Did God create Satan?

Answer

God has created everything that ever has been, is, or will be “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”, (John 1:3). This includes physical beings and matter as well as spiritual beings (Colossians 1:15-17). The only person who has the power of being in and of Himself—meaning He has no beginning or ending—and is self-existent is God “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”, (Exodus 3:14). All other beings were therefore created by God and belong to God “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein.”, (Psalm 24:1).

There are prophetic, biblical references to the King of Babylon and the King of Tyre. These personages are considered by most scholars as types of Satan (Isaiah 14:12–15;Ezekiel 28:13–17). These two passages give the reader a bit of history concerning Satan and his origins. Verse 12 of Isaiah 14 says Satan’s beginnings were in heaven. The Ezekiel 28 passage says Satan was created (verse 13) as one of the cherubim (verse 14) and was blameless until sin was found in him (verse 15).

The Bible describes the root of Satan’s sin as pride “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”, (Ezekiel 28:17). Before Satan was expelled from heaven, he must have been very beautiful both inside and out “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.”, (Ezekiel 28:12). Ezekiel 28:15 is careful to say that Satan was created “blameless,” and his sin was of his own doing (Ezekiel 28:16-18). So it would be incorrect to believe that God created Satan with sin already present in him. God is holy and does not create anything that is contrary to His own nature (Psalm 86:8–10; 99:1–3; Isaiah 40:25; Isaiah 57:15).

So, while it is correct to say God created Satan, it’s never correct to say that God created the sin within Satan. Satan chose his own course “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.”, (Isaiah 14:13). God never causes sin “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”, (James 1:13), even though He has created a world where sin is possible. Someday God is going to put an end to Satan and all sin “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”, Revelation 20:10, the devil will be confined along with his minions for eternal punishment.