Teachers: This lesson's objective is to stress that Christians overcome evil by doing good. This concept (overcoming evil with good) typically provides material for "stimulating theological discussions" and Bible class lessons. But many Christians do not consider doing good while we are subjected to evil as a practical concept relevant to daily existence. The power of evil is so impressive that we conclude doing good is not a viable answer.
By its nature, mercy uses good to oppose evil. Mercy is not popular. Justice is popular. Mercy is popular only with those who know they deserve justice. Only when we realize our enormous debt to God's mercy do we realize that good overcomes evil.
Perhaps the crucial understanding is found in our concept of "overcoming." God used Jesus' crucifixion to overcome evil. Yet, Jesus died. He died painfully in great agony. His pain and agony ended at death. Resurrection ended his death. His joy and glory are eternal. Our concept of "overcoming" often means evil is destroyed, vanquished, buried in the dust NOW. "Overcoming" means we have no suffering, endure no agony, and certainly do not experience death. "Overcoming" means victory [by our definition] NOW in our physical existence. If that is our "working concept" of a Christian "overcoming," it will always seem that good, not evil, suffers defeat.
We live in a society that declares everyone has rights. We live in a society that declares all should be protected by justice. If you regard the concept of good overcoming evil to be difficult for us in our society, how difficult was that concept for Christians living in the corrupt, unjust society of Rome almost 2000 years ago?
When it comes to overcoming evil, we humans are without expertise. If Christians are wise, they allow God to be their source of expertise in every area regarding evil. Jesus was the only human (1) who successfully confronted evil, (2) who refused to submit to evil, (3) who was not deceived by temptation, (4) and who could die for others' sins because he had no sins of his own (Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; 1 Peter 2:21-24; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Trusting God enough to overcome evil by doing good was the key to Jesus' victory over evil.
From the beginning, humans proved themselves no match for evil's temptation and deception. Humans could not handle free will and choice. Humans could not trust God completely, without reservation. Human expertise is found in yielding to evil, not in overcoming evil. Jesus recognized evil when he saw it. We commonly do not.
All the rest of us are forgiven. Of ourselves, we have not and cannot overcome evil. An act of God destroys evil in us. Divine forgiveness empowered by Jesus' redemptive, atoning blood destroys our evil (Ephesians 1:7-9). Of ourselves, we have not defeated temptation. We are forgiven. Of ourselves, we have not escaped evil's deceit. We are forgiven. Spiritual growth and development do not eliminate our struggles with evil. Some forms of evil afflict us. Some forms of temptation successfully attack us. Some forms of deceit cause us to fall.
We can associate with God only because God atoned for our sins through Jesus' blood and forgives us of all evil. If our forgiveness were not continuing (1 John 1:7,9), we could not associate with God. Our association with God always depends on His forgiveness, not our sinlessness.
Only God has expertise in defeating evil. When God completed His creation, He declared His completed efforts "very good" (Genesis 1:31). Then, Satan perverted everything God made by deceiving humans. Evil generated temptation, deceived, and caused the crowning jewel of God's creation to rebel against Him (Genesis 1:26,27; 3:1-7). Paul indicated God's creation is aware it was perverted and groans to be set free (Romans 8:`19-22). Peter said this perverted creation (1) will be liberated from perversion by destruction and (2) will be replaced by a new creation where only righteousness exists (2 Peter 3:10-13).
God, and only God, knows how to overcome evil.
The perverted can be freed from perversion only through destruction. The new can exist only if the old is destroyed. We can be free from evil's perversion only if we allow our perverted existence to end (Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-11). Only God has the power to eliminate evil's control. In us, God defeats evil with the mercy of forgiveness. The merciful God reveals the secret of overcoming evil. We overcome evil by doing what God did. God overcame evil by doing good.
God's destruction of our perversion frees us to live as though past evils have no influence in us. That is why the epistles frequently stress the Christian who allows God to forgive his or her ungodly existence cannot continue to live and act like an ungodly person. The references in Ephesians and Colossians serve as good examples.
From our human perspective, God's greatest act of good is seen in Jesus' death. In Jesus' death, (1) God created a Savior for all people. (2) God made forgiveness available to all people. (3) God satisfied the demands of justice. God liberated Himself to use mercy and grace to their fullest (Romans 3:21-26, note verse 26). God broke Satan's control of and power over this perverted creation by doing good (Hebrews 2:14-18). Neither a gleaming divine sword, a powerful bolt of lightning, nor opening the great abyss crumbled Satan's power. Satan was defeated and evil's controlling power was destroyed by a merciful God doing good.
Our greatest benefits and blessings come through Jesus' crucifixion. In Jesus' crucifixion, God resolved problems and conditions we are powerless to address. God's solutions resolved problems that rendered us helpless.
Our merciful God did the ultimate act of good by allowing His dying son to wear the collective sin of humanity (1 Peter 2:24). Because our merciful God did that act of good, He can clothe us in Jesus when we are immersed into Christ (Galatians 3:26,27). Our merciful God satisfied justice with the blood of His son. God uses that blood to redeem those whose faith and repentance move them to place themselves in Christ.
