Few arguments are raised against the Christian faith as often as this one: "If God is good and all-powerful, why is there so much suffering in the world?" This objection—known as the problem of evil—was popularized by Epicurus, refined by David Hume, and now appears in every public debate about religion, from bar-stool conversations to the books of Richard Dawkins. For many people, it functions as the decisive blow: the suffering of the innocent is taken as empirical proof that the God of the Bible does not exist, or that, if He does, He does not deserve worship.
Faced with this objection, the Christian may be tempted to retreat, to apologize for an apparent incoherence, or to appeal to convenient mysteries. None of these escapes is necessary. Scripture does not flee from the question of suffering—it confronts it more deeply than any contemporary critic has managed to formulate.
What Is the Hidden Assumption Behind the Argument from Evil?
Before answering, we have to take the argument apart. When the skeptic says, "there is too much evil in the world for God to exist," he is, without realizing it, making a claim his own worldview cannot sustain: the claim that evil exists.
Ask him: what is evil? By what standard do you measure it? If the universe is matter in motion, the product of chance, then a tsunami that kills thousands is not "evil"—it is simply energy redistributing itself. A tortured child does not suffer a cosmic injustice; she undergoes an unpleasant neurochemical event. In consistent materialism, there is no injustice, only occurrences.
Cornelius Van Til observed that the unbeliever must "sit on God's lap in order to slap His face." To accuse God of injustice, the critic must first borrow the concept of justice—and that concept only makes sense if there is an absolute, transcendent moral standard outside the material flow. In other words: the argument from evil, far from refuting Christianity, presupposes the very God it claims to deny.
This does not trivialize the real pain behind the question. But it establishes the ground: the conversation about suffering is only possible because the biblical universe is true.
What Does the Bible Actually Say About Suffering?
Once the false assumption is removed, we can hear what Scripture teaches about suffering—and it offers not one answer, but several, all woven into the same fabric.
First, evil is not part of God's original design. Genesis 1 closes with the repeated declaration: "And God saw that it was good." Suffering enters the world through the Fall (Genesis 3), as a consequence of human sin, not as a failure of the Creator. The present creation "was subjected to futility" (Romans 8:20) because man rebelled, not because God erred.
Second, God is absolutely sovereign over evil without being its author. The Westminster Confession of Faith (III.1) states it precisely: "God, from all eternity, did... ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures." Joseph said to the brothers who had sold him into slavery: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). The same event was human sin and divine purpose—without contradiction.
Third, suffering has a redemptive purpose for the people of God. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28). Not that all pain is good—but that God, in His wisdom, integrates it into the greater good of the glory of the Son and the sanctification of His own. Gold passes through fire (1 Peter 1:7); the vine is pruned to bear fruit (John 15:2).
Fourth, and most decisively: God does not answer suffering from a distance. He takes it upon Himself. This is the answer no other religion or philosophy offers. Christianity does not say "suffering is an illusion" (as in Buddhism), nor "suffering is deserved punishment to be endured" (as in many forms of paganism), nor "God is above such things." It says: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). The eternal God took human flesh upon Himself, was betrayed, beaten, spat upon, nailed to a Roman cross, and there cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).
The cross is the point where the problem of evil meets its definitive answer. God does not merely permit suffering—He entered into it to destroy it at the root. Sin, death, and evil were defeated not by a philosophical explanation, but by an empty tomb.
How Should We Answer the Emotional Form of the Objection?
There is, however, a form of the objection that is not intellectual but pastoral. The mother who has lost her child is not asking for an argument—she is weeping. And here the apologist must be silent before speaking. Job sat seven days in silence with his friends before any word was spoken (Job 2:13), and it was precisely when they began to explain that they became "miserable comforters" (Job 16:2).
The Christian answer to the sufferer is not primarily a theodicy, but a Person. Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35) knowing He would raise him minutes later. The God who controls all things also weeps with those who weep. This is the only religion in the world whose God has scars.
Conclusion
The argument from evil, examined closely, is not a wall against faith—it is a distorted echo of it. There is evil only because there is good; there is good only because there is God. And the God who exists is not distant from our suffering, but passed through it with us, in our place, to bring us to a restored creation where "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more" (Revelation 21:4).
Whoever rejects Christ because of suffering rejects the very One who is doing something about it.
Verses for Meditation
"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." — 2 Corinthians 4:17
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." — Matthew 5:4
"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." — Isaiah 53:5
Further Reading
D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord? — one of the best pastoral works on the subject.
John Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God, chapter on the problem of evil.
Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters III (Of God's Eternal Decree) and V (Of Providence).
R.C. Sproul, Chosen by God — on divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does suffering prove that God does not exist? No. To call suffering "evil" or "unjust," the objector must assume an absolute moral standard. That standard cannot be grounded in a purely material, chance universe—it requires a transcendent Lawgiver. The argument from evil therefore presupposes the very God it attempts to disprove.
If God is good and all-powerful, why does He allow suffering? Scripture gives several intertwined answers: evil entered through the Fall, not God's original design; God is sovereign over evil without authoring it (Genesis 50:20); suffering serves a redemptive purpose for His people (Romans 8:28); and, supremely, God entered suffering Himself in the cross of Christ to defeat it.
What makes the Christian answer to suffering different from other religions? Christianity alone claims that God did not stay distant from human pain but took it upon Himself. In the incarnation and crucifixion, the eternal God suffered, died, and rose—defeating evil not with an explanation but with an empty tomb.