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The Word “Evil” in the Gospels

[The word “devil” occurs 65 times in the Gospels. The terms “evil spirits,” “evil spirit” and “the evil one” occur three times, two times and one time respectively. In the fifteen passages below from all four Gosples, evil is used in three somewhat distinct senses: sinful acts, a common human trait, abstract evil. “Evils,” “its evil doings,” “their doings were evil,” and “those whose doings have been evil,” are terms used to denote sin rather than evil per se or abstract evil. On only three occasions is the word “evil” used to characterize human beings collectively—see bolded passages—and two of those are close repetitions of one another from different Gospels. That leaves us with two unique uses of the word in this sense. In the remaining eight instances the word “evil” refers to abstract evil, like abstract injustice. Two of those instances are approximate duplicates, which brings us down to six unique uses of the word “evil” in this sense. Here are the fifteen passages from all four Gospels where “evil” or “evils” appears in the Knox translation—the above numbers may vary slightly depending on the translation:]

Blessed are you, when men revile you, and persecute you, and speak all manner of evil against you falsely, because of me. Be glad and light-hearted, for a rich reward awaits you in heaven; so it was they persecuted the prophets who went before you.

Let your word be Yes for Yes, and No for No; whatever goes beyond this, comes of evil.

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute and insult you, that so you may be true sons of your Father in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the evil and equally on the good, his rain fall on the just and equally on the unjust.

This, then, is to be your prayer, Our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come; your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Why then, if you, evil as you are, know well enough how to give your children what is good for them, is not your Father in heaven much more ready to give wholesome gifts to those who ask him?

Brood of vipers, how could you speak to good effect, wicked as you are? It is from the heart’s overflow that the mouth speaks; a good man utters good words from his store of goodness, the wicked man, from his store of wickedness, can utter nothing but what is evil.

For it is from within, from the hearts of men, that their wicked designs come, their sins of adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, envy, blasphemy, pride and folly. All these evils come from within, and it is these which make a man unclean.

And John answered him, Master, we saw a man who does not follow in our company casting out devils in your name, and we forbade him to do it. But Jesus said, Forbid him no more; no one who does a miracle in my name will lightly speak evil of me. The man who is not against you is on your side.

Blessed are you, when men hate you and cast you off and revile you, when they reject your name as something evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.

A good man utters what is good from his heart’s store of goodness; the wicked man, from his heart’s store of wickedness, can utter nothing but what is evil; it is from the heart’s overflow that the mouth speaks.

Why then, if you, evil as you are, know well enough how to give your children what is good for them, is not your Father much more ready to give, from heaven, his gracious Spirit to those who ask him?

Rejection lies in this, that when the light came into the world men preferred darkness to light; preferred it, because their doings were evil.

Do not be surprised at that; the time is coming, when all those who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out of them; those whose actions have been good, rising to new life, and those whose doings have been evil, rising to meet their sentence.

Whereupon Jesus said to them, My opportunity has not come yet. Your opportunity is always ready to hand; the world cannot be expected to hate you, but it does hate me, because I denounce it for its evil doings.

I have given them your message, and the world has nothing but hatred for them, because they do not belong to the world, as I, too, do not belong to the world. I am not asking that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them clear of what is evil.

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