God’s Goodness and Omnipotence

Why Clarifying God Matters

Once we define evil correctly, the next step is to define God correctly. Much of the problem of evil arises from misunderstandings about God’s attributes. When people say, “If God is good, He must want to eliminate all suffering,” or “If God is powerful, He must be able to prevent every evil,” they are often working with shallow or distorted definitions.

To see how God’s goodness and power fit with the existence of evil, we must understand what Scripture and tradition actually mean by these words.

God’s Omnipotence: Power Without Contradiction

Omnipotence does not mean God can do the absurd. It does not mean He can create a round square or a colorless color. A meaningless contradiction is not a “thing” at all, and God’s power does not extend to nothingness.

This matters because a world with free human beings but no possibility of sin is exactly that kind of contradiction. If God creates us with freedom, then sin must be possible. Without freedom, we are not persons but machines.

Clarification on Personhood and Freedom

A person is the kind of being that has both intellect and will. To create a personal being without free will would be a contradiction in terms. It would be like saying, “Make me a triangle with four sides.” The essence of personhood includes freedom.

But freedom is not the same as license. True freedom is the freedom to choose the good. When we use our freedom to pursue inordinate self-interest, we misuse it—and that misuse causes real, true damage. It damages our own soul, it wounds our relationships with others, and it distorts creation itself.

In a very real sense, when we choose against the good, we depersonalize ourselves. We act beneath the dignity of what it means to be human, reducing ourselves from persons to something less: creatures driven by instinct, desire, or pride rather than by intellect and will ordered toward love.

This is why sin is so serious: it is not merely breaking a rule, but a distortion of our very being as persons made in God’s image.

God’s Goodness: More Than Kindness

We also misunderstand God’s goodness if we reduce it to “kindness.” Kindness, in the way we normally use the word, means sparing someone from pain. A dentist or surgeon who hurts us cannot be called “kind,” though they may be very good.

God’s goodness goes beyond kindness. Like a loving parent or a wise teacher, He sometimes allows temporary pain for the sake of a greater good.

• We are kind to strangers’ children, but we are more demanding with our own.

• We are kind to animals, but we also put them down to spare them pain. God does not treat us like clever animals. He treats us like His children, made for eternal life.

This means that God’s love is not about giving us comfort, but about leading us toward holiness, virtue, and eternal joy. Sometimes this requires allowing suffering. Job did not suffer because he lacked God’s love; he suffered because he was loved and tested, so that his faith might grow deeper.

Jesus made this clear when He said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Mt 5:4). Our modern culture equates happiness with feeling good. But the Bible teaches that true happiness, beatitude, often comes through sorrow, because sorrow purifies our love.

Putting It Together

With clearer definitions, the supposed contradiction weakens.

• God is omnipotent: He can do all things, but “all things” does not include contradictions. To create a person without freedom is as nonsensical as creating a square circle.

• God is good: But goodness is not mere kindness. Love sometimes requires allowing suffering, because suffering can lead to growth, virtue, and even salvation.

When we see God rightly, the existence of evil no longer disproves Him. Instead, it becomes the place where His wisdom and love are at work, bringing good even out of evil.

Looking Ahead

In the next post, we will see how this comes to its climax in the Cross of Christ. The problem of evil cannot be answered by definitions alone. It must be answered in action, in the union of justice and mercy at Calvary, where God Himself enters into suffering to redeem it.