Few really understand how important it is to try to get some grasp on why God has allowed evil in this world.  Is there a purpose for sin?  Who is the origin of sin?  Why was Satan created?  While I admit this is a very difficult subject (I certainly don’t have all the answers), if we understand where sin came from and its purpose, it will help us as we grapple with this issue of universal reconciliation.

Most Christians when asked where sin originated there quick response will be, “Why, Satan, of course!”  But let us think about this response for a moment.

The success of our search for the source of sin will depend entirely on our understanding of the divine definition of what it is.  The Biblical mistranslation "sin is the transgression of the law" is clearly misleading, for sin reigned during the period which preceded the giving of the law (Rom.5).  It should read "sin is lawlessness."  Failure to conform to any standard is sin, whether it be the law of Moses or any other law, natural or revealed.  In the war between the tribe of Benjamin and Israel, the Scripture says, “seven hundred chosen men left-handed; every one could sling stones at a hair breadth and not sin" (Judges 20:16).  The King James version says they could not miss, which is quite correct, yet how much is gained when we render it sin, as in hundreds of other passages!  Indeed, we are inclined to think the translators missed, when they failed to translate the word consistently, for in so doing they covered up a delightfully descriptive and a most important definition.
Sin and miss are identical in meaning.  Some months ago we had occasion to throw a stone over a certain branch of a tree.  A cord was attached to the stone, for the object was to draw up an aerial for radio reception without climbing up to the perilous higher branches.  We confess that we sinned many times before the task was accomplished.  The cord would catch as the rock ascended; the rock went too high; it went to one side; it caught in the foliage.  No matter what it did, each failure was a picturesque representation of the divine definition of sin.

Let us clear our mind of all side issues; let us forget the forms in which sin appears. It may seem gilded and glittering; it may seem sordid and sear; at its center it is the same.  However it affects our feelings, it finds its essence in failure.
As it is paraphrased in Paul's indictment of all mankind (Rom.3:23), "all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God."  We have failed to reach the divine standard.

Since all things are of God, yet He cannot sin, how did sin originate?  All so-called "solutions" which trace sin up a blind alley and stop short of God are neither scriptural nor satisfactory. We know that sin came into the world through one human being, yet who would stop there?  Sin did not originate in Adam.

The serpent was in the garden before Adam sinned.  Neither is it enough to go beyond Adam and quote "sin is of the devil," or Slanderer, for the Slanderer, just as much as Adam, is a creature, and, as such, originated nothing.  There must be an adequate cause for every effect.  We only condemn ourselves as theological evolutionists when we trace sin back to a creature and refuse to acknowledge the Creator.

We have, then, a creature, called a Slanderer (Satan), and to him the Scriptures trace back all sin.  Our inquiry is now narrowed down to the question whether this one is really a creature, or self-created.  If he is not self-existent we are shut up to his creation by the hand of God.  If we allow that God created Satan (as such), the crucial question arises, Did God sin in creating the Slanderer?  The answer will depend entirely upon the object He had in view.  Was it God's will that sin should invade the universe or was it due to an error on His part?  Remembering our definition of sin, we must be prepared to say that God has sinned, if the entrance of sin was a mistake.

If God created Satan perfect and his defection was a surprise and a disappointment to God, then there is no use in hiding behind mere words.  He failed.  He started out to make a flawless creature who turned out bad.  There is no one else to charge with this failure but God.  But this is all wrong, for God never fails, or sins.

Sin has an essential, though transient, part in God's purpose.  God made due preparation for it before it came.  The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world.  Creation may reveal some aspects of God's power and wisdom, but His love can be displayed only where sin has sown the seeds of hate.  There can be no Savior apart from sin. There can be no reconciliation apart from enmity.  God locks up all in stubbornness in order that He may be merciful to all.

Shall God's affections remain forever pent up in His own bosom?  Shall He never taste the sweet response of love?  Then all He needs is a perfect universe, where His creatures have no need of Him and His gracious ministrations.  But if He wants the deep satisfaction of requited love, and desires to impart to His creatures the delicious sense of His fatherly affection, then there must be distance, distress and condemnation, to form the field for the exercise of His favor.

Since sin must enter this scene and play its part, since it is essential to God's purpose, and absolutely under His control; since it will eventually change the universe from cold, independent creatures into a loving family circle, and God from a distant Creator into an affectionate Father, it was by no means a mistake (or sin) on God's part when he created a creature who should not only sin but should scatter it in all creation.

We have now arrived at the heart of the problem.  It was no mistake for God to create Satan, for the adversary did exactly what God had planned he should do.  And the astonishing conclusion forces itself upon us that, the moment we try to shift the ultimate origin of sin to Satan, then we are making God a sinner!  For, if God did not intend Satan to sin, but he did it on his own initiative, then God missed the mark!

We have been accused of making God "the author of sin," whatever that may mean.  We say with all kindness that those who introduce sin into the universe as an unforeseen calamity, an irremediable blot, they are charging God with failure, which is sin.  Or if they introduce it surreptitiously, without God's act, making Satan sovereign in sin, then God's failure has been the greatest of all sins.

Jehovah says boldly in Isaiah 54:16 (A.V.) "I created the waster to destroy."  To waste, or corrupt, is not simply evil.  It is sin.  Jehovah does not claim to do it, but to create the one who does.  If the corrupter were created by another, or self-existent, then he would be out of hand, and Jehovah could not guarantee immunity to His people, or control the evil and harness it to His purpose.  Is 45:7 says, “I form the light and create darkness.  I make peace and create evil.  I, the Lord, do all these things.”

No, the source of sin is not Satan, it is God.  God created Satan to sin.  God introduced sin into this world in order to show forth the full manifestation of His Person.  When we understand this point, we can understand why God must save all.  If God indeed introduced this whole mess into the world through Satan, then it is up to God to make it right.  The premise of the first two and a half chapters of Romans is to show us how utterly impossible it is for man to save himself.  Eph 2:8 says that even the faith to believe is from God.  My dear brothers and sisters:  sin was no accident.  God did not just know about it.  He willed it.  And this truth compels God to make it right.  This is the great truth of the “restitution of all things.”  In the end, sin will have served its purpose and God will have made all things right again!  Glory to His name!

Ken