The Origins of Evil: Understanding Human Malevolence
One of the most difficult questions we face concerns the origin of evil: why do people hurt one another? Whether through betrayal, abuse, cruelty, or even indifference, human history is filled with examples of one human being causing pain to another. From a Christian perspective, the answer is simple yet sobering: evil is real, and it is always at work.
The Source of Damage: The Influence of Evil
The Bible reminds us that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour ( 1 Peter 5:8 ). This means that harm comes not only from human weakness or misunderstanding, but also from spiritual forces that thrive on division, hatred, and destruction.
On the other hand, modern psychology teaches us that behind many people who inflict harm lies a history of deep, unresolved pain. Often, these individuals carry old emotional wounds—traumas, abandonment, humiliation, or emotional deprivation—which, when left unhealed, transform into anger, resentment, or a distorted need for control.
Their harmful behavior is nothing more than the muffled cry of a wound that never healed, creating a vicious cycle where the pain they once suffered is perpetuated in others. These are potential candidates for harming others.
Evil pushes people toward abuse, pride, selfishness, envy, anger, and revenge. These forces don’t appear in the abstract; they manifest themselves in real decisions people make every day. One group may harm another out of prejudice or fear. An individual may hurt someone out of jealousy, bitterness, or a desire to control. Behind it all, Satan whispers lies: “You deserve more. They don’t matter. Hurt them before they hurt you.”
The Origin of the Rift: A Fallen Nature
To understand why harm comes so naturally to us, we must go back to the beginning. Humanity was created in the perfect image of God, designed for harmony with Him, with others, and with creation. But through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, sin entered the world. This wasn’t just a bad choice; it was a catastrophic fracture in human nature itself.
This “Fall” introduced a spiritual parasite into every person’s heart: a sinful nature. The Apostle Paul describes it vividly: “ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my sinful nature . I desire to do what is good, but I am unable to carry it out. For the good I want to do, I do not do, but the evil I do not want to do, I practice ” ( Romans 7:18-19 ).
This is the crux of our problem. We are not neutral beings who occasionally make mistakes. We are flawed beings, born with an innate tendency to rebel against God’s design. This internal brokenness manifests itself externally as the harm we do to others:
Pride and Selfishness: We put our own desires, status, and comfort above the well-being of others.
Unhealed Wounds: Hurt people hurt others. Those who carry pain, rejection, or trauma often unconsciously inflict that pain on others.
Envy and Greed: We see what others have and covet it, which leads to resentment, theft, and slander.
Deception: We believe the lies of the evil one, and then we lie to ourselves and others to get our way, causing relational havoc.
Evil is always watching, twisting these innate weaknesses into traps. It magnifies our insecurities into hatred. It fuels our righteous anger into uncontrollable rage. It convinces us that our sinful desires are justified and that the consequences are unreal.
The Illusion of the “Straight Path” on Our Own
Many believe that morality and willpower are enough to stay on the right path. “I’m a good person,” we say. But the biblical view is much more realistic. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us: “ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? ”
Trying to navigate life with a broken moral compass is a surefire way to fail. We may avoid the major pitfalls for a while, but we’ll consistently stumble into ditches of pride, judgment, malice, and apathy. We can’t fix our own hearts any more than a car can fix its own engine while it’s running.
The Only Answer: A New Heart and a Guiding Light
This is where the glorious hope of the Gospel shines most brightly. God didn’t leave us in our broken and damaged state. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as the solution.
Jesus came not only to forgive our sins, but to fundamentally change our nature. He offers a “new heart” and a “new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26). When we invite Jesus into our hearts, we recognize that we cannot walk righteously on our own and that we need His righteousness to replace our sinfulness.
This is not a mere spiritual transaction; it is the beginning of a transformative relationship. Jesus doesn’t just point the way; He is the way ( John 14:6 ). And He walks with us. Through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we are granted:
A New Power: The strength to resist temptation we never had on our own.
A New Compass: The Spirit convicts us of sin and guides us to truth, helping us discern the traps of the evil one.
A New Heart: Replaces hearts of stone, prone to harm, with hearts of flesh, capable of love, compassion, and forgiveness.
Having Jesus in our hearts isn’t a guarantee of a perfect, sinless life. We will still stumble. But it means we are no longer slaves to the sinful nature that compels us to harm others. We have access to a divine power to choose love over hate, forgiveness over resentment, and humility over pride.
The harm we do to one another is a symptom of a deep spiritual sickness: a sickness of separation from God. Evil exploits this separation. But through Christ, that separation is healed. By inviting Him in, we begin the journey of transformation from the inside out, turning from being agents of harm into instruments of His peace, grace, and love in a broken world. The right path is not about perfect navigation; it is about walking hand in hand with the Only One who knows the way.
The Deception of Evil: When Darkness Dresses itself in Beauty
Evil rarely presents itself as repulsive or overtly destructive. On the contrary, it often disguises itself as what the world considers desirable: wealth, pleasure, power, beauty. It is cunning, seductive, and knows how to lure the human heart with empty promises that appear shiny on the outside but are rotten within.
2 Corinthians 11:14 warns us:
“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
This verse reveals a profound truth: evil doesn’t always look like evil. It can look like success, freedom, even blessing. But behind those luxuries—beautiful women, great profits, and momentary pleasures—lies a spiritual trap designed to draw us away from God.
Luxury and Wealth: The Idol of Success
The desire to have more—more money, more possessions, more recognition—can become an obsession. Evil uses luxury as bait, making us believe that happiness lies in material things. But as Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 :
“You cannot serve both God and money.”
When money becomes our god, the soul becomes impoverished. Evil pushes us to sacrifice principles, relationships, and inner peace for gains that never fill the spiritual void. It’s better to focus on having a quality of life than having our pockets full and unable to sleep peacefully.
