Why did God create Satan?

One of my church members has asked me the following question by email:

My husband asked me why God created Satan as it seems a 'vindictive' thing to do. I did not have a satisfactory answer. Have found various theories on websites. I would be interested to know what you think. Please, when you have a moment, could you let me know.

I've responded with my initial thoughts, but I'd be interested to hear of any resources you might point me to or any thoughts on how you'd reply.

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Comments

Rosie Perera

I suggest a search in your entire Library for "did God create Satan" (leave off the "why" for now, because you will likely find it in the surrounding material anyway). For example, if you'd searched for "why did God create Satan" you'd miss a hit like this one:

In my Library, the books with substantial hits on this question are:

A basic answer, at least within Catholic theology (not universally shared among Christians, though) is this one:

So that nuances the question from "why did God create Satan" to "if God foreknew that Satan would choose evil, then why did he create him" or "why did he create Satan with the ability to choose evil?" (one could just as well ask the same question about humans).

Some of the above resources explore that question, but it is indeed one of the most profound questions of our faith. Difficult to come to any definitive answer without knowing the mind of God. And the forums are probably not a good place to hash it out, because they are meant to focus on how to use the software, not what are the answers to theological questions.

DMB

I think for someone simply looking for 'the logic', Rosie's post is good.

But if you're dealing with someone more adversarial (how's that for hebrew 'satan'), you have to ask when evil 'Satan' (vs a supernatural being essentially asking 'why') showed up. The LBD has a good discussion of the sequence.

Granted I suppose a big issue is 'which tradition'. And translations (eg ESV) mask the distinction.

JT (alabama24)

I don't have time for a much deeper answer, but my initial gut response is this: The issue isn't why did God create Satan. The issue is why does God give any of his creations free will. Satan was not created with a fallen nature.

1Cor10 31

I agree with JT. God didn't create Satan. He created angels, who fell when they exercised their God-given free will.

God's ultimate goal behind everything He does is to reveal His glory, i.e., His character or attributes. What else can it be? He is self-existent and is infinitely happy. Therefore, His creation cannot add to His happiness. (btw, since we are created in the image of God, any good that is in us must be present in infinite magnitude in God; hence, if we are happy and happiness is "good", then God must be infinitely happy). Circling back, if His creation cannot make Him "better off", it must be the case that He wants to give of Himself to His creation and, hence, His goal must be to reveal His glory as much as possible.

Having established His goal, we have to try and understand what drives His decisions. Because He is infinitely wise, all decisions of His must, by definition, help Him achieve His goal. All decisions of His, by definition, are the best. There is no concept of wrong decisions with God. Thus, giving free will must, by definition, help Him achieve His goal more compared to not giving free will. Otherwise, He wouldn't have given free will (remember, His decisions are the best, by definition). Using the same logic, we can infer that His decision to allow the Satan to exist is the best. He could have squashed the angel when the angel fell, but He allowed the fallen angel to become Satan and roam the earth. Thus, it must be the case that allowing Satan to come into existence must lead to more of His glory being revealed to His creation compared to not allowing Satan to exist by squashing him right away when he fell.

Then the question to ask: how did allowing Satan to exist help reveal His glory more. One possibility is that God uses the attraction model to draw people to Him. God is good is more easily recognized by people when we have Satan who is bad in contrast.

I am not giving the "why", but I am just giving one potential path that you might travel to try and understand the "why". Enjoy the philosophical explorations; they are a lot of fun.

Jack Caviness

why God created Satan

This resource does not answer your friend's question, but the author does deal with the larger question of "Why does evil exist?"

If God, Why Evil?: A New Way to Think about the Question

Kiyah

This book came up in a Bookstore search. I don't own it so I can't vouch for it but it seems to be relevant to the topic.

https://www.logos.com/product/145459/why-does-god-allow-evil-compelling-answers-for-lifes-toughest-questions

fr.paul

Hi!

