Examining Evil From Augustine to Calvin
IN HIS book The City of God, fifth-century theologian Augustine argued that man, not God, was responsible for the existence of evil. Wrote Augustine: “God, the author of natures, not of vices, created man upright; but man, being of his own will corrupted and justly condemned, begot corrupted and condemned children . . . And thus, from the bad use of free will, there originated the whole train of evil.”
The bad use of free will may explain much, or most, of the evil that has afflicted people. However, could a disaster, such as at San Ramón, be blamed on man’s free will? Are not many disastrous events caused by circumstances beyond the control of man? And even if man did willfully choose evil, why would a God of love allow evil to continue?
In the 16th century, French Protestant theologian John Calvin, like Augustine, believed that there are those “predestined [by God] to be children and heirs of the heavenly kingdom.” However, Calvin took matters a step further, arguing that God also predestined individuals to be “recipients of his wrath”—condemned to eternal damnation!
Calvin’s doctrine had frightening implications. If a man suffered any sort of misfortune, might that not indicate that he was among the damned? Furthermore, would not God be responsible for the actions of those he predestined? Calvin had thus unwittingly made God the Creator of sin! Calvin said that “man sins with the consent of a very prompt and inclined will.”—Instruction in Faith, by John Calvin.
However, the concepts of free will and predestination proved hopelessly incompatible. Calvin could only gloss over the embarrassing contradiction by claiming that “the crudity of our mind could not indeed bear such a great clarity, nor our smallness comprehend such a great wisdom” as predestination.
[Pictures on page 6]
Augustine
John Calvin