“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” Mt 7:11

There is a sense that we are all evil, in that we are all fallen due to our sin and therefore have fallen short of God’s perfection. There are grades of evil. Some who are evil are used by God to further his purpose. Others who are evil have a certain degree of respect for truth and do good, though they are evil. One the obvious examples is in government rulers and powers. Romans 13 says of these (Rome must have been in mind when Paul writing to the Romans) that the rulers are God’s ministers for justice. We know experientially that some are better than others.

The number of rulers in all of human history who were washed in the blood might be counted on one hand. So all of the rest were evil in some sense. Some of these evil are more destructive to the natural order than others. “He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.” Daniel 7:25. It’s clear that most are evil. It’s clear that some are less evil than others.

Besides what Paul says to Romans, Peter says government has an important role in God’s scheme of things. Of rulers, Peter says governors are, “sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right” 2 Peter 2:14. So this answer is similar to questions like degrees of sin and degrees of rewards. We understand sin is sin, but we also know that some sin is worse than other sin: a white lie versus murder.

So they are all evil, these rulers, but some rulers are more evil than some.

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