Many people have pondered the question of whether God causes evil in any metaphysical way. He has all power. He created all things. In that sense at least, God is the ultimate cause of all things, including evil.
Hebrews 1:3 tells us that the Lord Jesus - the same One Who created the entire universe, and is the image of the Godhead - upholds all things by the word of His power!
Note this is in the context of Christ being the all-powerful creator. Not only did He create, but His active power upholds all things.
That means that Christ does not set the world spinning and let it take its course, but rather His power is keeping everything together according to His purposes.
That Jesus Who upholds all things by His power, is the very same Jesus Who died on the cross in the place of His beloved people, and purged our sins Himself!
In Acts 17, Paul instructs the pagan Greeks, that in Christ, "we live and move and have our being." This means that our very lives are upheld moment by moment by Jesus, and that our every movement is made possible and enabled by the power of Christ. We only exist by and through the Lord Jesus.
In Colossians 1, Paul magnifies and exalts the Savior, repeating that He created ALL THINGS, for HIMSELF. By Christ all things consist. Our very make-up depends upon Christ's upholding power.
But to many modern Christians, all this is totally wrong, because it implies that there can be no active evil without it being sustained by Christ's power, moment by moment. No evil movement, without Christ's upholding the very creatures who commit wickedness.
And so, they constructed a philosophical contraption known as Libertarian Free Will. |
