The Problem of Evil and the Glory of God, part 1

Posing the question, “Is God the author of sin?” Jonathan Edwards answers, “If by ‘the author of sin,’ be meant the sinner, the agent, or the actor of sin, or the doer of a wicked thing…it would be a reproach and blasphemy, to suppose God to be the author of sin. In this sense, I will utterly deny God to be the author of sin.” Edwards argues, willing that sin exist in the world is not the same as sinning. God does not commit sin in willing that there be sin. God has established a world in which sin will indeed necessarily come to pass by God’s permission, but not by His “positive agency.” God is, Edwards says, “the permitter…of sin; and at the same time, a disposer of the state of events, in such a manner, for wise, holy and most excellent ends and purposes, that sin, if it be permitted…will most certainly and infallibly follow.” He uses the example of the way the sun brings about light and warmth by its essential nature, but brings about dark and cold by dropping below the horizon. “If the sun were the proper cause of cold and darkness,” he says, “it would be the fountain of these things, as it is the fountain of light and heat: and then something might be argued from the nature of cold and darkness, to a likeness of nature and sun.” In other words, “sin is not the fruit of any positive agency or influence of the most High, but on the contrary, arises from the withholding of His action and energy, and under certain circumstances, necessarily follows on the want of His influence.” So in one sense God wills that what He hates come to pass, as well as what He loves.

John Piper says that this is a fundamental truth that helps explain some perplexing things in the Bible; namely, that God often expresses His will to be one way and then acts to bring about another state of affairs. God opposes hatred toward His people, yet ordained that His people be hated in Egypt (Genesis 12:3; Psalm 105:25 – “He turned their hearts to hate His people.”) He hardens Pharaoh’s heart, but commands him to let His people go (Exodus 4:21; 5:1; 8:1). He commands against adultery, but ordains that Absalom should lie with his father’s wives (Exodus 20:14; 2 Samuel 12:11). He opposes murder, but ordains the murder of His Son (Exodus 20:13; Acts 4:28). He desires all men to be saved, but effectually calls only some (1 Timothy 2:4; 1 Corinthians 1:26-30; 2 Timothy 2:26).

What this means according to Piper is that we must learn that God wills things in two different senses. The Bible demands this by the way it speaks of God’s will in different ways. Edwards uses the terms “will of decree” and “will of command.” Edwards explains:

“God’s will of decree or sovereign will is not His will in the same sense as His will of command (or moral will) is. Therefore it is not difficult at all to suppose that the one may be otherwise than the other: His will in both senses is His inclination. But when we say He wills virtue, or loves virtue or the happiness of His creature; thereby is intended that virtue or the creature’s happiness, absolutely and simply considered, is agreeable to the inclination of His nature. His will of decree is His inclination to a thing not as to that thing absolutely and simply, but with reference to the universality of things. So God, though He hates a thing as it is simply, may incline to it with reference to the universality of things.”

Even though God has ordained that evil exist, does not make Him the author of that which He has willed to be. God never commits sin. “I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God does no wrong, upright and just is He” (Deuteronomy 32:3-4, NIV). “There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!” (Romans 9:14). It would be entirely false, when speaking of God, to equate ordaining sin with committing sin. God ordains sin without committing sin Himself.

Filed under: Jonathan Edwards, The Problem of Evil and the Glory of God