In the book "On Free Choice of the Will" written by Saint Augustine, portrays his insight on evil. Through out the book, Augustine argues with Evodius on topics of philosophy and ethics trying to reason with the existence of a higher power, God. People never think that people who hold the same opinion as them are evil. The people who are handing out the justice in turn are not always good people. Saint Augustine comes to this theme through the recognitions that lust is the source of evil and will is the cause of evil. .
Augustine comes to this conclusion after many years of questions and soul searching. Before this statement is becomes conscious to him he had to answer the question, "Is God the cause of evil?". By answering this question with a strong no and by proving that good and evil do not go hand in hand. Because God is good does not mean that God is also evil. In other words, evil is not just the absence of good. He views the evil as the lack of good and nothing more. .
Augustine's world is a hierarchy of reality with God on the very top with reason and will below. Augustine argues that lust is the source of evil. He believes that lust is any kind of chaotic desire by which one's highest values are placed in things that we can lose against our will. He connects desire with lust in evildoings of men. .
Augustine use his logic by piecing apart meaning of words and other's beliefs. He supports his opinion of lust and evil through counter arguing peoples" beliefs of what evil is. He states that if we were to believe that anything that is condemned is evildoing than what of the Apostles and Jesus. In their society, the teachings of God were condemnable and evil because of the authority at that time in history. .
Augustine answers the question what is the cause of will, by acknowledging that it is will itself. He says that it is not possible to go back to the root of will. He comes to agree that will is the first cause of sin, or there is no first source of anything.