Is God the Author of Evil?
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2024
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
God is altogether good and altogether in control. How do sin and suffering fit into this picture? Today, R.C. Sproul continues his study of the Westminster Confession to consider the place of evil under God’s good providence.
Get Truths We Confess, R.C. Sproul’s commentary on the Westminster Confession, for your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3706/truths-we-confess
Meet Today’s Teacher:
R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If we know anything about God, we know that he is absolutely good and that he has no capacity whatsoever for evil. |
| 0:08.7 | He is the judge of all of the earth who only knows how to do what is good. |
| 0:13.7 | He is altogether righteous, altogether holy, and everything that he does, he does well without any shadow of evil upon him. |
| 0:28.9 | Have you ever wondered why there is evil in the world when God is absolutely good and is all |
| 0:36.5 | powerful? The origin of evil is a deep theological |
| 0:40.2 | question, but it's not one we should skip over, and that will be our topic today on this Wednesday |
| 0:45.9 | edition of Renewing Your Mind. R.C. Sprawl is teaching through the Westminster Confession |
| 0:51.7 | of Faith, and we're spending this week in the fifth chapter |
| 0:54.9 | of that confession on the topic of Providence. If you'd like to study all 33 chapters of this |
| 1:00.9 | confession, with Dr. Sproll's commentary, to further help you, you can request the hardcover edition |
| 1:06.9 | of his book, Truths We Confess, and you call us at 800-435-4-33 with a donation of any amount, |
| 1:15.4 | or when you give your gift online at renewingyourmind.org. This is a resource I return to again |
| 1:21.8 | and again, so give your gift while there's still time. Well, here's Dr. Sprawl on the Providence of God and the Origin of Evil. |
| 1:32.8 | We're going to continue now with our study of the Westminster Confession as we look once again |
| 1:39.4 | at Chapter 5, which deals with the doctrine of God's providence. And in our last session, |
| 1:48.1 | we worked through section three of chapter five, and so in this session, we'll take up |
| 1:55.6 | section four. Let me read at least the beginning statements of Section 4, which goes as following. |
| 2:03.4 | The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves |
| 2:16.3 | in His providence that it extendeth itself even to the first fall and all other |
| 2:27.3 | sins of angels and men semicolon. You know the Westminster Divines had a propensity for dropping bombs in the first |
| 2:36.6 | couple of lines and then hanging you in suspended animation with a semicolon before they give |
| 2:42.7 | you any kind of relief. But what they're doing here at the beginning of Section 4 is dealing |
... |
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