The Origin of Sin

Dr. Norman L. Geisler and Kurt Theodore Wise

Biblical Basis The Original State of Man

– Man was created righteous: When God made man, He made Him righteous. “Truly, this

only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (Ecc. 7:29).

– Man was created in the image of God: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according

to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’” (Gen. 1:26). Man was to be the king of the earth. He was fitted for his task, which means he was morally capable of exercising righteous authority.

Biblical Basis The Original State of Man

– Man was created free: As a moral agent in a moral cosmos, man was given

volitional freedom. He could choose to obey or to disobey God.

Adam was given one simple command as a test of his willingness to obey God: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” Gen. 2:16-17.

Biblical Basis The Fallen State of Man

– Man acted in disobedience: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,

that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Gen. 3:6-7)

Adam’s act was not the result of deception (1 Tim. 2:14), he knew full well what God had said about the consequences of his actions.

Biblical Basis The Fallen State of Man

– Man became a sinner: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world,

and death through sin . . .” (Rom. 5:12).

– Man became enslaved to sin: “Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you,

whoever commits sin is a slave of sin’” (John 8:34).

Biblical Basis The Fallen State of Man

– All men became sinners: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made

sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19).

Theological Basis The Problem of Evil

– Atheism: Affirms evil but denies God.

– Pantheism: Affirms God but denies evil.

– Theism: Affirms both God and evil.

Theological Basis The Problem of Evil

– Theism: If God is all powerful and all good He could and should be

able to prevent and/or destroy all evil. Nevertheless evil is still real.

Furthermore, if God is perfect and He made a perfect world, where did evil come from?

In other words, is God responsible for evil?

Theological Basis The Problem of Evil

– God cannot produce sin: Because God is perfect He cannot produce sin (Deut. 32:4).

All that He made was perfect and declared to be “very good” (Gen. 1:31).

– God cannot promote sin: God cannot even approve of sin, must lest encourage it.

(“You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness”--Hab. 1:13).

Theological Basis The Problem of Evil

– God can permit sin: God permits sin because it serves a greater good. Concerning

the sin of his brothers, Joseph said “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Gen. 50:20).

Theological Basis The Problem of Evil

– God can produce a greater good: That a greater good can come from the permission of evil is

evident from the fact that the highest virtues are only revealed in the light of evil. Courage exists only where fear is possible, duty is possible only when negligence is, and faith is possible only when unbelief is.

Paul asserted this principle: “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3-4).

Theological Basis The Agents of Sin

– Angels: The sin of Lucifer. Satan, traditionally given the name

Lucifer (Isa. 14:12), appears to have been the first sinner. According to Paul Satan’s sin was pride (1 Tim. 3:6).

Other angels. When Lucifer fell into sin he drew a third of the angels with him (Rev. 12:3-9). Thus, sin occurred in heaven before it occurred on earth.

Theological Basis The Agents of Sin

– Mankind: Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent and fell into sin

by disobedience to God (Gen. 3). While they were the first human sinners, their act brought all

of humanity into sin (Rom. 5:19).

Theological Basis The Origin of Sin

– The six causes (applied to a house): Efficient cause (that by which) – a carpenter. Final cause (that for which) – to live in. Formal cause (that of which) – its structure or form. Material cause (that out of which) – building materials. Exemplar cause (that after which) – the blue print. Instrumental cause (that through which) – the tools.

Theological Basis The Origin of Sin:

– The six causes (applied to Adam’s sin): Efficient cause – person. Final cause – pride. Formal cause – disobedience. Material cause – eating forbidden fruit. Exemplar cause – none, it was the first one. Instrumental cause – power of free choice.

Theological Basis The Origin of Sin

– The nature of free choice: Determinism. Choice is caused by another, and the agent

could not do otherwise. The future is determined and all future free acts are known by God.

Indeterminism. Choice is uncaused and the agent could do otherwise. The future is undetermined, and God knows all but free acts.

