Where did evil come from?

This is a question that has plagued the minds of many throughout the centuries. Every effect has a cause. Since evil is an effect, what is its cause? Some will say it is Satan.  This is a good place to camp. The Bible attributes him to being the first evil there was. When Eve was in the Garden, the serpent that Satan had inhabited was already evil (Gen. 3).  So evil existed before the creation of Adam and Eve.  Evil was therefore passed onto Adam and Eve. They received evil by being tempted by the devil through the serpent and obeying his voice rather than the voice of God.

But where did Satan get his evil?  Can Satan be both the cause and effect of evil? Here is something to think about.  Before Satan fell, he was commonly known as Lucifer. 

But here is something to think about. The bible does not really come out and call Lucifer, Satan.  The name, “Lucifer” literally means, “morning star” and is often translated from Isaiah 14:12:  “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn!” Bible translators have taken the phrase, “star of the morning” and interpreted that as being the name, “Lucifer.”   But the word, “Lucifer” is not actually a name but a translation of the Hebrew word for “morning star.”

The term “Lucifer” was taken by the King James Version translators from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate (383-405 A.D.) edition of the Bible. The Hebrew word is Heylel’ which suggests the idea of “shining,” or “bearing light.” Jerome assumed the word was the name of the morning star, hence, he rendered it by the Latin title “Lucifer.”  But if you look into the more modern translations of the bible, the name “Lucifer” is not present, just the phrase, “star of the morning,” or something similar. 

When Jesus recounted the fall of Satan, here is what He said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18).  Jesus does not use the name, “Lucifer,” but calls him by what appears to be his real name – “Satan.” In fact, the name, “Lucifer” is found nowhere in the Bible except as it translated from the Hebrew word “heylel’” in Isaiah 12:14.

So this brings me back to my original question.  If every effect has a cause, what was the cause of Satan’s fall? The word, “Satan” means “accuser.” Did he have another name before given this name?  Was Satan created by a direct act of God or did he become evil?

Well, we know from reading Ezekiel 28:12, that he had a seal of perfection on him.  We are told also that he was known as the “anointed cherub” (v. 14 – a special class of power heavenly beings).  We are also told that he was “blameless in his ways from the day he was created” (v. 15). 

Then we are told that the perfection in this being that we refer to as “Satan” lasted “until unrighteousness was found in him” (v.15b). So the question is, “How did the unrighteousness that was found in Satan get there?”

Well, it could not come from within him because he had the seal of perfection (Ezek. 28:12).  It could not come from outside of him because he was in heaven, specifically “on the holy mountain of God” where no evil existed (v. 14).  So how did Satan acquire this evil?

Answer:  I don’t know.   This is one of those questions that must wait until we can ask God directly in heaven.