As Jesus died, God clothed His sinless son in our failures. We can wear Jesus' righteousness because Jesus wore our sins. Just as God saw our sins upon Jesus as he died, God sees Jesus' righteousness when He looks at those who are in Christ.
Consider: when our merciful God did that incredible act of good, all humanity thought God had failed. To all human witnesses, it looked like Jesus failed when he died! Jesus died by crucifixion! A dead Jesus would not teach multitudes! A dead Jesus could not perform miracles! A dead Jesus could not be the King of Israel! How could any possible good be produced by Jesus' Roman execution?
God achieved an incredible victory over evil by doing good. God's victory was not apparent to human eyes and understanding. When God "overcomes evil," evil's defeat is visible to our human understanding only when God teaches us how "to see" what happened.
Though no human realized it, the merciful God was at work! The merciful God was destroying Satan's power to control! The merciful God was unleashing the power that would free sinful people! The merciful God was creating a forgiveness that would reach into eternity! And the merciful God did all this simply by doing good.
God's victory occurred in spite of the fact that the human witnesses of Jesus' crucifixion did not realize God's accomplishments in Jesus' death. God "overcomes evil by doing good" even when humans do not see and understand.
God overcame evil by doing good. Jesus overcame evil by doing good. We will overcome evil by doing good. "After the fact," we know that is exactly what God did. "After the fact," we know that is exactly what Jesus did. Yet, in that moment when we each confront evil, we each struggle to trust this truth: good overcomes evil. We struggle because our concept of overcoming evil has little to do with resurrection. While we understand Jesus' death defeated evil's power, we do not consider our death as a means of overcoming.
As is commonly said, "Hindsight is 20/20." We easily see how God and Jesus used good to overcome evil. We are amazed when others do not see it. Yet, what we clearly see in the past we have great difficulty trusting in the present. The same God Who overcame evil by doing good promises that He will work in us to help us overcome evil by doing good.
We will not defeat evil with power. We will not bind evil with logic. We will not triumph over evil with knowledge. We will not be victors over evil by relying on ourselves. We will overcome evil the same way God did. We will refuse to let evil overpower us, and we will do that by doing good. By doing that same good, we overcome evil.
We all [elder, deacons, preachers, teachers, leaders, Christian individuals] attempt to overcome evil in ineffective, temporary ways. We are convinced that God's way [using good] either will not work or will not be as effective as our way [use of power, logic, knowledge, human resources].
Mercy overcomes evil with good. God's mercy overcomes evil in our lives through the good of salvation. God's mercy overcomes evil in our death through the good of resurrection. We who have benefited from God's great mercy overcome evil by doing good.
Whether within us or in God's acts, mercy overcomes evil by doing good.
Only those who accept and rejoice in God's mercy trust good to overcome evil. It is difficult to have that trust in free, democratic America. How difficult was it for Christians living in Rome about 2000 years ago to trust good's ability to overcome evil?
The key to trusting good to overcome evil is found in valuing and appreciating God's mercy.
QUESTIONS
Evil perverted God's "very good creation" through human surrender to evil. Human expertise is in creating the problem, not in solving the problem.
He is the only human who successfully confronted evil, who accurately recognized evil, who was not deceived by temptation, and who could die for others' sins because he had none.
The forgiven person had (has) sins. Forgiveness removed (removes) sins. The sins existed, but were removed by the forgiveness. Sinlessness means sin never occurred. Jesus had no sins to forgive.
Paul gave us insight through a statement he made to the Galatian Christians in Galatians 2:20. Prior to his conversion, Paul was convinced that Jesus was an impostor. After conversion, he knew Jesus was the resurrected Lord. Paul crucified self. Self died in his desire for Christ to live in him. When he wrote the Christians at Ephesus, he clearly stated and illustrated that the old existence ceased to exist to allow the behavior of the new creation to control the convert (Ephesians 4:17-32).
God's greatest act of good was to allow Jesus to die for us while we were God's enemies (Ephesians 2:1-7; Romans 5:10). Because of Jesus' death, we have access to atonement, redemption, justification, sanctification, and forgiveness. These are available to us only because God let Jesus die for us.
The ultimate act of God's mercy and goodness was to allow Jesus to wear in his body our sins as he died (1 Peter 2:24). In death Jesus became sin before God to make it possible for us to be righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
God began the actual fall of evil with Jesus' death. When Jesus died for the sins of humanity, Satan lost his power to use the fear of death to control people (Hebrews 2:14,15). However, either at Jesus' death nor after Jesus' resurrection did people comprehend God's accomplishment. Even Jesus' closest disciples did not understand the significance of Jesus'' crucifixion and resurrection until the Pentecost of Acts 2.
We will not defeat evil by relying on power, logic, knowledge, or human solutions.
That truth is difficult to trust because our concept of overcoming means HERE, NOW, WITH NO PAIN OR SUFFERING. The focus of overcoming evil is on eternity, not here and now. As with Jesus, it may involve pain and suffering. In America, successfully overcoming evil has to do with the quality of this life.
Link to Student Guide
Quarter 3, Lesson 5