I was reading your article, “The Author of Sin,” and I kept thinking, “Yes, but what about the passage that states, ‘God is not the author of sin?’ Certainly there must be a context for it. I want to see the context and see what the metaphysical-practical connection looks like there.”

Then I thought I would go find it. Talk about being conditioned! The closest thing seems to be where the NKJV renders 1 Corinthians 14:33 as “God is not the author of confusion.”

Because of reading other people’s opinions over the years and seeing the phrase bantered around, I thought it must be a passage somewhere in the Bible, and for some odd reason had never thought that I needed to find it before. The bottom line is that it just isn’t there.

This matter about the author of sin is religious tradition, nothing more. Although we should not focus on affirming or denying whether God is the author of sin (since it is not the Bible’s focus), but should focus on God’s sovereignty, there is nothing biblically or rationally wrong with saying that God is the author of sin.

The expression has been so loaded that it automatically sounds wrong or even blasphemous to people, but we can affirm it in a reverent manner. We can affirm that God indeed rules over all, not in some remote or secondary way, but in some powerful and direct way, doing whatever he pleases.

There is a simple explanation for 1 Corinthians 14:33.

First, we know from many biblical passages that God indeed causes confusion at times, such as when he fought against Israel’s enemies in battle. This means that “the author of confusion” cannot be blindly applied, but we must observe the context.

The context is verse 40, which says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” This is the point of the passage and the context for verse 33. Notice that, whether it is order or confusion, Paul is giving instructions to the Corinthians, and not to God. Like James, Paul is talking about how Christians should behave, rather than the metaphysics behind their behavior. The statement refers to God’s approval or disapproval of the situation, and not the metaphysical cause.

Moreover, the word “author” is not in the text in the first place. There is no hint of the word or concept of “author” in there, but it was inserted by the translators. So the NIV translates, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” The ESV and NASB are similar to this. A more literal translation might be, “For God is not of disorder but of peace,” which is true regarding the immediate context of church order, and even when God decrees evil (including confusion), he does so according to a rational plan.