Augustine 400 AD

“God is good, yea, most mightily and incomparably better than all his works. But yet he who is good has created them good; behold how he encircles and fills them. Where, then, is evil, and whence does it come and how has it crept in? What is its root and what its seed? Has it no being at all? Why, then, do we fear and shun what has no being? Or if we fear it needlessly, then surely that fear is evil by which the heart is unnecessarily stabbed and tortured–and indeed a greater evil since we have nothing real to fear, and yet do fear. Therefore, either that is evil which we fear, or the act of fearing is in itself evil. But, then, whence does it come, since God who is good has made all these things good? Indeed, he is the greatest and chiefest Good, and hath created these lesser goods; but both Creator and created are all good. Whence, then, is evil?”

“Such perplexities I revolved in my wretched breast, overwhelmed with gnawing cares lest I die before I discovered the truth.”

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) FOR YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER KNOWETH THAT YE HAVE NEED OF ALL THESE THINGS. BUT!!! SEEK YE FIRST the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” – Jesus Matthew 6:31-34

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is THE FIRST AND GREAT commandment.” – Matthew 22:36-38

“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt WORSHIP THE LORD THY GOD, AND HIM ONLY shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” – Matthew 4:8-11

“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow EVERY TREE THAT IS PLEASANT TO THE SIGHT, AND GOOD FOR FOOD; THE TREE OF LIFE also in the midst of the garden, AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.” – Genesis 2:8-9

“And God saw EVERY THING THAT HE HAD MADE,  and, behold, IT WAS VERY GOOD. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” – Genesis 1:3

“And the LORD God COMMANDED THE MAN, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” – Genesis 2:16-17

“And when the woman saw that the tree was GOOD FOR FOOD, AND THAT IT WAS PLEASANT TO THE EYES, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat….And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” – Genesis 3:6, 22-23

So, what is evil here…this is the first evil recorded in Scripture that all evil roots from and the curse of God for it proceeded from?

Is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil evil itself?

Is the fact that it was pleasant to the eyes, good for food and makes one wise, evil?

Now that they know good and evil like God does this make them evil?

Or is it rather something to do with what Jesus said is the greatest commandment of all and something He said in his resistance of the devil that Adam and Eve did not do?

If everything that God created was indeed very good, even the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God himself did have knowledge of and that did not make Him evil, than evil must be to put anything (as everything is very good) before God, above God or as first in Gods place! And if free will is a good thing that God gave to Adam and Eve, which I believe you would need to conclude if man was created with a free will to obey or not to obey His command. To love the Lord their God or not to. So, they had a choice to love God by keeping His command (“if ye love me, keep my commandments.” – Jesus John 14:15) or to not love God by not keeping his command (“He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” – Jesus John 14:24).

So, the serpent was essentially using a good thing (the free will of man) to get man to choose to eat from a good tree to disobey a good thing the command of God! Crafty! but at the same time this is all the serpent had to work with except himself! So, this seems to be at least in part from Genesis 1-3 how evil enters the world without making God the author of evil in the world however, this pushes the issue back to the serpent and it seems to me the only explanation God gives in His Word concerning how this serpent fell from being created very good to him not being good is the same but he is just the first and no one tempted him but himself:

“Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee IN THE DAY THAT THOU WAS CREATED. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. THOU WAST PERFECT IN THY WAYS from the day that thou wast created, TILL INIQUITY WAS FOUND IN THEE. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. THINE HEART WAS LIFTED UP BECAUSE OF THY BEAUTY, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.” – Ezekiel 28:13-18

Anyhow, just some interesting thoughts reasoning thru this all with the aide of Scripture for the origin of evil and how it came about and this may lead to further questions but maybe it answers some questions also. God bless…