In recent months the blame game has been in full swing. There’s the Corona virus blame game (seems everyone is an epidemiologist) ... white privilege scolding ... and social media with its vilifying headlines. Our country is not just polarized, its lacking in civility – Christians included! And I’m thinking Canada here – not the other guys below the 49th parallel. One thing seems constant however – our capacity at finger-pointing and blame avoidance. Regrettably, sometimes even God becomes a target.
So, I was not terribly surprised when asked by a twenty-something person trying to reconcile their faith life with their theological life: How can God NOT be responsible for any part of my sin since He is the one who made me? For sure, I could cite a passage from Scripture . . . and have us call it a day, but I want to take the question more seriously than that and at least offer a limited response. AND, for sure, this subject will clash with some people’s perceived sense of God’s scandalous injustice. So be it!
A traditional understanding of Original Sin has its roots in the thinking of Augustine [AD 354-430] around A.D. 400, who believed that humans are infected because of the sin of Adam’s disobedience.1 So by ‘Original Sin’ we mean (1) the 1st sin of the human race and (2) the state of all humans in every succeeding generation because of that 1st sin — a sin that has caused suffering, sorrow and death in the human race.
Now Augustine’s definition of Original Sin certainly seems consistent with Scripture –
- “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.”
[1 Corinthians 15:21]
- “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
[1 Corinthians 15:22]
Original Guilt, a rather different concept, is one that ties original sin to the ‘condemnation’ that goes with the first sin. In all of this, the words of the apostle Paul seem rather clear in Romans 5:15-19.2 Some might argue, “Well, that’s unjust [not fair!] of a loving God.” Well, just maybe our view of love is not God’s view of love. (Wish I could linger here)
In answering the question, How can God NOT be responsible for any part of our sin since He is the one who made me? think of my responses as an inverted pyramid that moves from the general to the particular, with each response contributing to the conclusion.
(1) God is not responsible for any part of our sin because — God is Sovereign Over Sin.
We should remind ourselves that sin is not something created. It is not a substance, a being, a spirit, or matter ― for that matter! It is, as someone has described, a lack of moral perfection in a fallen creature. Since we are all fallen, therefore we all bear full responsibility for this lack of moral perfection. God is not the source of our present evil – we are! Or in the words of Pogo, the opossum living in the Okefenokee Swamp, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
To speak of God’s sovereignty is to affirm that everything is under the control of God and His authority and actions are uncontestable! As the LORD Most High (Psalm 57:2) therefore, no one can say, “What are you doing”? Since He is Almighty, no one can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will.
God doesn’t use polling stations. He ignores consensus.
He rules nations, raises up kingdoms, puts down empires, and determines the future of dynasties ― just as He wishes.
Since God is sovereign and nothing happens outside of his influence and authority, He has not been overtaken by this disaster called sin, whether Adam’s sin or the fall of the human race. And while sin is everywhere God is not lenient towards it, though He is sovereign over it.
I find an illustration by Wayne Grudem’s helpful here. In Shakespeare’s play MacBeth, who killed King Duncan? On one level, MacBeth the character in the play killed King Duncan. But on another level William Shakespeare did because he wrote the play that killed Duncan. So, the answer to the question “Who killed King Duncan?” is that both MacBeth and Shakespeare did.
Theologically we can say that just as God fully causes things one way [sovereign control], so humans cause things in another way [by the choices they make, whether good or evil].
So, when Joseph’s brothers sold their brother off to slavery in Egypt, later Joseph could say to them (Gen. 50:20), “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Here we see the human cause [evil / sin] and the overriding providential control of God who fully causes His purposes to be accomplished irrespective of the human cause. God controls and uses evil and our sin for his own purposes. His sovereignty is absolute.
(2) God is in not responsible for any part of our sin because — In God’s Foreknowledge His Plans are Purposeful
I hate vacuuming! Sometimes I’m tempted to go looking in Genesis 3 to see if vacuuming is also part of the curse for our sin. When Brenda says to me, “You need to do some vacuuming,” I will say, “I’m busy right now” . . . and she will reply, “I knew you would say that.”
Consider then, the predictive ability of God who knows us completely. The writer of the Book of Hebrews says (4:12-13) ...
[God] “… is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him ...”
