IS GOD ENTIRELY WITHOUT SIN? The Debate

This is what the Bible consistently teaches:

·       but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

Let me address some common objections to God’s absolute holiness, His sinlessness:

The Garden Temptation: “If God is all-knowing and all powerful, he would never have allowed the deceiving serpent into the Garden; nor would He have allowed Adam and Eve to sin.”

This challenge wrongly assumes that God couldn’t have had a good reason for allowing this temptation and rebellion to take place. But it seems that God did have a good purpose:

·       For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. (Romans 11:32)

There had to first be a Fall from grace before there could be a restoration to grace through Jesus. And this would result in a far greater grace:

·       Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20-21; 8:20)

This brings us to the greater accusation: “It is unjust for God to condemn us to an eternal hell for sins that had been committed over a limited lifetime.”

Eternal Hell: It seems that the evidence suggests that hell is ultimately self-chosen. Therefore, external punishment is something that we choose, in the same way that others choose eternal life. As some choose to dwell in the light, others choose to dwell in the darkness, away from the God whom they had always hated:

·       “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:17-20)

We already stand condemned by our own desires. Since Christ does not condemn, it is we who stand self-condemned, even now. For many, the darkness, which hides us from the truth, is more comforting then the truth, which exposes us. Consequently, the many will continue to love their comforting darkness of lies.

“But isn’t a life of darkness still an eternal torment? Why wouldn’t God do something to relieve their pain?” Admittedly, we do not have a comprehensive understanding of either heaven or hell. Perhaps, God might even allow those in torment to pull-the-plug? There is not a single verse that argues against such a possibility.

“But doesn’t your God harden people’s hearts and minds so they cannot see the truth?”

Many verses actually say this. However, in these cases, God merely allows us to have what we want. Consequently, He will eventually allow us to wallow in our own self-deceptions:

·       Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! (Romans 1:24-25; also 26, 28)

Eventually, God will surrender us to our own desires, which then will become increasingly perverse. Ultimately, He allows us to have our own way, even eternal exile from the Light of Christ, even if it means eternal torment.

We can also understand some of the more difficult verses in light of the above:

·       The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

Satan deceives with his wonders (Matthew 24:24), but God allows him to harvest those who refused to believe in the obvious truths (Romans 1:18-21) and chose the lie of unrighteousness. “God sends them a strong delusion” but how? By allowing Satan to do so!

God ordained the genocide of the Canaanite nations: How could this be just? Admittedly, we all shudder at this along with the promise of eternal damnation (whether in eternal death or torment), but perhaps we should fear God. The Scriptures argue in favor of this:

·       For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly...then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. (2 Peter 2:4-6, 9)

If God had brought such disasters, then we have to seriously contemplate our eternal fate in light of His judgments. We need these warnings regarding both the mercy and the righteous judgment of God.

If you believe that such disasters had been unwarranted, then, to be consistent, perhaps you should advocate for the elimination of guns, police, prisons, armies, and anything else which could possibly give rise to violence. Of course, the great majority believe that punishment is necessary.

“Since God is omnipotent and holy, He should have designed a better world.” This objection wrongly assumes that omnipotence means that God can do anything. While He can accomplish anything He wants to, this doesn’t mean that God can sin, violate His promises, His logic or even His character. He is not robotic. He has a holy nature which He will not defy.

Job also had brought a similar indictment against God by claiming that His treatment of Job had been unjust. However, God showed Job how limited human understanding is, and Job repented of his hubris (Job 42:1-5).

It is nothing short of arrogant to claim that God could have better designed this world. To make such a claim requires almost infinite knowledge. It reminds me of a far more modest claim made by skeptics: “God could have better designed the human eye.” Instead, the human eye is such a marvel that to “improve” on any one feature would probably also detract from other features.

Instead, I am glad that God is a God of love, righteousness, justice, and holiness. Scripture teaches us that because He will exercise wrath, we are free to pursue love:

·       Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.” (Romans 12:19-20)

Since God is eternal and uncaused, we cannot explain why He is the way He is. He just IS, and we need to accept Him as He IS.

When we know Him, we love Him because we know that He loves us with a love that transcends anything we can imagine (Ephesians 3:19). We are also willing to accept Him the way He is, as He also accepts and loves us the way we are.