Theodicy and God's Permission of Sin, by Stephen Charnock.

Theodicy and God's Permission of Sin, by Stephen Charnock. The following contains an excerpt from Discourse Eleven of his work, "The Existence and Attributes of God."
EXODUS 15:11.-Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
- Genesis 50:20
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
- Isaiah 45:7
O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?
- Deuteronomy 3:24
Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
- Jeremiah 32:27
The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
- Proverbs 21:1
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
- Ezekiel 18:3-4
Prop. 4. The holiness of God is not blemished by his secret will to suffer sin to enter into the world. God never willed sin by his preceptive will. It was never founded upon, or produced by any word of his, as the creation was. He never said, “Let there be sin under the heaven,” as he said, “Let there be water under the heaven” (Gen. 1:9). Nor doth he will it by infusing any habit of it, or stirring up inclinations to it; no, “God tempts no man” (James 1:13). Nor doth he will it by his approving will; it is detestable to him, nor ever can be otherwise. He cannot approve it either before commission or after.
1. The will of God is in some sort concurrent with sin.
He doth not properly will it, but he wills not to hinder it, to which by his omnipotence he could put a bar. If he did positively will it, it might be wrought by himself, and so could not be evil. If he did in no sort will it, it would not be committed by his creature. Sin entered into the world, either God willing the permission of it, or not willing the permission of it. The latter cannot be said, for then the creature is more powerful than God, and can do that which God will not permit. God can, if he be pleased, banish all sin in a moment out of the world; he could have prevented the revolt of angels, and the fall of man, they did not sin whether he would or no; he might by his grace have stepped in the first moment, and made a special impression upon them of the happiness they already possessed, and the misery they would incur by any wicked attempt. He could as well have prevented the sin of the fallen angels, and confirmed them in grace, as of those that continued in their happy state; he might have appeared to man, informed him of the issue of his design, and made secret impressions upon his heart, since he was acquainted with every avenue to his will. God could have kept all sin out of the world, as well as all creatures from breathing in it; he was as well able to bar sin for ever out of the world as to let creatures lie in the womb of nothing, wherein they were first wrapped.
To say God doth will sin as he doth other things, is to deny his holiness; to say it entered without anything of his will, is to deny his omnipotence. If he did necessitate Adam to fall, what shall we think of his purity? If Adam did fall without any concern of God’s will in it, what shall we say of his sovereignty? The one taints his holiness, and the other clips his power. If it came without anything of his will in it, and he did not foresee it, where is his omniscience? If it entered whether he would or no, where is his omnipotence? “Who hath resisted his will?” (Rom. 9:19). There cannot he a lustful act in Abimelech if God will withhold his power: “I withheld thee” (Gen. 20:6); nor a cursing word in Balaam’s mouth, unless God give power to speak it: “Have I now any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak” (Num. 22:38). As no action could be sinful if God had not forbidden it, so no sin could be committed if God did not will to give way to it.
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