To Discern Good and Evil
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. John 3:19-20
The world has a sin problem. I’m not referring to humankind’s need for atonement that results from our individual sins – though that need remains real. Instead, I’m referring to a failure to recognize the depth of depravity to which humans may sink. As I write this article news outlets report Russia has increased her use of lethal aerial bombing of Ukrainian cities. The toll on civilians increases and there seems to be no end in sight. For many, Russia’s war on Ukraine is unthinkable. Surely this kind of violence is a relic of history. Surely humankind has advanced beyond this kind of brutality.
The failure to accept the reality of wickedness remains one of the great failures of modern man. Yet the Russian invasion of Ukraine confronts us with another reminder that sin and wickedness continue in the heart of humankind. Even many followers of Jesus have great difficulty grasping the depths of human depravity. Our failure to embrace the imprecatory psalms – those prayers that curse the wicked – exposes an underdeveloped theology of sin and evil.[1]
When we think of sin, what often comes to mind is sins (plural), those acts we commit against God and of which we need forgiveness. The larger danger, however, is sin (singular), the existence of a deep and pervasive force that seeks to distort all that God created as good. J. Harold Ellens sums up the modern dilemma; “A superficial concept of sin is too optimistic about the human condition, and too pessimistic about the redeeming intent and function of God’s grace.”[2]
The Jewish and Christian Scriptures do not share this superficial view of sin that pervades much modern thinking. The book of Proverbs for example, assumes that truly wicked people exist. And the biblical authors hold little optimism that the wicked will be redeemed. They rightly see in the heart of man the potential to rebel to such a degree that sin (singular) consumes the sinner.
The New Testament holds a similar view. In the opening verses of his work, the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 45:6-8: “But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” Hebrews 1:8-9a
Jesus himself assumed the very real existence of wickedness and wicked people. His parable of the “wicked tenants” in Luke 20:9-16 makes this clear. In the end, the owner of the vineyard “will come and destroy those tenants.” This sounds too harsh for our modern sensibilities. Many self-identifying Christians don’t want a God who destroys, but rather a God who extends grace to all, all the time. This is largely a view of the Western world, where life often feels comfortable, and we live with the illusion of safety. This failure to acknowledge the existence of wickedness and the need to resist it has the added “benefit” of allowing us to pursue the sinful desires in our own heart. In a world that denies sin and evil, all are free to live as they please. As a result, the unthinkable becomes commonplace (read the book of Judges for an example of how unimaginable sin becomes the norm in a culture that turns from God’s way).
Perhaps today we should heed the words of Abraham Heschel:
“Good and evil persist regardless of whether or not we pay attention to them. We are not born into a vacuum, but stand, nolens volens [willing or unwilling], in relations to all men and to one God. Just as we do not create the dimensions of space in order to construct geometrical figures, so we do not create the moral and spiritual relations; they are given with existence. All we do is try to find our way in them.”[3]
The “way” recommended by Scripture is the “way” of the righteous, or as it is often called “the way of the Lord.” This way abides by the moral construct imbedded in creation by the Creator. We violate the Creator’s order at our own peril. To “walk in the way of God” not only leads to peace but to knowledge. As C.S. Lewis reminds us, “When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.”[4]
In this world, the wicked will always be among us. Our task it to properly name wickedness and resist it, while soberly recognizing our own potential to sin in egregious ways. Then we will come to know God’s “good pleasing and perfect will.” May it be so in our lives.
[1] For a fine apologetic in favor of the Christian use of the imprecatory psalms in our current context see the Christianity Today article by Tish Harrison Warren. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/march-web-only/prayer-ukraine-russia-putin-imprecatory-psalms.html?fbclid=IwAR1EyclogkkXSf_o8hUFhbEGULtifRg2U8WqjdX9cySmmJV-fu7qzp6mrYA
[2] J. Harold Ellens, “Sin and Sickness: the Nature of Human Failure,” in Counseling and the Human Predicament: A study of Sin, Guilt and Forgiveness., ed. LeRoy Aden and David G. Benner (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1989), 74-75.
[3] Man is not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion Farrar, (Straus and Giroux, 1976).
[4] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Harper Collins Edition 2001).