God and Evil, Some Quotes

Shaun quotes from the WCF in the comments on the previous post on this subject.

God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.[1]

Here's a bit from Jonathan Edwards, who first notes that no one ever defines what they mean when they use the phrase author of sin, they just use it to suggest that someone crossed some sort of blasphemous line, but it's not made clear exactly where that line is:

If by the Author of Sin be meant the Sinner, the Agent, or the Actor of Sin, or the Doer of a wicked thing; so it would be a reproach and blasphemy, to suppose God to be the Author of Sin. In this sense, I utterly deny God to be the Author of Sin; rejecting such an imputation on the Most High, as what is infinitely to be abhorred; and deny any such thing to be the consequence of what I have laid down. But if by Author of Sin is meant the permitter, or not a hinderer of Sin; and at the same time, a disposer of the state of events, in such a manner, for wise, holy, and most excellent ends and purposes, that Sin, if it be permitted or not hindered, will most certainly and infallibly follow: I say, if this be all that is meant, I do not deny that God is the Author of Sin, (though I dislike and reject the phrase, as that which by use and custom is apt to carry another sense,)....[2]

[1] Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter III, Of God's Eternal Decree, Section I.
[2] On Freedom of the Will, Part IV, Section IX, page 76.

Tags: Theology, God's sovereignty, God and Evil, Jonathan Edwards, Westminster Confession of Faith