The question “Did God create sin?” has been a prominent question throughout Christian history. This is the argument, “If a sinless God created everything, wouldn’t that mean He created sin?” This argument shifts the blame of sin towards God and represents sin as one of His creations. But is this argument valid? Did God really create sin? Did a good and powerful God create sin? We will answer that question in this short article.
However, before we answer that question, let’s emphasize the importance of this argument. If this argument is in fact valid, it invalidates God being sinless, an essential part of salvation in Christianity. However, if God did create sin, that means he produced sin, and without Him there would be no sin. Thus, if this argument were valid, He would be sinful. If God was sinful, that means the idea of salvation in Christianity is impossible, as it is centered around Christ being sinless. Since salvation and redemption are among the main focuses in Christianity, a sinful God completely undermines the religion. This contradicts the Bible, which represents God as a sinless, perfect God. So, a sinful God also means an untrue Bible. Now that we have seen the importance of this argument, let’s answer that question.
The answer to this challenging argument is not new. In actuality, around 1,600 years ago, we can already find responses from the Early Church. Augustine, the well-known Early Church Father, theologian, and philosopher, has attempted to answer this very question. He had an interest in this question and wanted to solve it, that people would not wrongly become unbelievers. In our present day, it is a relatively common atheist argument against God, especially the Christian One, that “since God created everything, then God created sin and evil, and thus God is evil”. This argument might seem right at first, especially because it is true that God created everything. Yet, the real question is: What is sin? Is it truly “something”?
Augustine’s argument does not say evil is a completely independent thing but a deficiency of something. What does this mean? Basically, it is like darkness. Darkness is not an independent condition but the absence of light—a deficiency, a shortage of light. Thus, sin is simply an absence of something else, and God did not create it. However, there is still a remaining question in his defense: Why did God create the world in such a way that moral deficiencies could exist?
“But when we say that evil springs out of good, let it not be thought that this contradicts our Lord’s saying: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. For, as He who is the Truth says, you cannot gather grapes of thorns, because grapes do not grow on thorns. But we see that on good soil both vines and thorns may be grown. And in the same way, just as an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so an evil will cannot produce good works. But from the nature of man, which is good, may spring either a good or an evil will.” Augustine’s Enchiridion, Chapter 15.
The answer to the counterargument has also been taught by Augustine. Humans are rational beings, capable of thinking and reasoning independently. If God wanted to create rational beings, humans needed freedom of will, because being rational is having our own independent logic where we can think independently. God created man with a possibility of rebellion and sin. However, it turned out man would go down the path of sin, due to man’s greed and will to be like God, which ended in deficiency and suffering rather than being like God, which was impossible.
Does all of this mean God did not create everything? No, because as it is said before, sin is not an independent “thing”, but a relative thing—a deficiency. Sin is just a lack of something else.
I agree with what Augustine has to say. The last thing to discuss is “So, what?” What can we DO after knowing this? Since sin is reliant on good and evil is the absence or lack of good, then good triumphs over evil and is stronger than it—if there is no such thing as “good”, there too will be no such thing as “evil”. So, what can we apply from this realization of good’s superiority over evil? This is the central message of this text: God did not create evil, but due to man having free will, man did what was not good, and evil is the lack of good. And yet, good is superior to evil, just as light is stronger than darkness. Thus, we should do what is good to conquer evil—just as God did on the cross to conquer sin and death.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”
Rome 12:21
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1:5
Bong Isaac Constantine
Pra-remaja GRII Pusat