Evil and Good

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

I read an article lately that explained that, historically, evil has been defined in terms of privation (privatio) and negative (negatio). The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “evil” as: any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him by God, or by legitimate human authority; or it is any violation of the plain principles of justice and rectitude. The point of such definitions is to define “evil” in terms of a lack of, or negation of, the good. We define sin, for example, as any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God. As cold is the lack of heat, and dark is the lack of light, evil is the lack of good as define by God. Sin is characteristically defined in negative terms. We speak of sin as disobedience, lawlessness, immorality, unethical behavior, and the like. So that, above and beyond the problem of evil always stands the standard of good by which evil is determined to be evil. In this regard, evil is parasitic. It depends upon host outside of itself for its very definition. Nothing can be said to be evil without the prior standard of the good. Nevertheless, as much as we speak of evil as a privation or negation of the good, we cannot escape the power of its reality.

Psalm 34:14-16 “Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

The article states that at the time of the Reformation, the magisterial Reformers modified the term “privation” with one critical word. Privatio began to be described as “privation actuosa” (an actual or real privation). The point of this distinction was to call attention to the reality of evil. If we think of evil simply in terms of negation and privation, and seek to avoid the actuality of it, we can easily slip into the absurd error of considering evil an illusion. Whatever evil we experience in this world may be acute, but it is always temporary. In every moment that we experience the anguish of evil, there beats in our hearts the hope of heaven – that evil is temporary and under the judgment of God, the same God who gave a promise to His people that there will be a time when evil is no more. The privatio and negation will be trumped by the presence of Jesus Christ.

Blessings