Help with my ministry please!

[Ian Gentles]

Asked this question today, what is meant in Isaiah 45:7 we read;

"I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create, and create evil"

Question I am being asked is what does it mean by the Lord "Creates evil"?
Told him I would ask you brainy types and bring back some answers to him next Thursday.

Thanks in anticipation of your help, this is a contact through evangelism.

[Hans Deventer]

Asked this question today, what is meant in Isaiah 45:7 we read;

"I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create, and create evil"

Question I am being asked is what does it mean by the Lord "Creates evil"?


I think it is good so read several translations.

The NIV has:

I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;

The NASB says:

The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;


It seems to me this verse is about the fact that God is the only God, that prosperity and disaster are in His hands. "Create evil" is not meant in an abstract sense, but as judgement, I would say.

[Charlotte Mercer]

Asked this question today, what is meant in Isaiah 45:7 we read;

"I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create, and create evil"

Question I am being asked is what does it mean by the Lord "Creates evil"?
Told him I would ask you brainy types and bring back some answers to him next Thursday.

Thanks in anticipation of your help, this is a contact through evangelism.

Good question! My answer is a lot like Hans'. I actually want to ask someone who knows the original language, because often the original languages have nuances that can't be fully translated into English. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly well-versed in ancient Hebrew, and my professors who do know it are still in Oklahoma City while I'm down in DFW.

[Bob Woolley]

Ian, you said: "what is meant in Isaiah 45:7"
I form light and create darkness,
I make harmonies and create discords.
I, GOD, do all these things. (ver. the Message)

Question I am being asked is what does it mean by the Lord "Creates evil"?

One Commentary says this below:

Again, the Lord proclaims His uniqueness in that there is no God beside me. The Old Testament message is not that Jehovah was one of the many gods of the nations of the ancient world, but that He was the One and the only God over the entire world. He is unique in that He alone can predict names in advance. The phrase I … create evil refers to physical evil or calamitous consequences, rather than moral evil.

Young (III, p. 200) disagrees with Delitzsch in viewing this as sinful evil that is allowed to exist in the world by the decretum absolutum of God who has foreordained whatever comes to pass. However, he cautions that this must be viewed in light of the biblical teaching of the responsibility of the individual as well and warns against the extremes of both hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism. In either case, God is not to be viewed as the author of sin by any means. (On the doctrine of sin, see J. O. Buswell, “The Origin and Nature of Sin,” in Basic Christian Doctrines, pp. 103-109 G. C. Berkouwer, Sin: Studies in Dogmatics).