Having written on the problem of evil and then recently on the origin of evil and the origin of good, I feel, for the sake of completeness, the need to discuss the problem of good, or as it’s commonly known, the problem of grace. The problem of grace flows from a rigid theology of recompense – that God only gives people what they deserve all the time. While it’s true that people reap what they sow (Galatians 6:7) and that we’re responsible for our actions (Romans 2:6), this doesn’t mean that God can’t (or doesn’t) give people good things that they don’t deserve (grace), even though God doesn’t give people bad things that they don’t deserve (unjust punishment).
The two (grace and unjust punishment) are often confused when the problem of grace is posed. For if God gives good things to one, isn’t he unjust in withholding them from another? How can God bless first world countries with so much while there are so many third world countries in poverty? When phrased like this, the problem of good becomes the problem of evil “how can God allow evil?” with the addition of “while God is good to some”. Those who pose the problem want God to either judge universally or forgive universally, but forbid him to judge one and forgive another, unless of course the one posing the question is (for whatever reason) against the one being judged and for the one being forgiven.
This is well articulated in the Bible in the book of Jonah, when Jonah (finally) gets to Ninevah and preaches, the people repent and God forgives them. But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity (Jonah 4:1-2). In Jonah’s eyes the people didn’t deserve God’s grace, however this is a contradiction in terms, for grace itself means undeserved favour. No one deserves grace by definition, if something is given by grace, then it is not by works (and therefore deserved), if it were, grace would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6).
It is from this misunderstanding that the problem is posed, for it only becomes a problem when the one posing it feels that the good that is given to them and withheld from others is deserved. That is, that those who are without are getting what they don’t deserve (unjust punishment) rather than the case being that the beneficiary is getting what they don’t deserve (grace). By this rationale its quiet unfair that God creates dogs as dogs and beetles as beetles. Why does God bestow the intelligence, reason, creativity, relational nature, ability to communicate (and so much more) on you, but not on fluffy the sheep? How unjust!
Jesus illustrates this well in the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). When those who work for the last hour receive the same (previously agreed upon) amount as those who worked for the whole day, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous? (Matthew 20:11-15).
This parable overcomes the objection to predestination (that God chooses whom his grace falls on) and its corollary double predestination (that God chooses whom his justice falls on). For if God’s justice is deserved and his grace is undeserved, then God never gives to anyone worse than they deserve, though he does save some from the treacherous fate that we make for ourselves. Jesus explains this to some people who tell him about some others who suffered injustice. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:2-5).
God’s justice is not unfair, what’s undeserved is God’s grace. Once you see everything as being given to you rather than being owed to you, the problem of grace disappears. You see God’s grace as it really is – undeserved favour, and God’s justice as it really is – deserved judgment. Knowing this we rightly fear God’s justice but rejoice at his grace, freely bestowed on all who call on the name of the Lord (Acts 2:2, Romans 10:13). Once we see the truth of Jesus’ words, that unless we repent, we too will perish, we see that far from God’s grace being a problem, it’s the only solution to the biggest problem that we have – death.
