THE ORIGIN OF SIN AND WHO SATAN IS (PART I)

Question: Please! Can you handle the issue of the ORIGIN of evil/sin? It disturbs me a lot! Can this theory of it having its origin in heaven hold water? And who is SATAN (my grandmother 100+yrs old, asked me this last yr. It was then that I discovered that I don’t know who Satan is). Elitwatz from Tanzania

Response: Thank you, Eli, for the question. As usual, I don’t give answers but provocative responses to all questions that are asked. I reserve myself from answering, for I am convinced that an answer is a conclusion and therefore there could be only one answer and ‘answerer’ that is God himself. All I do is to trickle your mind to think further in and about your question and once one is bold enough to continuously question their knowledge and shake their positions, the miracle of revelation happens.

NOT GOOD IN ALL-GOOD (Genesis 1-2:9, 16-18)

The origin of sin is mysterious. What makes it mysterious is not in the difficulty to discover its source but rather in the fact that it appeared in an absolutely good and perfect environment. The fallen world (now sinful world) in which we live rests on the foundations of a creation that was good (Genesis 1-2:1-15). According to the Bible (in which is the word of God), everything is good and perfect from creation until God mentions the existence of evil in Genesis 2:9, 16-17 (Knowledge of good and evil) and ‘what is not good in all-good’ in Genesis 2:18 (it is not good for man to be alone).

Having everything created perfectly by a perfect God and then what isn’t good appears in what is all-good and perfect is the mystery. That is why I insist that the origin of sin is a mystery. What I can affirm as a divine apologist is that it is not from God, however, to be objective on the matter, as I will point out later, I can confirm that it is not excluded from his counsel.

Under this assertion that what is not good appeared in what was all-good are two conclusions; first, that what we mean by sin is what is essentially and substantially (in nature) not good and secondly, that it appeared or was born out of what is all-good. We can, therefore, ably conclude that the source of evil is good. We now remain with the question of how that could be and if good could produce evil, how good was good then?

FALLEN ANGEL (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 12:7-12)

In this response, I will restrict myself to those perspectives in the Bible. According to Biblical Literalism of scripture (as verses state) the origin of evil (sin) is in the fall-away of one of the angels who fell from the standard of being LUCIFER (Light Bearer = Isaiah 14:12-15) into the Angel of darkness (2Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Ephesians 6:12). Heaven was filled with perfect (all-good) angels who by essence and substance were good until unrighteousness appeared in Him/them (Ezekiel 28:15) and when that happened they launched a fight and a rebellion against their creator (Revelation 12:7). The fight resulted in these fallen (fallen from the standard good) beings being expelled from their original habitation (heaven) to Earth (the original habitation of mankind) as it is recorded in Revelation 12:7-12; Genesis 3:1.

‘Fallen Angel’ is a personification of evil/sin (the appearance of what is not good in all-good), Fallen Angel, Satan, and the Accuser are personifications of evil that emerged in all that was good. To say that they are personifications of evil is not to say that Satan isn’t real or even imaginary. However, it is to say that Satan is the embodiment of Sin. Satan is real, and the Bible makes it clear that he is a powerful (and evil) spiritual being who is absolutely opposed to God and His goodness.

In the Bible (Old and New Testament) he is presented as a real celestial being that has the capacity to appear in creaturely forms like the serpent (Genesis 3:1, Revelation 12:7). It is not to say that this snake reptile is essentially evil as it has been stereotyped, however, since Satan chose to use it, it has suffered evil. Satan even assumes the entire being of a person until that person is nothing but Satan himself (Mathew 16:23; Luke 23:3; John 13:27). Again, Job presents Satan as real when he recognizes his presence in the Assembly of God (Job 1:6; 2:1) and Jesus himself is quoted to have said:  “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18).

From the angle of the fallen angel as the source of Sin then, we could say that while God is the creator of this angel, he (God) is the creator of a good and perfect angel but not the source of the sin/evil that appeared in the angel.

Next, we will ask; Who tempted the first fallen angel? How fallen was the first angel? What sinning did this angel participate in that caused his fall and later to qualify as the cause of sinning? How we respond to these questions and more will set us on the path of a better revelation.

God bless you, I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)

Priest M.I.T WHITE (+256-775 822833 for further inquiries)

iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)

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