Thread: Thinking too Hard on Evil and Satan

Augustine talks about Evil being the privation/absence of Good ...maybe similarly how a cancer would affect a healthy human body. If evil is the absence of good how could a being/entity like Satan exist when he would be total nonbeing. I mean wouldn't a being 100% evil be a being any longer if evil is the absence of things...


Yes, I am sure this is probably the worst question on this board to date and not phrased well at all....hence my step in the wading pool.

This must have been a REALLY bad question. 'Got nuttin'. I guess I shall withdraw it...thanks for reading it at least.

A couple general points to help put this in context.

Remember, everything is under God's control. Even the secondary actions intended for evil purposes are used by God to bring about His good purposes.

Also, in some sense, Satan is restrained by Christ's finished work on the cross.

As you study the good systematic theology of your denomination, by God's grace this will become more clear as you also come to respect the majesty and mystery of it all.

PS I think you want to update your confessional standard subscription- if you are PCA, it is the Westminster Standards.

Jeremy, I think you asked a great question. Please have no regrets about it. I believe the reason for there not being many takers is because it is a broad and deep philosophical topic. It touches on the doctrine of Satan and the nature of evil, these are complicated puzzles.

I disagree with the premise. I don't believe Satan is pure evil. He, like us, is a creature and he was created good. Satan was the first creature to sin, or as the confession says, demonstrate a "want of conformity unto, or transgression of, any law of God, given as a rule to the reasonable creature."

Satan, and the angels who followed him in rebellion, differ from us in that he has no redeemer. We are guilty because Adam sinned and we are reconciled because Christ was obedient even unto death on the cross.

Satan was sealed for destruction and the evidence is his absolute and unchanging inclination to sin. He is an agent of God's wrath and in that way he fulfills his purpose but he is fully given over to evil. Jesus said he was a liar and a murderer from the very beginning and that would indicate from the time he first rebelled.

Satan is not the absence of evil he is a person, a creature and the ceaseless vehicle and instigator of evil.

That's my quick answer, perhaps the pastors and theologians on the board will shed some light.

great answers...I appreciate the time. For some reason, I am not allowed to "thank" yet so here is an old-school thank you note.

good day!

jer