Where Did Sin Come From?

God did not create sin; He allowed sin.

God Himself did not sin, and He is not to be blamed for sin. People and angels are the ones who sinned—and they did so by willful, voluntary choice. To blame God is to attack His character (For more on the elements of God’s character see “Who Is God?”).

God is just: His view of right and wrong is perfect and unflawed by sin (while ours is not).

God is good: God is the final standard of good, and all that God is and does is worthy of approval (see Luke 18:19).

God is loving: He does not merely demonstrate love; He is the personification of love. While God allowed man to sin, and His justness and goodness require judgment, He has also provided us with a way out of this dilemma.

God made a provision for our sin.

Abraham recognized these aspects of God’s character when he said, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). In other words, since God is God, He will ultimately make things right.

We brought the problem upon ourselves.

“Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

We must not be too quick to blame God and Adam for this dilemma; regardless of Adam’s sin, we too have all voluntarily sinned. This will constitute the primary basis of our judgment on the last day (see Romans 2:6; Colossians 3:25). Yet, we are not left without a way out of this predicament.

God provided a way to remove and eradicate the problem.

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).