Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Q19 A9: Whether God wills evils?

No. God neither wills evil to be done, nor wills it not to be done, but wills to permit evil to be done because this is a good.

It is impossible that any evil, as such, should be sought for by the appetite, either natural, or animal, or by the intellectual appetite which is the will.

Now the evil that accompanies one good, is the privation of another good. Never therefore would evil be sought after, not even accidentally, unless the good that accompanies the evil were more desired than the good of which the evil is the privation.

God in no way wills the evil of sin, which is the privation of right order towards the divine good.

But in willing justice He wills punishment; and in willing the preservation of the natural order, He wills some things to be naturally corrupted.

Evil does not operate towards the perfection and beauty of the universe, except accidentally.