Present Evil

Dedit se autem Filius, ut injustitiam quae erat in nobis, justitia ipse subverteret. Tradidit se sapientia, ut insipientiam expugnaret. Sanctitas et fortitudo se obtulit, ut spurcitiam infirmitatem que deleret. Atque ita non solum in futuro saeculo iuxta promissam spem qua credimus, sed etiam hic de praesenti saeculo nos liberauit: dum commortui Christo, transfiguramur in novitatem sensus, et non sumus de hoc mundo, a quo merito nec amamur. Quaeritur quomodo praesens saeculum malum dictum sit. Solent quippe haeretici hinc capere occasiones, ut alium lucis et futuri saeculi, alium tenebrarum et praesentis asserant conditorem. Nos autem dicimus, non tam saeculum ipsum, quod die ac nocte, annis currit et mensibus, appellari malum, quam ὁμωνύμως, ea quae in saeculo fiant: quomodo sufficere dicitur diei malitia sua: et dies Iacob modici esse scribuntur et pessimi. Non quo spatium temporis, in quo vixit iacob, malum fuerit, sed quo ea quae sustinuit, per varia eum exercuerint tentamenta. Denique eo tempore quo ille pro coniugibus serviebat, et multis conflictabatur angustiis, Esau in requie erat, atque ita idem temporis spatium, alii bonum, alii malum fuit; nec scriptum esset in Ecclesiaste: Ne dixeris quia dies mei priores erant boni super istos, nisi ad discrimen malorum. Unde Ioannes ait: mundus omnis in maligno positus est. Non quod mundus ipse sit malus, sed quod mala in mundo fiant ab hominibus, manducemus et bibamus, dicentibus, cras enim moriemur. Et ipse Apostolus: redimentes, inquit, tempus, quia dies mali sunt. Infamantur et saltus, cum latrociniis pleni sunt, non quo terra peccet et siluae, sed quo infamiam homicidii loca quoque traxerint. Detestamur et gladium, quo humanus effusus est cruor, et calicem in quo venenum temperatum est, non gladii calicis que peccato, sed quod odium mereantur illi qui his male usi sunt. Ita et saeculum, quod est spatium temporum, non per semetipsum, aut bonum, aut malum est, sed per eos qui in illo sunt, aut bonum appellatur aut malum. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber I, Cap I Source: Migne PL 26.314a-d

The Son gave Himself that He might overthrow the unrighteousness in us by His righteousness. He handed himself over in wisdom to conquer foolishness. Holiness and strength offered itself to erase depraved infirmity. Not only has Christ freed us in the future age by the promises and hopes in which we believe, but He also Has freed us from the present age, during which we who have died together with Christ are being transformed by newness of mind, so that we are not of this world and rightly we are not loved by the world. 1 What does 'present evil age' mean? Heretics usually seize on this to assert that there is a ruler of light and the future age and another who rules over darkness and the present age. But we say that it is not the age itself, which passes in days, nights, years, and months, that is to be called evil, but rather, ὁμωνύμως, that is by use of homonym, we say that the things occurring during the age are evil, whence it is written that each day has enough evil for itself, 2 and that the days of Jacob were few and difficult. 3 It is not that the span of time in which Jacob lived was evil, but the things he endured through the various trials which troubled him. Then while he was serving to win hands of his wives and was assailed by many hardships, Esau was at rest, and so the same span of time was good for one but evil for another. Thus it would not be written in Ecclesiastes 'Do not say that my former days were better than these,' 4 unless there were a distinction of evils. This is also why John says, 'The whole world lies in wickedness.' 5 Not that the world itself is evil, but that evil things are done in the world by men who say, 'Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die.' 6 And the Apostle says that we are redeeming the time because the days are evil. 7 Forests come into disrepute when bandits abound in them, not because the earth or trees sin but because they have gained a bad reputation as places where murders are committed. We also despise the sword by which human blood is poured out, as well as the cup in which is poison is mixed, not because the sword and the cup sin, but because those who use these things for evil purposes deserve to be reviled. So also the age, which is a span of time, is not in itself either good or evil, but depending on the people who live in it, it is called either good or evil. Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, Book 1, Chapter 1 1 2 Tim 2.11, Rom 12.2, Jn 15.19 2 Mt 6.34 3 Gen 47.9 4 Eccl 7.11 5 1 Jn 5.19 6 1 Cor 15.32 7 Ephes 5.16