The Giving of Good and Evil

Ἤλθεν οὖν ἐκζητῆσαι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ σοφίᾳ τί γέγονεν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον, τίς ἡ σύγχυσις τῶν τῇδε πραγμάτων, πῶς ἐδουλὼθη τὸ ὄν τῷ μὴ ὄντι· πῶς δυναστεύει κατὰ τοῦ ὄντος τὸ ἀνυπόστατον. Καὶ οἰδεν ὅτι περισπασμὸν πονηρὸν ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς υἱοῖς ἀνθρώπων, τοῦ περισπᾶσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ. Τοῦτο δὲ οὐχ ὡς ἄν τις ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου νοήσειε, εὐσεβές ἐστιν οἴεσθαι, ὅτι αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν πονηρὸν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις περισπασμόν· ἦ γὰρ ἄν εῑς ἐλεῖνον ἡ τῶν κακῶν αἰτία ἐπαναφέροιτο. Ὁ γὰρ τῇ φύσει ἀγαθὸς, καὶ ἀγαθῶν πάντως παρεκτικὸς γίνεται· διότι πᾰν δένδρον καλὸν καρποὺς καλοὺς ποιεῖ, καὶ οὔτε ἀπὸ ἀκανθῶν σταφυλὴ, οὔτε ἐξ ἀμπέλου ἄκανθα φύεται· ὅ οὖν τῇ φύσει ἀγαθὸν, οὐκ ἄν τι πονηρὸν ἐκ τῶν θησαυρῶν αὐτοῦ προχειρίσαιτο. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύματος τῆς καρδίας κακὰ λαλεῖ, ἀλλὰ κατάλληλα τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φθέγγεται φύσει· πόσῳ οὖν μᾰλλον ἡ τῶν ἀγαθων πηγὴ οὐκ ἄν τι τῶν πονητῶν ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας φύσεως προχέοι; Ἀλλὰ τουτο νοεῖν ὑποτίθεται ἡ εὑσεβεστέρα διάνοια, ὅτι τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ δόμα. Τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν, ἡ αὐτεξούσιος κίνησις ἢ τῇ διημαρτημένῃ τῶν ἀνθρώπων χρήσει ὄργανον εἰς ἁμαρτίαν ἐγένετο. Ἀγαθὸν γὰρ τῇ φύσει τὸ αὐτεξούσιον καὶ ἀδούλωτον, τὸ δὲ ὑπεζευγμένον ἀνάγκαις, οὐκ ἄν τις ἐν ἀγαθοῖς ἀριθμήσειεν· ἀλλ' ἠ αὐτεξούσιος αὔτη τῆς διανοίας ὁρμὴ ἀπαιδαγωγήτως πρὸς τὴν αἵρεσιν τῆς κακίας ἀποῥῥυεῖσα, πειρασμὸς τῆς ψυχῆς ἐγένετο, ἀπὸ τῶν ὑψηλῶν τε καὶ τιμίων, πρὸς τὰς ἐμπαθεῖς τῆς φύσεως κινήσεις κατασπασθείσης. Τοῦτο ἐστιν ὅ σημαίνει τὸ ἔδωκεν, οὐχ ὅτι αὐτὸς τὸ κακὸν τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωῇ ἐνποίησεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι τοῖς παρὰ Θεοῦ δοθεῖσιν ἀγαθοῖς ὁ ἀνθρωπος ὑπὸ ἀβουλίας κακῶν ὑπηρεσίαν ἐχρήσατο. Σύνηθες δέ ἐστι τῇ ἁγιᾳ Γραφῇ τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν νοημάτων ταῖς τοιαύταις ἐξαγγέλλειν φωναῖς· ὡς τὸ, Παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς εἰς πὰθη ἀτιμίας· καὶ, Ἔδωκεν αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, και Ἐσκλήρυνε τὴν καρδίαν Φαραὼ· καὶ τὸ, Τί ἐπλάνησας ἡμᾶς, Κύριε, ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ σου, ἐσκληρυνας τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν τοῦ μὴ φοβεῖσθαι σε; καὶ Ἐπλάνησεν αὐτοὺς ἐν ἀβάτῳ καὶ οὐχ ὁδῷ· καὶ Ἡπάτησας με καὶ ἠπατήθην· καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἑστὶν ὁμότροπα, ἐφ' ὦν ἡ ἀκριβὴς διάνοια οὐ τὸ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐγγενέσθαι τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ συνίστησι φύσει· ἀλλὰ κατηγορεῖ τῆς ἐξουσίας, ἥ ἀγαθον μέν ἐστι καὶ Θεοῦ δῶρον δεδομένον τῇ φύσει· γέγονε δὲ, διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον ῥοπῆς κακόν. Εἶδεν οὖν ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστὴς σύμπαντα τὰ πεποιημένα ἐν τῷ ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον βίῳ, ὅτι πάντα ματαιότης, Οὐκ ἧν γὰρ ἀσυνιῶν, οὐκ ἧν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τὸν Θεόν· ἐπειδὴ πάντες ἐξέκλιναν, ἀμα ἠχρειώθησαν. Διὰ τοῠ το εἰπὼν, ὅτι Καὶ ἰδου τὰ πάντα ματαιότης  τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπήγαγεν, ὅτι οὐχ ὁ Θεὸς τούτων αἴτιος, ἀλλὰ ἠ προαίρεσις τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ὁρμῆς, ἥν πνεῦμα ὠνόμασεν. Κατηγορεῖ δὲ τούτου τοῦ πνεύματος, οὐχ ὅτι τοιοῦτον ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἧν· ἧ γὰρ ἄν ἔξω κατηγορίας ἥν, εἰ τοιοῦτον ἐγένετο· ἀλλ' ὅτι διαστραφὲν ἐξηρμόσθη τοῦ κόσμου. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Εἰς Τον Ἐκκλησιασην, Ὁμιλια Β'

