What Is Evil?
In a recent post I was asked to explain further what evil actually is. As I have noted previously, evil is not a created "thing" as much as it is an action or lack of an action. By "action" we mean that it is a deed, thought, or desire...not a tangible object. Evil is sin.
BTW: it was the Gnostics of the Second Century who believed that everything material was evil. This heresy stemmed from a view of evil as being tangible, material things. Yet, when God completed His six-day creation, He said of it that it was "good." Evil (sin) was not part of creation, but evil was possible by creatures with moral capabilities (angels and humans).
So, what is sin.
The Larger Westminster Catechism (#24) defines sin as "any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, any law of God, given as a rule to the reasonable creature."
Lets break this down in a brief manner:
1. "want of conformity" = that means sin is a nonconformity to the law of God; sin is an omission of an action of obedience to God's commands.
2. "transgression of" = that means sin is the action of breaking the law of God; sins of commission are when we commit actions prohibited by God; sin can be the absence of an action.
3. "reasonable creature" = sin is not even possible for the Creator but the creature; and is only possible because the Creator gave the creature the capability of moral action by a will; sin is an action only capable by a moral agent other than God.
Let me quote a relevant portion of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (6:4,5):
6.4 All actual transgressions proceed from this original corruption (fall of Adam).1 By it we are completely incapacitated and disabled, antagonistic to all good and entirely biased towards evil.2 (1) Mat 7:17-20; 12:33-35; 15:18-20 (2) Mat 7:17-18; 12:33-35; Luk 6:43-45; Joh 3:3,5; 6:37,39,40,44,45,65; Rom 3:10-12; 5:6; 7:18; 8:7-8; 1Co 2:14
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