This article is part of a series, and the first article in that series can be found here.

Last time we got down to giving a biblical case for why God might allow suffering, to answer that part of the intellectual question. Many of the reasons made sense in a world where humans have rebelled against God (no that doesn’t mean all suffering is ‘deserved’ in the way you might think. Read that article for more). Some might fairly object – "If ultimately all suffering is necessitated either as a result of human evil choices, or because of the need to respond to those choices or redeem those people…Then why did God make people who he knew would commit evil in the first place?" Why not make people who are able to choose but are inherently good – like God himself is?

Impossible to avoid?

This particular point of the suffering question is where I feel the common ‘free will defence’ falls down somewhat. I have heard many Christians try to defend the idea that it is ‘impossible to make a person who has free will and yet cannot sin’, but frankly I don’t think this holds up under scrutiny. The idea that some external practical problem limits the options of the infinite mind of the all-powerful creator is pretty shaky on the face of it (and also see Luke 1:37, Mark 10:27) and should not be put forward lightly. For example, perhaps God could have given us (or Adam and Eve) much improved ‘knowledge of good and evil’ to begin with instead of letting us find out ‘the hard way’? That doesn’t seem impossible. More importantly, The Biblical authors don’t especially use this defence of God, even though they do affirm some of the truths used to make the argument.

The thing is Christians who propose a ‘free will necessitates suffering’ defence do still believe that God himself has free will and yet also perfect goodness, so perhaps he could have chosen to make us a bit more ‘in his likeness’ and solved our sin problem at the design stage? Further than that, most Christians believe God promises to produce exactly such an "impossible" combination of voluntary yet complete goodness in people who receive eternal life! See Hebrews 10:14-16, Philippians 1:6-11, Philippians 2:13, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 and also verse 21, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Ephesians 2:8-10…

So any simplistic form of free will defence rings a little hollow, though the Bible does seem to act like we have free will and like God wants to give us a choice, even if he is able to work around and through our choices to a great extent. Proverbs 19:3 is just a single example but that sense of "you are responsible for your choices, choose well!" is everywhere.

(Note: Christians who don’t think humans have free will get a free pass on how God will deal with things in the new Heavens and new Earth, but of course they have to say that in the current age, in some sense God decrees and determines when, where, how and what evil each human does. This is pretty uncomfortable, and a source of much internal debate among those who follow the ‘no real free will’ line of thinking.)

So if avoiding human sin was not impossible, are there Biblical answers to "why did God make people who he knew would commit evil"?

The Tree that Performs as Advertised

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:8–9 (ESV)

Whether or not you think this refers to a historical wood-and-bark tree or is purely metaphorical doesn’t matter for the point I’m about to make: Either way, a name like ‘The tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ is a giant flashing signpost that there is an allegorical lesson about to be learned! When you think about that name being assigned to a tree, It makes clear that the whole reason God creates that tree in the story is to give us the opportunity to gain deeper knowledge of the nature of good and evil.

The tree in the story performed exactly the task for which it was named, It just turns out that it’s a much harder path than the human characters assumed. Perhaps they expected a simple ‘download’ of information, but what happened instead was they chose the universe’s deepest and longest-running (at time of writing!) immersive learning experience. In many ways, the rest of history (and the rest of the Bible) has been a journey in which humanity has been discovering exactly what the tree advertised.

Notice that it is the knowledge of good as well as evil. It’s not like we humans started out fully clued up about goodness either. So, what can we learn about evil and about good?

Knowledge of Good(ness) and Evil

• We learn that evil looks pleasing, but brings decay and separation and death (Genesis 3:6, Genesis 3:16-19, James 1:14-16, Romans 6:23 ).
• We learn that evil is selfish but ultimately self-destructive (Galatians 6:7-8, John 8:34, James 1:15 ).
• We learn that evil is foolish and short-sighted. (Proverbs 4:18-19, psalm 73 )
• We learn that evil is unfit for eternal living.

More importantly, we learn about goodness, and especially about the goodness of God. Actually, I think this is the main reason God gives for why he gave us the opportunity to rebel. Let’s have a look at Paul’s letter to the Romans:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6–8 (ESV)

If we had a head knowledge of sin but had always been wise enough to avoid it, God could not demonstrate how deep his love is for us!