The same thing just on the base of Latin and English - Catechism of Catholic Church. It's quite logic if we assume that God is the Summum Bonum - he can't create something that is against his nature.

391 Electioni inoboedienti nostrorum protoparentum vox subest seductrix, Deo opposita,²⁸² quae propter invidiam eos in mortem cadere facit.²⁸³ Scriptura et Ecclesiae Traditio in hoc ente angelum perspiciunt lapsum, Satanam vel Diabolum appellatum.²⁸⁴ Ecclesia docet eum primo angelum fuisse bonum, a Deo factum. « Diabolus et alii daemones a Deo quidem natura creati sunt boni, sed ipsi per se facti sunt mali ».²⁸⁵

392 Scriptura loquitur de horum angelorum peccato.²⁸⁶ Hic « lapsus » in libera electione horum creatorum consistit spirituum, qui radicaliter et irrevocabiliter Deum Eiusque reiecerunt Regnum. Huius rebellionis reverberationem in verbis Tentatoris ad protoparentes invenimus nostros: « Eritis sicut Deus » (Gn 3,5). « A principio Diabolus peccat » (1 Io 3,8), « mendax est et pater eius » (Io 8,44).

393 Irrevocabilis indoles optionis angelorum, et non infinitae misericordiae divinae defectus, facit ut eorum peccatum remitti non possit. « Post lapsum enim nulla ipsis paenitentia est, uti nec hominibus post mortem ».²⁸⁷

II. THE FALL OF THE ANGELS

391 Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.²⁶⁶ Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called "Satan" or the "devil".²⁶⁷ The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing."²⁶⁸

392 Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels.²⁶⁹ This "fall" consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter's words to our first parents: "You will be like God."²⁷⁰ The devil "has sinned from the beginning"; he is "a liar and the father of lies".²⁷¹

393 It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that makes the angels' sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death."²⁷²

Blessings,

Paul Caneparo

why God created Satan

This resource does not answer your friend's question, but the author does deal with the larger question of "Why does evil exist?"

If God, Why Evil?: A New Way to Think about the Question

Thank you Jack. Of all my resources I felt chapter 3 of this book answered the question most directly. However, I also encouraged the lady to challenge her husband to question the existence of God more than trying to understand Satan. Once we acknowledge God's existence and his love for us, it becomes easier to accept there are some mysteries we'll never get our heads around. So I've encouraged her to get her husband to read The Case for Christ, which I feel is a good introduction to sceptics.

1Cor10 31

It's quite logic if we assume that God is the Summum Bonum - he can't create something that is against his nature.

AMEN to that. I agree that God's decisions can never be inconsistent with His character/nature/attributes. John Stott (I think he is English and Anglican) in his book “The Cross of Christ” quotes T. J. Crawford, who in turn beautifully summarizes as follows: “It is altogether an error…to suppose that God acts at one time according to one of his attributes, and at another time according to another. He acts in conformity with all of them at all times.” AMEN to that too.

But a little nuance is needed. To understand this nuance, I think it is helpful to think about explicit decisions of God and implicit decisions of God. God created man and angels. These are examples of explicit decisions of God. I think God's explicit decisions have to be in conformity with His attributes 100% of the time.

Because God is sovereign (my definition: He can do whatever the heck He wants!), everything that happens in this world has to be allowed by God. i.e., all the decisions made by His creations have to be allowed by God because He surely can bend the free will of man, if needed. I term these implicit decisions because He allows it. For example, He allowed the angel to fall and He allowed the fallen angel to induce man to sin. I think God's implicit decisions do not have to be in conformity with His attributes.

MJ. Smith

No one has mentioned my favorite versions:

Satan’s Refusal to Worship Adam: A Jewish Motif and Its Reception in Syriac Christian Tradition in: Tradition, Transmission, and Transformation from Second Temple Literature through Judaism and Christianity in Late Antiquity (brill.com)

The Devil Within: A Rabbinic Traditions-History of the Samael Story in "Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer" on JSTOR