I’ve also heard this question phrased as, “If God created everything, why did He create evil and sin?” The Bible tells us that God created the world and everything in it in six days. At the end of His work, He looked upon His creation, and “it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Sin and evil are not good, and for God to have “created” sin, He would have had to participate in it. The Bible also tells us that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn 1:5). So, if God cannot sin and did not create sin, where did sin come from?

To better answer this, we need to understand that sin is not a created thing; instead, it is something that God has permitted to be in the world as part of His design. Just as darkness is the lack of light, sin is the lack of good. God did not create mankind and even the angels to be robotic slaves. He empowered His creations with free will and the ability to make choices for themselves. He desires that all will come to know Him of their choosing (1 Tm 2:4). God designed mankind with an internal moral code that is present in everyone’s heart. Even young children and isolated tribes worldwide instinctively know right from wrong.

Sin entered the world when Adam, knowing what was right in God’s eyes, chose to do the opposite. Sin is a lacking, a deficiency, a falling short of God’s goodness. God did not tempt Adam into sin; He does not tempt, and He cannot be tempted (Jas 1:13). The willful disobedience of God’s commands came from the creation, not the creator. Both the Hebrew and Greek words for sin translate to mean missing the mark. Adam missed the mark that God had set for him when he chose to disobey God, and it became his legacy. All of mankind would inherit this proclivity to disobey God from Adam. 

Thankfully, God extends grace and mercy to His creation, knowing that they had the potential to sin. He created a path to forgiveness and restoration through Jesus Christ.