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

John 15:12–17 (ESV) Not only does Jesus think his action of dying for us is a supreme act of love for us, but he also counts it an example that his followers should learn from…and we could not have learned from it if he hadn’t done it.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 27:27–31 (ESV)

Jesus allowed himself to be treated horrifically by us rebellious humans. And how did he act in return? Let’s see:

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”

Luke 23:32–35 (ESV)

If we were prevented from ever rebelling, we would never have known that our creator is that gracious.

And I think this is a key point answering our question: compared to simply creating humanity with a built-in knowledge of good and evil (or some other method of making free-but-good humans who never sin), there is something extra we learn this way by being allowed to explore for ourself for a time before eternity gets started. By being allowed to learn about good and evil by experiment and not by rote, we also get something that would be actually impossible if we had never turned our backs on God: We get to see how true goodness responds to evil, with justice and with grace.

By that we gain a deep and personal understanding of justice and purity of God, and his simultaneous self-giving love towards even the perpetrators of evil.

Is it really worth it?

Jesus states:

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 17:3 (ESV)

So knowledge of God himself is a big big deal! In fact, knowing God’s fierce purity and indescribable love for us is a benefit that will be maintained for all eternity. An eternal good outweighs a temporary bad by a long way.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Romans 8:18 (ESV)

Actually the same sort of scene is familiar from a variety of our films: The noble hero is pursuing a former friend, now a traitor and a vile villain who is about to attack innocent bystanders. The hero delays his attack as long as possible, even dodging gunfire and shouting repeated calls for the villain to surrender ("It doesn’t have to end like this!")…but finally, seeing the villain continue on his course and the evil about to befall the innocent bystanders, the hero takes his stand and shoots the villain dead. Film writers use scenes like these to help the us understand the hero better; we see their compassion both for the bystanders and for the former friend, their willingness to suffer themselves for that compassion, and ultimately their decisiveness to protect the innocent from the guilty and uphold what is good regardless of personal cost. The presence of evil allows us to understand the goodness of the good character far more deeply, by how they respond to the evil characters. Eg: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aofR6rkzGRk

So the Bible also emphasises that God created us in a way that allowed us to commit evil (rather than preventing it or designing us never ever to choose it) precisely so that:

• God’s eventual and right destruction of evil and removal of any source of suffering from eternity also demonstrates his righteous character, distaste for evil, and love for those its victims. And these character traits will be celebrated eternally.
• God can demonstrate the extent of his loving character by entering his creation himself and paying the ultimate price to offer forgiveness, transformation and eternal life even to people who hate him – even the individuals who actually killed him! This means that the depth of God’s love for people can be better understood and communicated to them, and those who have been redeemed will recognise the magnitude of his grace and kindness for them. And the benefit of knowing God’s love for us will also last for all eternity, for any of us who take the option to surrender. (see also Romans 5:6-11)

If God can create the world whichever way he wants, why not create us in a way which allows him to demonstrate his faithfulness to us to its ultimate depth, whilst allowing free choice and still creating an eternity of suffering-free living which is freely available to all.

So did God create evil?

No. For the above reasons he decided to give us the ability to rebel and not to give us full advance knowledge of good and evil, but he did not dictate our choices for us. He let us ‘learn by doing’ and we made our own choices.

Remember, the Bible makes it clear that (whichever way God combines the interaction of his sovereignty with our choices) we do have a real choice. And that God set the maximum price for evil (death and the shedding of blood) and then personally paid it on our behalf. He did this to show his love for us, and to make it possible for any of us rebels to experience his mercy instead of his judgement.

So God creates people and does not prevent them from choosing evil, so that we can understand his character better by his response to our choices. We come to know him more deeply both by his fierce final judgement to wipe out all evil and suffering, and his self-giving love even for those who perpetrated it to be restored. These benefits and increased depth in humanity’s relationship with their creator will last for all eternity, amplifying them beyond measure compared to the suffering now. But these eternal benefits can exist only if evil is allowed to exist for a limited period.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ‭‭> Paul, in Romans‬ ‭8:18-23‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ‭‭> Paul, in Romans‬ ‭9:19-24‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

‭‭Paul, in 2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:20-21‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)