Can evil exist if all is good?

Gregory of Nyssa, in the 4th century, stated that “evil is the absence of good”, just as darkness is the absence of light. Where there is light, darkness cannot exist. Where there is goodness, evil cannot exist, for evil is the absence of good. Or put another way, all that it takes for evil to exist is for good men to do nothing.

“Just as darkness follows the removal of light and disappears in its presence, so, as long as goodness is present in a nature, evil is something nonexistent.”[1] Gregory further explains that even on the brightest of days, if we choose to close our eyes to light, we will see the darkness of our own eyelids. Gregory draws the conclusion that evil cannot exist in God’s light.

“Now the opposite of life is death; of power, weakness; of blessing, cursing; of candor, shame; and of every good thing, it’s contrary.”[2] “For nothing evil lies outside the will as if it existed by itself; but it gets its name from the absence of the good….If a man in broad daylight of his own free will closes his eyes, the sun is not responsible for his failure to see.” [3] We are unable to blame God for the exercise of our own free will, unless we agree to give up our free will and become puppets to his manipulation. The most precious blessings given to man are the gifts of liberty and free will.

[1] Christology of the Later Fathers, Westminster John Know Press, reissue 2006, p. 278
[2] Ibid, p. 281
[3] Ibid, p. 282