Zeal For Truth

Evil And the Justice Of God is a small book (165 pages) written by NT Wright and put out by IVP in 2006. In my ongoing investigation of Wright’s theology, I picked it up just after Christmas and finished it last week. Like all the Wright’s works that I have so far read, this one is quite lucid and enjoyable to read. Because everyone from RC Sproul to Trevin Wax have already reviewed the book, I won’t write a full review, but focus on what I view as the most important things Wright lays out in the book.

The book discusses exactly what the title says. It is not a book that goes into philosophical explanations as to why evil exists in a world created by a good God, but instead focuses on what God has been doing, and will do, about evil. It may seem strange to write a book about evil and God and not look at the huge dilemma of why there is evil in the first place, but Wright wants to discuss only what scripture says on the subject and doesn’t believe that scripture provides a full philosophical answer as to why there is evil.

Although it is unsatisfying, I must agree with Wright that there is not an answer as to why evil exists like the philosophers demand from scripture. The three main ideas commonly put forward (Free Will, God uses evil to glorify himself, and a needed contrast so one can truly see how good God is) may all be able to be drawn out of portions of scripture, but when you come to scripture with this question, you’re looking for an answer to a question that isn’t really asked in scripture. You can make scripture say something on the subject, but it will never be a full answer.

What scripture does quite clearly offer to the question of evil is a narrative of what God is doing about the problem. Throughout this work Wright uses the Christus Victor atonement theory as a way of reading scripture. In the OT, evil entered the world, as seen through both human action and natural disasters. To deal with this problem, God has again and again used a punishment and remnant “method”. He flooded the earth, but kept Noah; He destroyed Babel but raised Abraham; He sent plagues on the Egyptians but used Moses. This continues throughout the OT and into the NT. From this Wright understands God to be preparing the way for Christ, as all of these examples foreshadow what Christ will eventually do - but he will actually succeed.

Noah was to be the beginning of a new sin free race, but he failed and fell into sin. Israel was to show the world what a people of God were to live like, but they worshipped the golden calf. King David was to be God’s righteous king, but he turned out to be an adulterer and murderer. All this, however, leads to Christ - who actually accomplished the victory over evil like only the Son of God could. He began the destruction of evil which will be finished when the Kingdom of God comes in power (It’s here, but not here yet).

The other important thing that Wright does which flies in the face of the recent questions and comments about evil, is continue to point out that evil is not just something out there in the world, but is something that each and everyone of us are involved with. Although I may not agree 100% with his politics, Wright is right to point out that after 9/11 when all the fingers were pointing at Muslim extremists and crying evil, we forgot that (although our own actions do not result in destruction of the scale of 9/11) much of what we do is just as evil in God’s eyes, not to mention the “evilness” of Western civilization as a whole (War, abortion, drugs, apathy…etc).

Wright wants to make the problem of evil both a very personal thing and a world wide phenomena. Most people, in practice, pick one or the other, but with Wright it has to be both if Christ’s atonement is to be seen in it’s true glorious ramifications. He died to overcome the evils of war, floods, and dictators, but also of lying, gluttony, and sloth.