Sin: What Is It And Where Does It Come From?Sample

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL We can’t begin to confront the problem of sexual sin specifically until we understand something about the nature of sin in the broader sense. What is sin and where does it come from? That’s the first thing we need to know. In particular, it’s well worth asking why a good God (Genesis 1:31) would allow something called “evil” to spoil the goodness of His creation. Is it possible that He is Himself the Creator of evil? The answer, of course, is no. And the key to understanding why is to realize that evil is not a “thing” or a “substance.” Biblically speaking, evil is an aspect of relationship. That truth will become of crucial importance when we talk about the specific nature of sexual sin. The real issue is not “How could God create evil?” It’s “How could God create something separate from and independent of His own Self?” This is the miracle of Creation, especially the creation of mankind. Man had to be an entity entirely separate from God. He had to be a creature with a genuine will of his own. Otherwise, there could be no such thing as relationship or love. The possibility of love between man and God springs directly out of man’s freedom to choose. But that possibility comes with an element of risk and the potential for pain. Through the exercise of free will, man has broken his relationship with God. That’s what sin and evil are all about. There are two different words for “evil” in the Old Testament. When the Lord says (in the King James Version), “I make peace, and create evil,” (Isaiah 45:7), the Hebrew word employed is ra’ah – “calamity,” “disaster,” “misfortune,” or “hardship.” The New King James Version makes this explicit with the translation, “I make peace and create calamity.” The same word is used in Lamentations 3:38 (KJV), where the prophet Jeremiah declares that both “evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the host High.” By way of contrast, the Bible never attributes the creation of rasha’ or “moral wickedness” to God. Instead, it tells us over and over again that He alone is good (Mark 10:18). It says that all the works of His hands “are verity and justice” (Psalm 111:7). He is light, says the apostle John, “and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). If He allows ra’ah, or “calamity,” it is always for a good and righteous purpose within His eternal and sovereign plan. For example, He sometimes uses affliction to compel people to seek His face (Hosea 5:15). Similarly, He works all things, including trials and troubles, “together for good to those who love [Him]” (Romans 8:28, NKJV). God may have any number of reasons for weaving hardships and difficulties into the fabric of human experience. But He is not and cannot be the author of rasha’. When it comes to the problem of evil in the world, then, the Scripture makes it very clear that we are the problem – not God. Like Lucifer, who was also created with a free will, man has made the unfortunate choice to exalt himself against the Almighty, thus violating his proper relationship with the King of Heaven. This is where all of our human woes and problems begin.