Beauty and Desire: The Pleasure that Diverts
Physical attraction isn’t bad in itself, but evil distorts it. It presents beauty to us as an object, as a conquest, as a source of power. Beautiful women (or any ideal of desire) become symbols of temptation, used to divert the heart from true love and mutual respect. Proverbs 6:25 says:
“Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her captivate you with her eyes.”
Evil knows that disordered desire can destroy marriages, families, and personal integrity. What begins as attraction can end in emotional and spiritual slavery.
Big Profits: The Easy Way That Costs a Lot
Evil also disguises itself as opportunity. It promises quick success, unethical business dealings, shortcuts that seem clever but compromise the soul. When we pursue profit without considering God’s will, we expose ourselves to deception. Proverbs 10:2 reminds us:
“The treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.”
Great profits obtained without righteousness are like sandcastles: they collapse with the first storm. Evil seduces us with the immediate, but robs us of the eternal. Many turn to sorcerers and practices far removed from God to obtain favors that later become bonds with a very high price.
Discerning the Disguise
To avoid falling into these traps, we need spiritual discernment. Only with Jesus in our hearts can we see beyond the disguise and recognize the truth. The Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see what the world doesn’t: that what appears to be success can be ruin , and what appears to be pleasure can be prison .
Evil is cunning, but not invincible. With Christ, we can walk in the light, resist seduction, and live with eternal purpose. Because when the heart is full of God, there is no room for imitations.
Bible Study: The Origins of Evil
Themes: Sin Nature, Spiritual Warfare, Inner Transformation, Discipleship
Key Verse: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind…'” – Jeremiah 17:9-10a (NIV)
Opening Discussion (Icebreaker)
When you see acts of cruelty or injustice in the world, what is your first reaction? What feels like the most plausible explanation for why people do such things?
The article states that evil often disguises itself as something desirable. Can you think of a modern example where something widely sought after (success, a lifestyle, an ideology) might be hiding a destructive core?
The article presents a dual source for evil: our own fallen nature and the influence of spiritual forces.
Key Reading: Romans 7:18-21 & 1 Peter 5:8-9
What is Paul’s personal confession about his own nature? What is the frustrating law he discovers?
How does Peter describe our adversary’s nature and method? What is our call to action in response?
Discussion Questions:
How does the modern psychological idea that “hurt people hurt people” (unhealed wounds) align with the biblical concept of a sinful nature? How are they different?
Why is it crucial to understand that our struggle is against both our internal brokenness and external spiritual forces? What happens if we only acknowledge one?
Evil is not obvious; it is seductive. It takes good desires and twists them into idolatrous obsessions.
Key Reading: 2 Corinthians 11:14 & Genesis 3:1-6
How does Paul describe Satan’s tactics?
In Genesis 3, break down the serpent’s strategy:
How did he make the forbidden fruit seem desirable? (v. 1, 4-5)
What three appeals did he use on Eve? (v. 6: “good for food” [pleasure to the flesh], “pleasing to the eye” [lust of the eyes], “desirable for gaining wisdom” [pride of life])
Compare this to 1 John 2:16.
Discussion Questions:
The article lists luxury, beauty, and big profits as modern “angels of light.” How do these three things mirror the three temptations of Eve and Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11)?
Personal Reflection: In what area of your life are you most susceptible to the “deception of evil”? Where does what the world calls “good” most often conflict with what God calls good?
The article argues that willpower and morality are insufficient because the problem is the very core of our being.
Key Reading: Jeremiah 17:9 & Ephesians 2:1-3
How does Jeremiah describe the human heart? What does “beyond cure” or “desperately wicked” imply about our ability to fix it ourselves?
How does Paul describe our natural, pre-Christ state? What were we following and who were we obeying?
Discussion Questions:
Why is the statement “I’m a good person” fundamentally at odds with the biblical diagnosis? Why is acknowledging the depth of the problem necessary for salvation?
How does this understanding foster humility and prevent self-righteousness?
The gospel is not behavior modification but complete heart transformation through Christ.
Key Reading: Ezekiel 36:26-27 & John 14:6
What is God’s promise in Ezekiel? What does He remove and what does He give? Who is the active agent in this transformation?
Jesus doesn’t say he shows the way or teaches the way. What does He claim to be? What is the significance of that distinction?
Key Reading: Romans 8:5-11
What is the fundamental difference between living according to the flesh and living according to the Spirit? (v. 5-6)
What is the result of having the Spirit of Christ living in you? (v. 9-11)
Discussion Questions:
The article says having Jesus isn’t a guarantee of a sinless life, but it means we are “no longer slaves.” How does this change the nature of the Christian struggle from trying to be good to walking in the good we have already been made to be?
What does it look like, practically, to “walk hand in hand with the Only One who knows the way” on a daily basis? (Think prayer, scripture, community, obedience).
Closing Reflection & Application
Heart Check: Pray Jeremiah 17:10 back to God: “Lord, you search the heart and examine the mind. Reveal to me any deceptive way within me, any area where I’m believing the enemy’s lie that something else can satisfy like you can.”
Discerning the Disguise: Identify one “angel of light” in your culture (e.g., busyness = importance, financial security = peace, etc.) and ask the Holy Spirit for discernment to see it for what it is.
Embrace the Exchange: Thank God for the gift of your new heart and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Confess an area where you’ve been trying to change yourself through willpower, and ask for the Spirit’s power to live out your new nature in that area.
Final Thought: The origin of evil is a sobering truth, but the origin of our redemption is a glorious one. We are not simply fighting a battle against darkness; we are learning to live in the light of a victory already won. We move from being defined by the harm we are capable of to being defined by the love Christ has poured into our new hearts.
