Why Did God Create Viruses?

James (age 13) recently asked,

“Why did God create viruses?”

Great question, James! We often think of viruses as tiny agents that cause harmful diseases. But when God made viruses, they were part of his “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31), so they only served good purposes before sin’s curse entered the world.

It turns out that even today, many viruses still serve a beneficial purpose. Bacteriophages are viruses that kill bacteria. Given that bacteria are everywhere and multiply very quickly, their numbers need to be controlled somehow. Bacteriophages do that job.

However, there may be another reason God created viruses. Creation scientist Dr. Joe Francis has proposed that viruses and other microbes are organosubstrates.1 That’s a big fancy word for the connectors between the world of living organisms and the physical environment they live in. In this view, viruses were created to help pass minerals and other substances from the earth into living things, using symbiotic relationships. Even today, many viruses retain beneficial or mutualistic effects, which provides support for the idea.

There is room for more research in this area. Perhaps in the future, we may discover more reasons why God made viruses. Regardless, we know that in the beginning, they did not cause diseases because they were made very good. And we can look forward to a day when God will restore the very good state in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1)!

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Footnotes

1. Joe Francis, “The Organosubstrate of Life,” Answers in Depth 4, (May 20, 2009), https://answersingenesis.org/biology/microbiology/the-organosubstrate-of-life/.