Q. Why would God create Satan knowing that he would fall and bring sin and death into the world?
Picture a man who owns a fine china shop. He sells the most exquisite tea sets, glasses and vases. This same shop owner also fancies himself to be a cowboy in his spare time. He likes to raise cattle, rope and ride. Now imagine that this man invites his prized bull into his china shop. We’ve all heard this one before. Of course, the bull in the china shop is not going to end well. And what did the shop owner expect would happen when he let a wild beast run loose among his delicacies?
It's not a perfect parable, but it captures the idea behind the age-old question, “Why did God create Satan?” It doesn’t make much sense for the shop owner to let a bull run amok, and to us it doesn’t make sense that God would create Satan and turn him loose to steal, kill and destroy. Inherent to this thorny problem is the assumption that we see no good reason for Satan’s existence. After all, wouldn’t the world be a much better place without him? This question also strikes at the goodness of God. If God was really good, then why would He make the Devil?
This is not as easy question, but it is one that I have pondered myself and have been asked before by curious minds. Theologians have been wrestling with it for thousands of years and there isn’t a black and white answer. The reason is because the Bible does not address this question specifically. The Bible reports what happened in the creation, fall and consequences of Satan’s revolt, but it doesn’t give the why. That means that any answer given to this question will be based on sanctified speculation.
Before we try to answer this question, we should lay the foundation with some non-negotiable truths.
· God is all-knowing or omniscient (Psalm 139:4, 147:4-5). When
God created, He knew in advance all the evil Satan would eventually cause. Yet,
He created anyway.
· God has not revealed everything to us about Himself or His plan (Deut. 29:29). In areas where we lack knowledge, we must be careful not to tread beyond Scripture. This is where faith comes in. We do know enough about God that He is trustworthy, sovereign and good (Job 42:2-3). We must trust Him even when we don’t understand it all.
· God’s ways are not man’s ways (Is. 55:8-9). What makes sense to us from a finite, fallen perspective, doesn’t always make sense from an infinite, perfect perspective. Along with that, God doesn’t owe us anything, especially the reasons for why He has set up the world this way. In that china shop parable, we are merely a broken, chipped vessel. “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?” (Isaiah 45:9).
· God did not create Satan, but Lucifer – an angel of light whose original purpose was to glorify God (Ez. 28; Is. 14). However, Lucifer chose to rebel against God’s design. That means that in the beginning God made the angelic beings with a free will to love or reject Him (just like humans). This is key because unless there is free will, then all self-conscious creatures would be robots, automatons, programmed to respond one way. God valued free will and love more than He did having robotic creatures. Free will opened the door for evil and sin to enter the story.
· God’s sovereignty extends to Satan, even in his fallen condition. God is able to use Satan’s evil actions to ultimately bring about His plan (Gen. 3:15). Satan played his role as tempter and would also play his role as vanquished foe. As Reformer Martin Luther would say, “The Devil is still God’s Devil.”
· God’s plan of salvation was ordained from eternity past (Rev. 13:8); salvation requires something to be saved from, and so God allowed Satan’s rebellion and the spread of sin.
· The suffering that Satan brought into the world actually became the means by which Jesus was able to be the complete and perfect Savior of mankind: “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered” (Heb. 2:10). Indeed, Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8).
· Ultimately it is by and through the defeat of Satan that all of God’s glorious attributes are displayed. We see his sovereignty, holiness, mercy, love, justice, wisdom, grace, omniscience and omnipotence.
Erwin Lutzer writes, “Our spiritual war is a classroom where we can learn about the deceitfulness of sin and the chastisement of God—along with His grace and power. God could have banished Satan to another planet or cast him immediately into the lake of fire. But He chose to use the Devil, to give him a role to play in the divine drama. God uses our conflict with Satan to develop character and test our faith. God knows that we must fight before we celebrate. We must learn before we are approved. God permits Satan’s temporary reign, as the Puritans used to say, ‘to increase the saints’ eternal joy.’”[1]
Perhaps an analogy will help. This is not a perfect one, but bear with me. Let’s think about a husband and wife deciding to have children. In that decision there is sacrifice and risk they must think about. Do they want their lives utterly changed forever? What if the kid grows up to hate them? What if she/he rebels and causes them incredible heartache? Why do they want to bring a child into world knowing there is so much evil, pain and death? Yet, despite all the risks and possible sources of pain – the man and woman decide to start a family. Could it be that the husband and wife believe the love they are able to bestow upon the children, and the love returned by obedient children make it all worthwhile? In a similar way, could it be that God thinks that the 2/3 of the angels who are still holy, and the millions of redeemed people who will worship Him for all eternity are worth it all? God chose to create because He is absolute love and love takes pleasure in sharing the best things with others. The ultimate and best thing is God Himself. By creating God shared His love with the creation. Even though there would be great evil, death and destruction – God’s love and glory would be manifested through all eternity and that is His ultimate end. As Paul said, “7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends…12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” In eternity, “we will understand it better by-and-by” as we look back at history through the lens of God’s love.
Finally, we must be careful in our questioning. A question like this assumes that we can objectively sit outside the universe and judge that the situation could and would be better if God would have done things differently. In other words, we run the risk of falling into the same sin that caused Lucifer to become Satan. We can think we have a better idea of justice, righteousness and goodness than God. But let us not forget that while man tries to take God’s place on the throne, Jesus left His position to become a man, entering into the problem of evil to suffer and die. Why did God create Satan? We don’t know ultimately, but the question only begins to make sense at the foot of the cross.
-DM
[1] Erwin Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1996), 21.
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