Self-determinism. Choice is caused by self and the agent could do otherwise. The future is determined by God but yet free for man. God knows all future acts.

Theological Basis The Nature of Adam’s Choice

– Adam was free: The choice of Adam to sin was a free choice. God had given

Adam freedom to exercise his own will (Gen. 2:16), and commandment him not to eat of the forbidden fruit lest he suffer fatal consequences (Gen. 2:17).

God did not cause Adam to sin for He Himself cannot sin or even tempt anyone else to do so (Jas. 1:13).

Nor did some evil aspect of Adam’s character cause him to sin, he had none because he had been created good (Gen. 1:31).

Nor did the devil constrain Adam to sin. Adam caused his own sin through his own power of choice.

Theological Basis The Nature of Adam’s Choice

– It was moral: Adam had a choice between obedience or disobedience –

good or evil. This is the essence of morality. Adam was free to do evil.

– It could have been avoided: Adam could have chosen obedience to God, which is what

God said he ought to do. What one should do can only be something one can do. The fact that God held him responsible and punished him shows that Adam could have done otherwise.

Theological Basis The Nature of God’s Freedom

– God is free: God is an uncaused Being and as such is under no constraint

from any other being. Yet God cannot sin. How then can God be free if He is not free to sin?

– God is essentially good: While God is free, He cannot be other than what He is. God

is by His very nature good. He is goodness. All of God’s free acts have their origin in His nature and a “good tree brings forth good fruit.” So, God is free only to do good in accord with His own unchanging nature (Heb. 6:18).

Theological Basis The Nature of Freedom in Heaven

– Perfected Freedom: The saints in heaven will retain their freedom, but yet will

not sin. Perfected creatures are like God, free to choose only the good. The ability to choose evil is a temporal ability essential to moral testing.

– Consummated Freedom: Freedom in heaven is similar to freedom in a marriage. By a

free act, a man and a woman freely commit to one another to forsake all others by not having intimate relationships with other anyone else for life. Monogamy is the fulfillment of the desires of the man and woman that they have freely acted upon.

Objections Causality

– Problem stated: If every action must have an efficient cause, then what was

the cause of Adam’s sin? There are three possible answers to this question.

– The Devil.

– God.

– Adam.

Objections Causality

– The Devil: The Devil did not make Adam sin, he only tempted him to

sin. If the Devil made him do it, Adam’s then Adam would not

have been and his punishment would have been unjust.

– God: If God is the cause of Adam’s sin, whether by way of

creating Adam with a sinful nature or by not decreeing a righteous choice by Adam, then God is the author of sin.

Objections Causality

– Adam: Adam was not compelled by a weak or imperfect nature. He

sinned by his own free choice.

God gave His good creatures (Adam and Eve) a good power called free will. While the power of free will is good in itself, it makes evil possible. This no more makes God responsible for evil than a license to drive makes the government responsible for tragedies caused by those who drive recklessly.

Adam’s free choice was not an uncaused act, it was caused by Adam who had the power of causing a moral or immoral act. Adam was the first cause of evil in the human realm.

Objections Causality

– Conclusion: While there are other problems that could be discussed, the

basic Christian view of the origin of evil rests in the good power of free will given by a good God to His good creatures. Adam’s choice to sin was an act that he himself committed through the power of his free will and without outward coercion.

The following chart works backward from man’s present state as a sinner (expressed by the term cruelty).

CRUELTY OF MANMAN IS CRUEL

ALWAYS CRUEL BECAME CRUEL

CREATED CRUEL CHANGED BY SOMEONE ELSE

CHANGED HIMSELF

GOD IS EVIL

GOD SATAN FREE WILL

GOD IS EVIL MAN IS NOT RESPONSIBLE

Conclusion Evil and Worldviews

– Of the three main world views, only Christianity asserts the reality of both God and evil. The dilemmas posed by this assertion are resolved by Scripture and good reason.