Question for you:
Can God Sin?
Seems like a silly question, and in away it is, but it is a question that a friend and I were talking about a week or so ago, and it hasn’t left me so I thought I would talk about it here. Once again the question is “Can God sin?”. Think about it, God is the creator of everything, He created the heavens and the earth, all living things and the space between them. He created out of himself all that we see and feel. But can God sin?
At the outset I think most of us would say yes, God can sin, but chooses not to. This may be true, but I would think not. Well wait, first lets look at what sin is. Sin in offending God, Can God offend himself? Can God of love a God of creation truly sin? Can God create something he is not? God is not hate so can God create hate? God is not selfish nor is he a murderer so can God create such creatures?
Some would say yes, just look around, others would say no that God did not create the evil but he does allow it, out of our own free will we have created it, Others would argue that the simple fact that God did allow us to create it, and the simple fact that we are created in his image, thus God created the evil, albeit not directly but indirectly by creating the human, and allowing that human to fail. Yet others would say god can do as God wishes. All are valid arguments in one way or another, but I think all fail to truly understand God. I do not presume to think that I understand God, I have a hard enough time understanding the teen that lives in my house and as complex a creation a teen is, it does not even begin to compare to the complexity that is God.
I would think that if we took all the concepts and responses listed here and the ones in your own mind, mixed them up a bit and allowed lots of time for prayer, we may get a tad bit closer to an answer, but I doubt if we will ever know… What think you?
Paul
If sin were merely a transgression of some ethical law, then it might be possible (might! – I would say though it absolutely isn’t and that the idea that it is, is a very pernicious one!) for ethical law to stand above God, and in that case, God could (although being perfectly good wouldn’t) sin.
However I’ve always been led to believe sin is ultimately a failure to reside in God’s will, a separation or rending of the sinner from God – as I keep getting told “missing the mark” the mark being complete union with the will of God. In that case it would be impossible for God to sin, God’s will is God’s will, how could He oppose it without changing His will?
Correct, it is not just ethical law, it is God’s law. This is going to be a very good discustion, I hope more join in
I don’t believe that God can sin. Sin is, as stated in Eastons 1897 Bible Dictionary, “any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God”. As such, if God were to sin, it wouldn’t be sin, merely a lawmaker disregarding his own Law.
However, if God did sin – it would change the very aspect of God, the absolute sovereignty of the heavenly Father. Thereby also, by association, changing the unblemished face of Christ, making him a sinner who then would have died for HIS sins not everyone’s. That would return us to a state of Old Testament with God – with everyone being a sinner and no redemption for us.
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, NOT TO THINK OF HIMSELF MORE HIGHLY THAN HE OUGHT TO THINK ; BUT TO THINK SOBERLY, ACCORDING AS GOD HATH DEALT TO EVERY MAN THE MEASURE OF FAITH. ( Romans 12:3)
Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men : but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.(Matthew 12:31)
THINK ABOUT THIS VERSE. If you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, HOW MUCH MORE, if you blaspheme against GOD.
By asking ‘can God sin?’ one is assuming that there is a greater law that governs God’s morality and if there is a law that governs God, by definition, He ceases to be God. It is an absurd and self-contradictory question that cannot be answered in a sensible manner!
http://kravgisophia.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/can-god-sin/