Since God has decreed what will be [sovereignty], He therefore knows what will be [foreknowledge]. God knows it ... he planned it … fixed it …and predetermined it. He was not surprised by sin and is not trying to salvage something out of our human wreckage.
To use the story of Joseph again, when Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave, God was in reality purposefully sending Joseph to devise a plan that would save the whole family from starvation (Gen 45:5-7). God knew that many lives would be saved through Joseph's wise planning (50:20)
The presence of evil and sin in the world is by God’s permission [sovereignty]. His overarching plan / purpose in permitting sin [foreknowledge] is to display the fullness of the glory of Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:16 is helpful here . . .
”For in him [Christ] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
So, when God in His sovereignty and foreknowledge planned for and permitted Adam’s sin and with it the fall of humanity into sin . . . it was for the glory of Christ. After all Christ’s suffering and death were planned before Adam sinned, as Ephesians 1:4-4 reminds us:
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”
The Westminster Shorter Catechism [1646] expresses it this way:
“The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to council of His will, whereby for His own glory He hath ordained whatsoever comes to pass.”
God’s original plan for the rule of man has not been abandoned. When Adam sinned, God had already made it part of His plan – in order to reveal the greatness of His Son, Jesus Christ – the 2nd Adam who is superior to the 1st Adam. And the greatness and glory of God’s Son is seen in the 2nd Adam restoring to us our God-given dignity by paying the penalty for our sin. God’s plans are purposeful!
(3) God is not responsible for any part of our sin because of — ‘Free Choice’
I should not have to say it, but I will. God does not sin and He is not to be blamed for sin:
“… his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” Deuteronomy 32:4
Someone once argued to me that like Humpty Dumpty of nursery rhyme fame, “We were pushed!” Really? I think not!
God created ‘free choice’ and He will allow us to choose, even if we choose poorly. This is an astounding thought for two reasons: (1) God had never heard “No” before and (2) God had never been loved before. Love is the function of choice and since there is no value in being loved by someone who has no choice God gives humans and angels the choice of saying “No”.
God gave angels the gift of choice. Why they were allowed to defect (Rev. 12:7-9), I can only guess. But when they did (2 Peter 2:4), sin came into existence. Whose fault was that? An honest answer would be that it was the angels since the ability to choose did not force Satan to make a bad decision.
God likewise gave Adam the gift of choice.
· Before Adam fell, he was sinless but able to sin. For God said, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”. (Genesis 2:17)
· After Adam made his choice and fell, he was sinful and not able not to sin, because he was unbelieving. Romans 14:23 says “whatever is not from faith is sin”.
· When by the power of the Holy Spirit we are born again, Romans 6:14 says we are able to not sin, for “sin will have no dominion over you”.
The gift of independent choice requires the possibility to make the wrong choice. God responsible for love. Man is responsible for his response to God’s love. When man fails to respond to that love in a perfect way, sin becomes reality and he becomes the author of his own sin and his own demise. We are the source of our actions. We are morally responsible.
The suggestion that if God permits sin, then He is somehow responsible for that sin is illogical because if true (even a teeny, tiny bit) then that would mean our free will was not total free-will, only partial free-will which is not free-will at all.
It is not unusual to blame God for our sin. After all, this is the 1st thing Adam did after the Fall. Genesis 3:12: “The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’”
Joel Osteen once said, “You may make some mistakes – but that doesn’t make you a sinner.” Interestingly the Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us... If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10 ESV).
British lay theologian C.S. Lewis said that we need the fresh breeze of the centuries to blow though our minds to remind us of truths we have forgotten. Right on! Because in this heightened environment of finger-pointing and blame transference, who is really telling us the truth about ourselves? “Only Saying …”
1 Though the term ‘Original Sin’, seems peculiar to Augustine, the idea is certainly found in other earlier sources, like the Patristic writings of Irenaeus [AD 130-202], Ambrose [AD 340-397] and Basal [AD 329-379]. In the Second Temple period [530 BC-70 AD], Jews likewise believed that human sin came from Adam [IV Ezra 3:7; Sifre Deut. 3:23].
2 My seminary professor, Dr. Douglas J. Moo, [Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois] addresses the Romans 5 passage, providing interpretative options. See ‘The Epistles to the Romans” in The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 1996.
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