Problem of Evil

Definition and Meaning

The problem of evil is the question of why evil and suffering exist in the world if God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent (perfectly good). It is commonly treated under two categories: moral evil, which arises from human wrongdoing, and natural evil, such as disease and natural disasters. Attempts to answer this question are called theodicy (an argument defending the justice of God). The term is generally said to have been first used by the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in a work published in 1710.

Biblical and Historical Background

Scripture addresses this problem in many places.

• The Book of Job tells the story of a righteous man who suffers for reasons unknown to him.
• Habakkuk questions God about the prosperity of the wicked.
• In John 9:1–3, Jesus rejects the idea that a man's blindness should be attributed to his own sin or that of his parents.
• Romans 8:18 compares the sufferings of this present time with the glory which shall be revealed.

In antiquity, Epicurus is traditionally said to have raised this question. Augustine regarded evil not as an independent substance but as a privation of good. He located the origin of evil in creatures' misuse of free will, that is, in the Fall. The Christian tradition has generally answered this question with the hope that evil is ultimately overcome through the cross, the resurrection, and the Last Judgment.

In Practice in the Korean Church

In the Korean church, this problem frequently surfaces as the question "Why did God allow this?" in the face of major disasters or of personal illness and accidents. Denominational traditions differ in their emphases.

• The Calvinist tradition, including Presbyterians, holds that God's providence extends to all things, while also maintaining that God is not the author of sin (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 5).
• The Wesleyan tradition, including Methodists and Holiness churches, places greater emphasis on human free will and the responsibility that accompanies it.
• Full Gospel churches have tended to regard illness and poverty not as conditions to be passively accepted but as things to be overcome through faith and prayer, and they have emphasized divine healing.

Sermons interpreting disasters as judgment on the sins of particular groups have drawn public criticism on a number of occasions. Within the church as well, some have objected that such interpretations wound the victims. Generational curse teaching and prosperity theology, which attribute suffering to the sins of ancestors or to a lack of faith, have likewise been criticized by various denominations.