The Bible doesn’t tell us everything. It only tells us what is crucial for the salvation of mankind. The origin of evil is one of those topics that is scarcely talked about in the Bible.

The first chapters of the Bible reveal that in the beginning man had the freedom to choose between right and wrong. The world and man in it were created good, but man was deceived by Satan and he chose to do evil. The Bible tells us that the devil is also a creature created by God – Satan was originally an angel who rebelled against God. It was Satan who lured man to do what was against God’s will and that is how evil spread on earth.

Why a good God allowed evil to spread on earth will remain a mystery to us. What is clear, however, is that God defeated the devil and its power when He was born as a man on earth and died on the cross for our sins. The first man, and as a result the whole mankind, became a slave to sin when they chose evil over good. That is how we lost our free will. But Jesus Christ came to set us free from sin’s hold. It is only through Jesus that we can be free to live according to God’s will.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
(John 8:34-36 ESV)