
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