God Glorified Through The Fall

Romans 5:20-21

“Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The fall of man was decreed and foreknown by God. He had known from all eternity that He would display His perfect attributes on an imperfect and defiled earth (Acts 15:18). But not only did He know but He also foreordained everything that was to happen (Ephesians 1:11). According to Peter, God decreed that Adam would fail the test of the fruit tree. He says in his first epistle that Christ’s death for sin was “foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:19-20).  It is obvious, therefore, that God ordained the fall into sin. It was His will. But why did He do so?

Sometimes these questions are not for us to ask. Sometimes questioning God’s motives is an act of faithlessness. However I think that since His own Word gives us the answer, it is not only permitted but beneficial for us to ask and answer this question.

The scripture passage I’m talking about is Romans 5:20: “…But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” That is, without sin we would not be able to marvel at God’s grace in salvation, just as we cannot marvel at the moon and stars without the darkness of light. Sin is the backdrop to God's grace. So God willed the fall into sin so that His grace and mercy would be evident to all men.

But does this not make God the author of sin? Does this not make Him responsible for sin? We know from Psalm 145:17 that God is perfectly righteous and cannot do any sin. We also know that He cannot tempt any man to sin (James 1:13).

The Belgic Confession says:

“According to [God’s] holy will He so rules and governs [His creation] that in this world nothing happens without His direction. Yet God is not the Author of the sins which are committed nor can He be charged with them.  For His power and goodness are so great and beyond understanding that He ordains and executes His work in the most excellent and just manner, even when devils and wicked men act unjustly. And as to His actions surpassing human understanding, we will not curiously inquire farther than our capacity allows us. But with the greatest humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us, and we content ourselves that we are pupils of Christ, who have only to learn those things which He teaches us in His Word, without transgressing these limits" (Article 13).

It is enough to know that He is not accountable for sin, without blaspheming Him by theories about His authorship of it. We must be content with what He has revealed, and rather than inquiring further, must revere His character and revealed attributes.

These revealed attributes are displayed through the fall of man and his salvation. His justice is displayed by His judgment on the entire reprobate. His mercy is seen by His salvation to the elect. His love is perceived by the sending of His Son. His truthfulness is displayed by the fulfillment of His promises to save us. His power over sin is shown by His Son defeating it by the resurrection. And so on.

Not only does he glorify Himself by His redemption, but also glorifies us. We gain much from God’s plan to save us from damnation. Rather than being restored to our original state, we are raised to a much higher state of glorification! We are brought into a closer relation to God through the death of Christ—namely adopted sons and heirs of Him!

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:16-17).