While fallen man in his state of depravity is always inclined to shift the responsibility for his sin on God or on other creatures, Gen. 3, 12. 13, Holy Scripture teaches expressly that God is in no way whatever the cause of man's sin. Hence God must be charged with sin neither directly ("God created man with the evil tendency to sin") nor indirectly ("God is a cause of sin in so far as He concurs in evil actions," quoad materiale).
Questions such as "Why did God create man subject to temptation?" or "Why does He still allow men to be tempted by sin?" belong to the "unsearchable judgments and ways" of God, which are past finding out, Rom. 11, 33-36. We neither can answer them, nor should we try to answer them, Job 40, 1-5; 42, 1-6. Perverted reason will either charge God with being the cause of sin (pantheistic determinism) or deny the reality of sin (atheism) . According to Scripture, however, God was the cause of sin neither in the devil, John 8, 44, nor in man, Gen. 1, 31; nor does He approve or abet sin in any person, Gen. 2, 17; 3, 8; 4, 6. 7; Ps. 5, 4. 5. Not even in evil actions, in which He concurs quoad materiale, does God will the sinfulness of such actions (John 19, 11 compared with Luke 22, 52. 53). Also the fact that God permits sin (Acts 14, 16) or punishes sin with sin (Rom. 1, 26; 2 Thess. 2, 11) must not be construed as if He were in any way the cause of evil; for in all these cases He manifests His punitive justice (iustitia vindicativa). According to Scripture the external, or remote, yet principal, cause of sin is Satan, who sinned first and then seduced man into sin, John 8, 44; 2 Cor. 11,3; Rev. 12, 9, while the internal and directly efficient cause of sin i.s man's corrupt will, which permits itself to be enticed into sin by Satan (Gen. 3, 6. 17; John 8, 44: "The lusts of your father ye will do"). The Augsburg Confession says (Art. 19): "Although God does create and preserve nature, yet the cause of sin is the will of the wicked, that is, of the devil and ungodly men." Hence man is responsible for his sin, or a sinner (subiectum quod peccati), in spite of the fact that he is misled into sin and held captive in it by the devil, Eph. 2, 2. The subiectum quo, or the proper seat of sin, is the soul (intellect and will) of man, though the body shares in his sin, since it is the organ of the soul. To regard the soul as pure and the body as polluted is a pagan error (Gnosticism). Since Holy Scripture condemns all men as sinners, Rom. 3, 4-23, the papistical doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary must be rejected as antichristian, 2 Thess. 2, 9. 10.