Martin Luther said the devil is God's devil! In light of this conversation one of my peers pointed out to me that Herbert Livingstone said, Isaiah 45:7 is often quoted as proof that God creates evil, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things (KJV).” Sometimes this Hebrew word, raʿ (רַע) is sometimes translated as “disaster” (NASB), “trouble” (NIV), or “calamity” in an effort to lesson the force of the word.
I looked up Isaiah 45:7 in the Apostolic Bible Polyglot. The Septuagint translates the word as bad things. This phrase has been translated as "evil" at times, and also in other ways. We should notice, however, that the Hebrew style of parallelism is being used when God says:
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace , and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."
So, if the translator/team used the word " peace ", then he will pit it against " evil "
If the translator chose " well-being " then he would pit it against " calamity "
If the translator chose " prosperity " then he would pit it against " disaster "
The point being made in the passage is that God is sovereign ruler over the conditions in history. I am very confident that this verse is not teaching us that God is the author of evil nor that he creates moral evil. This verse in no way references the Fall at all. It is purely making the point that God determines the conditions of history. Amos 3:6 puts it like this: “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?” The sovereignty of God and the fact that He is the MOST High and the God of Hosts means that He has the right to determine the conditions of history. What that means to me, though, is not the Calvinistic deterministic sovereignty (regardless of where you land on the determinism continuum). What it means to me is what I see throughout Scripture. God calls all people everywhere to be saved, and He intervenes providentially to maximize everyone's opportunity to turn to Him. A few examples can be cited:
- God orchestrated events and rescued Nineveh, giving them the opportunity to walk after Him. They did for a while and then turned against Him, and so He let them go the way of their choice and they were ultimately destroyed. The Babylonians wiped them out.
- God orchestrated events and rescued Sodom (see Genesis 14) and the surrounding cities from the giants who were ruling over them (taking the tribute due to Chedorlaomer) but, just like Nineveh, when they would not maximize the rescue opportunity and walk after God, He let them go the way of their choice, and ultimately they were destroyed.
- The Amorites were given another time for repentance (Genesis 15) - all the way up to when Israel came into the land. Then they were destroyed
- the pre-flood world is another example. God warned and sent a preacher of righteousness before destruction came.
Is that not also what Lot was to Sodom. and what Jonah was to Nineveh, ultimately, what the prophets are to us all. This world will be destroyed. Pilgrims progress drives this point home very well but pulpits have lost the message. God, in His Sovereignty orchestrates the conditions of history, indeed, for the purposes of redemption. God is in the business of redemption. Those who reject Him - like the fallen angels - and who reject His call, will ultimately experience everlasting destruction. This over-arching framework is similar to the rule of faith that the church fathers said should be kept in place when we interpret scripture. I believe that the conclusion that "The devil is God's devil" misses this framework entirely. Furthermore, we can add Egypt and Babylon to the list:
- God rescued Egypt during Joseph’s time and revealed Himself to Pharoah and the Egyptians. The people were free to choose the God of heaven and earth, but later when they would not, they were handed over to destruction
- God did the same with Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon was confronted with the sovereignty of the Most High when its king was humbled and brought to acknowledge the one true God
What I see here is the framework of Scripture supporting the free will view as opposed to the reformed election view which also holds that the devil is God’s devil. What I see, on the contrary, is a recurring biblical pattern that God acts in history with mercy, warning, rescue, and revelation, making repentance possible, with the purpose of offering salvation out of the kingdom of darkness for whoever wants freedom; human beings and nations remain responsible for how they respond to God’s Sovereign divine initiative. I find this coherent with the biblical principle that God is not willing that any should perish, but desires repentance and life rather than destruction. I see Egypt and Babylon as especially powerful examples since they are both symbols of the “world” in many passages. If God took the time to rescue both Egypt and Babylon from the grip of evil and destruction, and offer them the free choice of walking after Him, then He does so for the whole world. And if He afterward, when they reject Him, confine them to everlasting destruction, then He will do the same to the world, as we see also in Jude. This vindicates God before the whole world, as being a God of love who calls all people and gives them an opportunity to respond freely, as opposed to a deterministic, gnostic god with his devil on a leash.
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