Ecclesiastes has come, then, to seek out by his own wisdom what is done under the sun, that confusion of deeds, why existence is subject to non existence and how that which is insubstantial has power over being. He knew that 'God has given to the sons of men an evil trouble to vex him' 1. And let this be thought as something not easily understood, that a pious man considers that God has given an evil to the sons of men in order to trouble them, for then one may choose to attribute the cause of evil to God. But He who is good by nature is indeed a giver of good things because every good tree bears good fruit and from thorns  grapes do not spring, nor do thorns grow from a vine; 2 therefore the One who is good by nature does not offer some evil from his storehouse. A good man does not speak evil from the abundance of his heart but utters words appropriate to his nature. How then is it that the fountain of good may not be a giver of evils? Let this be considered with a more reverent understanding, since the gifts of God are good. That is, the freedom of will given, man misused it as an instrument for sin, for free will is good in its nature and subject to no one, while anything yoked to necessity should not be accounted among things good, but in liberty, during a soul's testing, an impulse of the mind led to choice of evil, and from high state of honour it was drawn down to the passions. This is what  'He has given' means, not that He has given evil to the life of men, but that the goods God has given men have been used by them to commit mindless evil. Holy Scripture expresses such things as we have been considering, by proclaiming: 'God has handed them over to disgraceful of passions' 3, and 'He has given them over to a base mind.' 4 and 'He has hardened Pharaoh's heart'  5, and 'Why, Lord, have you caused us to wander from your way and why have you hardened our hearts not to fear you?' 6, and 'He make them wander in a desert and not in the way' 7, and 'You have deceived me, and I was deceived', 8 and other remarks similar to these, which being understood correctly does not mean that human nature has something inappropriate from God, but they censure free will which in itself is a good and a gift bestowed by God to our nature, but as a result of error, free will inclines to evil. So Ecclesiastes sees all things done in life under the sun, that they are vain. 'There is not one who understands or seeks after God' 9 since all have turned aside and have become useless. And thus he says 'Behold, all is vanity.'  10 He does not attribute the cause to God but to human choice which he names the wind. He censures this wind, for it is not as it was at the beginning. There it was free of censure and in no need of condemnation, but it turned aside by turning to the world.   Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On Ecclesiastes,  Homily 2 1 Eccl 1.13 2 Mt 7.17 3 Rom 1.26 4 Rom. 1.28 5 Ex 9.12 6 Is 63.17 7 Ps 106.40 8 Jer 20.7 9 Rom 3.11 10 Eccl 1.14