Predestination 3: Is God responsible for evil?
Genesis 50:15–21
You’re reading the third instalment in a series on predestination. These began as notes for our youth leaders, but gradually evolved into something the internet might accept. Start here for the series introduction.
I first remember really wrestling with God’s sovereignty when my sister died in tragic circumstances. How could something so horrible happen if God was in control? I believed God was good. But how did that fit with what had happened?
If God could have stopped it, why didn’t he? And if it happened within his plan, does that make him responsible for it?
Joseph’s story in Genesis 50:15–21 doesn’t tell us why God allows every tragedy. But Joseph’s story shows us that God remains in control, even over evil, without himself doing evil.
Some context
In this story, Joseph faces the brothers who sold him into slavery years earlier. He is now a powerful ruler in Egypt, and God has used his position to keep his family alive during a famine. After their father dies, the brothers fear Joseph will take revenge.
1. People intend evil (Genesis 50:15–20)
Joseph's brothers give us a clear example. They hated him, sold him into slavery and caused him years of suffering. Joseph doesn't pretend any of that was okay: he calls their actions evil. They were responsible for what they did, even though God was at work through those events. God's sovereignty doesn't make their sin any less evil.
2. God intends good (Genesis 50:20–21)
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.
Genesis 50:20
But the brothers' evil intentions weren't the whole story. In those very same events, God intended something good: the saving of many lives. Joseph's suffering took him to Egypt, where God placed him in a position to rescue people from starvation.
Notice what Joseph says in verse 20. He doesn't say his brothers intended evil and then God found a way to turn it into something good. The brothers intended it for evil, but God intended it for good. God wasn't simply cleaning up their mess afterwards. He was working out his good purpose through those very same events, without being the one doing evil.
3. God brings good out of evil (Acts 2:22–24)
We see this same pattern even more clearly at the cross.
Remember Acts 2 from our article, “Do I really have a choice?” Jesus' death was part of God's deliberate plan, but the people who killed him were still responsible for their wicked actions. They intended to kill Jesus, but God intended to save us through his death and resurrection. The greatest act of human evil became the means of our salvation.
Evil is real and terrible, but it can never defeat God's good purposes.
Pushback questions
Come on—if God planned for it to happen, doesn't that make the evil partly his fault?
No, but it's important to understand why. Joseph distinguishes between what his brothers intended and what God intended. The brothers wanted to hurt Joseph, and they were responsible for that evil. God intended to save many lives through the very same events. God's good purpose doesn't make him guilty of their wickedness.
The cross makes the same point. Jesus' death happened according to God's deliberate plan, but the people who killed him were responsible for their wicked actions (Acts 2:23).
That's the distinction: God can be in control of an evil event without being the one doing evil. Those who act wickedly are responsible for what they do.
We can't fully explain how God's sovereignty and human responsibility fit together, but the Bible teaches us to hold on to both.
So could I sin and just say, 'Well, God must have wanted it to happen'?
No! God may allow an evil act as part of his bigger purposes, but that doesn't mean he commands it or approves of it. We're not free to call something good just because God can use it for good.
Unsurprisingly, God hates evil (Psalm 5:4). Joseph still calls what his brothers did evil, even though God intended to save lives through it. God's purposes don't change what he has told us is right and wrong.
The same goes for the cross. God planned to save us through Jesus' death, but that didn't make crucifying Jesus a good thing.
So God's good purpose in allowing something doesn't make the action itself good. We can't use what God might be doing behind the scenes to excuse what we choose to do.
And that's why we can never use God's sovereignty as an excuse for sin. We're responsible for obeying what God has commanded, not using his hidden purposes to justify disobeying him.
If God can bring good out of evil, why doesn't he just stop horrible things from happening in the first place?
That's a difficult question, especially when we're talking about terrible things that have happened to real people.
Sometimes, as with Joseph, God lets us see the good he brings through suffering. But often we don't get that explanation. We shouldn't pretend to know why God allows a particular tragedy, or tell someone who's suffering that everything will work out nicely.
That doesn't mean God never steps in to prevent evil. He stopped Abimelek from sinning against Sarah (Genesis 20:6), and he used Abigail to stop David from taking revenge and shedding blood (1 Samuel 25:32–34). Sometimes God prevents wrongdoing directly; sometimes he works through other people. But the Bible doesn't explain why he stops some terrible things and allows others.
What we do know is that God isn't powerless in the face of evil. Joseph's story shows us that evil cannot defeat God's purposes, and the cross shows us something even greater: God can bring extraordinary good out of the very worst evil.
We won't always understand what God is doing, but we have good reason to trust his goodness.
So what?
Trust God’s goodness even when you can’t see what he’s doing.
Joseph suffered terribly because of his brothers' actions. For years, he couldn't see how anything good could come from what had happened to him. It was only much later that he understood how God had been working through those events.
I’ve heard God’s purposes compared to a tapestry. Look at the back and you see tangled threads and loose ends. Turn it over and you can see the picture they belong to. Sometimes life feels like we’re looking at the back. We can’t see how any of it fits together. Joseph eventually saw something of what God had been doing, but we don’t always get that explanation.
The illustration only takes us so far. What happened to Joseph was still evil, and his suffering still hurt. And we don’t always get to see the finished picture. But we can look to the cross. There, we see the greatest evil being used to accomplish the greatest good. Jesus suffered and died so that sinners like us could be forgiven and receive eternal life.
We can grieve, ask questions and tell God when we’re hurting. Trusting him doesn’t mean pretending that what happened was okay. It means bringing our pain to the God who gave his Son for us.
Study 3. Is God responsible for evil?
Pray and get going
Q1. When something goes wrong, what helps you work out whether someone did it on purpose or by accident?
Read Genesis 50:15–21
Q2. What are Joseph’s brothers afraid he’ll do (vv. 15–18)? Why do you think they expect that?
Q3. In verse 20, what did the brothers intend, and what did God intend? What good did God bring about?
Q4. Does Joseph say that God’s good purpose made his brothers’ actions good? Which words help you answer?
Q5. What does Joseph say and do in verses 19–21? What does his response show about how he sees his own role and God’s?
Read Acts 2:22–24 (again)
Q6. How does Jesus’ death show the same pattern we saw in Joseph’s story? What good did God bring through it?
Q7. A friend is hurting, and someone says, “Don’t be upset. God will use it for good.” What’s unhelpful about that? What could you say or do instead?
Q8. We don’t always get to see why God allowed something painful to happen. How does the cross give us reason to trust him? What could help you remember that when things are hard?
Pray and give thanks
Father, thank you that you are good, even when people do terrible things. Thank you for saving us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Help us trust you when we don’t understand what’s happening, and help us care for people who are hurting. Amen.
Read the rest of the series
More questions? Fair enough. Here are the other articles in the series:
1. Has God already decided who will be saved?
4. Does God want everyone to be saved?
5. How is predestination fair?
6. What about people who never hear about Jesus?
