If God Is Perfect, Why Is There Evil?Näide

Day 5: The Origin of Evil—The Two Falls

God didn’t directly create evil, but he did allow it to be a part of his plan.

Let’s go back to the beginning to understand (as best we can) how this happened.

Angels: The First Fall

Spirit beings called angels were the first creatures God made. From Scripture, it’s clear that angels were created before God created the physical universe.

God’s creation—including his creation of angels—was good. All his creatures were perfect when they were first created.

But the angels, like humans later, were created with free will, meaning there was always the genuine possibility that they would make a wrong decision. The angels weren’t programmed robots, but moral beings capable of loving and serving God.

Satan and the angels who fell with him eventually chose to prefer themselves to God. This selfishness and pride were the origin of sin and evil.

Many angels freely chose to remain faithful to their Creator. The holiness of these angels has been confirmed. In other words, they cannot sin anymore. They are still free beings, but their obedience to the living God will always be willing and pleasurable now.

(Believers will experience confirmed holiness at the resurrection. Only then will they no longer be able to sin.)

Humans: The Second Fall

After Satan’s fall, he appeared in the Garden of Eden to tempt the first humans. He appeared to them as a serpent (Genesis 3:1).

The second fall, that of humans, occurred soon after.

The two falls are similar because Adam and Eve chose their way over God’s, just as Satan and the other fallen angels did.

The biggest difference between the two falls is that all the angels existed at the time of Satan’s sin, while only two humans existed at the second fall.

Unlike angels, humanity was designed to reproduce. And since the parents of the human race became sinners, all their descendants would need redemption (Romans 5:12, 19).

Summary

To summarize, evil originated not with God but with the two falls. This is the only solution to the problem of evil.

Tomorrow, we’ll address two objections to this solution.