The most influential Christian position was formulated by Augustine, who held that all evil and suffering are the consequences of human sin in Adam and his ancestors. Sin is misused freedom and cannot be blamed on God. Nature and humanity were created perfect but were corrupted by Adam's fall, through which death and disharmony entered the world. Human suffering is not unjust, according to Augustine, for we all deserve punishment. Moreover, the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked punished in a future life, vindicating God's justice in the long run.
Some theodicies minimize the reality of evil by interpreting it as a discipline or a test of faith.
Evil then would be a temporary means to good ends. Everything works for good for those who love God. Other writers defend the reality of evil and the omnipotence of God, and they end by compromising the goodness of God. If everything that happens is God's will, then God is responsible for evil. In a more sophisticated version, if God is the source of all that is, then evil as well as good must in some sense be present in God.