and deliver us from evil…(Matthew 6:13)

 

In giving us a pattern for prayer, Jesus tell his followers to pray to be delivered from evil.  The Greek word that is translated ‘evil’ is πονηρός poneros, which derives from ponos pain, thus poneros is literally pain-ridden, or more properly that which gives pain.

In parallel, the English word evil derives from the Anglo Saxon, yfele, which meant something that caused harm, such as a malady or disease.  In both cases, Greek and English the words suggest affliction.  Literally, evil is a condition.

Yet many perceive evil as a causal.  Evil is a force or power that is iniquitous.  When Jesus say we should pray from deliverance, is it from pain-inducing condition or a power?  Indeed, some translations say this:

and deliver us from the evil one…

which recognises poneros is an adjective lacking a noun or pronoun to qualify, and assumes ‘one’ is implied.  While this greatly changes the sense in terms of agency, if not in regard to impact.

So what is evil?  Biblically, it is a choice.  One does evil and is an evil-doer.

This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

This conclusion follows the well-known verse, 3:16, that God sent his Son to save us all from perishing.  Jesus has done the work, laid the foundations for salvation but people have to turn from toward him, towards the light and away from their evil ways and darkness.

What are these evil deeds, then? Jesus says they can be ideas:

 ‘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)

Jesus is saying something obvious and not so obvious. While any deed usually is usually proceeds by an idea, we conceive actions before committing them – even if the deed is in the heat of the moment and the thought process is minimal. Emotion and conception, one wills to take action.  That is obvious perhaps, less so that a idea may be evil in and of itself without consummation.

The list of evil-doing that Jesus outlines most people would agree constitutes bad behaviour in general terms, but reaching precise agreement on their exact nature requires moral judgments.  Just to take the first example, what acts constitute sexual immorality?  A common definition might not so be readily forthcoming within a culture, let alone across cultures.  For example, pederasty, the love of a man for a pre- or peri-pubescent boy was once considered the paradigm of a sexual relationship in Greek classical culture, whereas today it would be considered child abuse.  Human morality is built on shifting sands.

So if men and women cannot set the bar, who can? Who gets to define morality?  God, of course.  Evil then is rejection of what God considers moral and without a divine reference point, all is necessarily evil.  Speaking of the choices of men and women, Paul writes;

…just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  (Romans 1:28-31)

Paul supplies a list of evil behaviour, which he calls wickedness and depravity.  He also gives us the negative of evil inclination.  It is Godly to love, and be in possession of truthfulness and mercy; to retain an understanding in which…

God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  (ibid 1:19-20)

So if evil is found in inclination, desire, thought and action, does this divide people into those that are evil and those who are good?  Can anyone be called evil?  Yes and no.

Who is the ‘evil one’ implied by some translations of the Lord’s Prayer, if not Satan?

Satan is understood to be a fallen angel, the leader of the rebellious heavenly host.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.  The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.  (Revelation 12:7-9)

However, eternally speaking Satan and the other fallen angels are already sent to hell to await final judgment (2 Peter 2:4), yet there is no redemption, no second chance.

God’s judgment is required for someone to called evil, rather than a evil-doer.  His settled will condemns a man or woman or angel to hell, and at that point that being is irredeemably evil; however, until that time none can said to be evil.

So this begs one final question, did the Creator create evil.  Is it a force that lies outside of God?  If God is sovereign and all is under his control, how can this be?

Evil is rebellion, whether angelic or human, rebellion against God.  For rebellion to occur, God must grant to some creatures free will, which necessarily gives license to reject Him.  In this we see that God, although not desirous of rejection, created the conditions for evil by giving human and angel-kind autonomy.

Hell is therefore that settled and perpetual state of rebellion while mortal life allows humans to decide for God or against him. From the perspective of human responsibility, his sovereignty permits and embraces these choices.

Evil then is the choice, against reason, against one’s own best interests, to choose independence from God; unfortunately, there is no alternative heaven and only one hell.  Evil then is rightly understood as self-induced suffering, to be pain-ridden and diseased.

Jesus seeks to warn, and does so repeatedly.  The phrase Jesus uses to describe hell is as existing in the outer darkness ‘in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’  (not exclusively, Matthew 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 24:51 or 25:30).

Evil is ultimately is an act of self-immolation, unless by faith any fall on Jesus, thus transferring the pain and suffering on to him who submits to bear all on behalf of the faithful.  Every temporal evil act or thought causes pain, that is clear; but only though the revelation of Scripture can any know that pain endures in eternity and is restricted only to those evil-doers or Jesus who did no evil.  Angels that remain loyal are without evil, whereas every human being is bound for hell, if not for Christ’s intervention.  In eternity there are two groups of beings, both angelic and human; one group remains opposed to God enduring pain. The other submits to God and through the intercession of Christ are released from pain.

The Apostle John is witness to the promise of this release, when he records Jesus saying:

‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ (Revelation 21:3-4)