God Created Nothing Evil

God forbid that we should admit that God has created anything that is evil in its very substance, for Scripture says that “everything God had made was very good.” For if they were created by God such as they are now, or made for this purpose, that is, to hold these positions of malice and always to be ready for the deceiving and ruin of men, then, against the view of the Scripture just quoted, we would be slandering God as the Creator and author of evil. We would be saying that he himself formed utterly evil wills and natures, creating them for this very purpose, that they might always persist in their wickedness and never pass over to the disposition of a good will. Here, then, is the reason for this diversity, as we received it from the tradition of the fathers, drawn from the fountain of Holy Scripture. [a]