GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF SIN

1 JOHN 1:5–10

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all

(1 John 1:5).

Where does sin ultimately come from? We know that Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden was the first sin and the cause of all sin in humanity. But behind this, how did sin come to pass? Theologians confess that the “origin” of sin is something of a mystery. By way of “negative theology,” we can say what is not the case regarding the origin of sin, but there is little we can say positively on the subject. There are three things we can say, however.

God Never Causes Sin

Christianity rejects all forms of dualism. Dualism says that there is a good god and an evil god in eternal contest. Dualism has the seeming advantage of absolving the good god from being responsible for sin, but this good god is limited and obviously not the sovereign God of the Bible.

Second, Christianity rejects “causal monism,” which says that there is only one god, and since he originated all things, he must have originated both good and evil. Evil and sin come out of some kind of hidden depth in this god. Such a god again is obviously not the holy God of the Bible, who is too holy to even look upon sin.

God Always Governs Sin

Third, however, biblical Christianity maintains that God ordains and governs all things. God could have stopped Satan from rebelling and Adam from sinning. Likewise, God could have crushed sinful rebellion at its beginning. But God, in His all-wise government over all things, did not choose that course. While He ordained them and permitted them to occur, He in no way is the author of Sin. Man alone must bear that responsibility.

CORAM DEO

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). The origin of sin is hidden in God’s secret will. We must bow before His goodness and wisdom in permitting even the sin of Adam to come to pass. With regard to the how and why of this, Deuteronomy teaches it is permissible to plead “mystery.” Although you may not fully understand the origin of sin, praise God today that He chose to redeem His people from sin’s power and consequences.

For further study: Isaiah 6; Daniel 4:34–37

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