Good And Evil Series

When Victor Hugo was at what seemed to be the height of his fame

he came into disfavor with Napoleon III and was exiled for 19 years.

It was only natural that Hugo would consider this as pure tragedy, but

his immediate judgment was wrong. During those years he wrote far

superior books, and he became twice the man he had been before.

The day actually came when Hugo looked at that seemingly unhappy

event and exclaimed, "Why was I not exiled before?" The evil that

befell him actually resulted in a greater good.

It may seem ridiculous to suggest that man's fall and exile has also

resulted in a greater good, but let me suggest it anyway. Biblical

theology would seem to demand this conclusion, for we know that God

is sovereign, and that in spite of his giving to man a free will, He will

not end up when history is over with less than what He began with.

God could allow the possibility of evil just because He is able to bring

good out of it. Let us not get the impression that the fall was good. It

was not, but it was a very definite and tragic evil. The point is, God is

in control and permits only that evil to be possible out of which He can

bring good.

It is often of small comfort in a tragic situation to say it could be

worse, but it is of great comfort at the point of the fall of man. In one

of Shakespeare's plays a character is made to say, "And when he falls,

he falls like Lucifer, never to hope again." This is exactly what did not

happen in the fall of Adam and Eve. They did not fall as Satan did.

He fell by his own choice to defy God, but they were tempted by

external persuasion. Therefore, their fall was not final, but rather was

one where God has plans to restore them to a state of perfection.

Without the fall we would not have a Savior, and however pleasant

our life would be, it would be less than what we have ahead in eternity

because of what Jesus accomplished for us.

All this amounts to is the logical conclusion we must come to as

Christians because of our rejection of Dualism. We believe that God

alone is sovereign, and He is the creator of all. We do not believe that

there are two ultimate beings as the ancient Persians and Gnostics

believed, with one being good and the other evil. We believe in a

limited dualism in which light and darkness battle one another with

Christ leading the forces of light and Satan the forces of darkness. We

believe the evil forces had a beginning, and that they will have an end

in defeat.

Evil we say is dependent upon the good for its very existence.

Good can exist alone, but evil must have the presence of good to exist,

for evil can have no meaning except by contrast to a standard of good.

It would be impossible to ever do a thing in the wrong way if there was

no right way to do it. But one could do it the right way even if it were

impossible to do it wrong. Let me illustrate. Suppose you have a

puzzle all together except for one piece of a very odd shape. There is

only one right way for that piece to go in. It is just because there is a

right way for it to fit that it is possible to try many wrong ways. You

can hold it several different ways and turn it over before you finally

hit the right way. All the wrong ways can only exist because of there

being a right way. If there was no right way for it to fit, there would

be no wrong ways, for anyway would do. Wrongness is dependent

upon rightness for its very existence.

God and good are supreme and ultimate, but Satan and evil are

temporary intruders. This is confirmed by the record we have here of

the entrance of evil into the world. It got in by the misuse of that

which was good, and thereby established the basic nature of evil as

being the striving for a good by the wrong means. In other words, just

as God can bring good out of evil, so Satan can bring evil out of good.

C. S. Lewis said, "Badness is only spoiled goodness." If you examine

any sin you will discover that some good is always the foundation of it.

This is why sin if often so appealing. It appears to offer so much good.

The greater the good involved, however, the greater the sin. If sex