Here’s a question I had Jimmy answer:

Like I don’t know exactly what constitutes this property, what is it, what is its relation to the thing? How does it emerge, from what principle etc?

Here’s Jimmy’s thoughts:

What’s “this” property?

First of all, if you didn’t know what the property is, then you could just say that to God any time he attributes the property in Scripture.

So this is a problem only for someone who’s not consistently aimed at a BIblical theology of evil.

Second, if you didn’t know what the property is, you couldn’t be held responsible for it, contra Romans 1.

Third, Scripture speaks of evil, including as a property (or properties) of persons, acts, and events, with confidance that what it is is obvious.

Any view that hinges on prevarication, obfuscation, eye-squinting, or general skepticism about a recognition-knowledge what the property of evil is contradicts Scripture.

Fourth, evil is multifacetedly characterized in Scripture:

• “crookedness” betokens it
• “sin” or “transgression” is to miss the mark or stray from a target or ideal position
• it corresponds to as its exemplifying source “hardness” of the heart, in contrast to sensitivity
  etc etc

The list is long. However, what’s clear as day in all of these characterizations is its ontological presence no less than the presence of moral virtues, like walking straightly/the narrow path, (with emphasis) right-eousness, or a heart after (that is, like) God(‘s).

One can, in the fashion of a child, ask, “Yeah, but what is moral virtue?” but that’s no more a serious challenge than feigning incredulity about evil.

Evil emerges from, just as it is as equally dependent as good is upon, the moral law. Without the moral law, there can be neither good nor evil. If there is a moral law, evil can exist just as much as good can, even if one will for other reasons be intrinsic to the nature of an agent and the other non-intrinsic.

In the broadest sense, they’re truths – true descriptions of some object. In that sense, properties are synonymous with predicates or attributes.

But truths about an object fit into different classes. The specific color of my hair is not a truth of my humanity. Nor is the number of persons I am a truth of my biology. Moral properties are a third class of properties.