There is a school of thought that, in seeking to understand the existence of sin and evil, has postulated that it is a necessary existence. Immanuel Kant held such a view, as did F.W.J. Schelling. In contrast to this view was the eminent Dutch theologian, Herman Bavinck. He said that for Schelling, a life without sin would be "an existence without content, an empty abstraction without opportunity for struggle and victory or conflict and reconciliation" (Reformed Dogmatics, III, 57). As the problem of evil is wrought with such difficulty that our intellect fails to fully comprehend it, this particular strain of thinking is welcome and accepted by a great many people. Bavinck acknowledges that there is, in fact, some truth to this conception.

Nevertheless, he gives no allowance for the notion that evil must necessarily exist. Among other things, to affirm the necessity of sin attributes the authorship of sin to God. Indeed, for Schelling, "in order for there to be no evil, God himself would have to not be" (Ausgewählte Werke, IV, 347). For Bavinck, however---and rightly so---this is unthinkable. He states,

Not only does Scripture testify against this view, but the moral consciousness of all humans rises up in protest against it. Sin may be whatever it is, but one thing is certain: God is the righteous and Holy One who prohibits it in his law, witnesses against it in the human conscience, and visits it with punishments and judgments. Sin is not rational, nor is it lawful; it is lawlessness (άνομια); it is not necessary to the existence of creatures, much less to the existence of God. The good is necessary even for evil to exist, but the good does not need evil, nor does holiness need sin, nor truth falsehood, nor God Satan. If sin, nevertheless, frequently serves to bring the good to fuller disclosure and to glorify God's attributes, this occurs---against sin's intent, not with its consent and cooperation---by the wisdom and omnipotence of God. Against its own genius, sin is forced to serve the honor of God and the coming of his kingdom. Thus evil frequently pays tribute to the good, the lie is overtaken by the truth, and Satan, to accomplish his deceptions, often has to appear as an angel of light. But all this is attributable, not to sin, but to the almighty power of God, who is able to bring good out of evil, light out of darkness, and life out of death (58).

Any other perception of sin ultimately denies the sovereignty of God. It can be properly said, I think, that God is Lord over sin, but he is not Lord of sin (I realize the delicate nature of such statements; if you feel it can be formulated better, let me know). Our inability to deal with this question is, as Bavinck says, "the greatest enigma of life and the heaviest cross for the intellect to bear. The question...still waits in vain for an answer that is more satisfactory than that of Scripture" (53). And so for now we must look forward to the return of Christ and the consummation of his Kingdom when sin shall be no more, and the Lord will be king over all the earth. Indeed, we wait in eager expectation. Come, Lord Jesus.