Feeling Guilty?
Oct 15, 2009
The Case for Grace - part four of a study of the book of Romans
Mike Gaudet
Why?
Each of us has a moral code. While our codes might differ, they serve to give each of us a sense of right and wrong. They provide us with a standard of behavior to “aim at.” Guilt becomes an issue because we don’t always “hit” what we “aim at.” When we fail to live in line with our standard, we feel guilty.
We have a moral code.
We break it.
We feel guilty for breaking it.
“For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law: for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” Romans 2:12-16
In Paul’s’ day, some people (Jews) based their moral code on sacred principles. Right and wrong were based on divine law. Other people (Gentiles) based their moral code on secular principles. The laws of the state formed the basis for right and wrong.
While the foundations were different, the lifestyles built on the foundations had this in common . . . they didn’t sit squarely on the foundation. Both Jews and Gentiles failed to conform their lives to the code they lived by. Or, in other words, both Jews and Gentiles “sinned.”
In the original language of the New Testament of the Bible “sin” literally meant “to miss the mark.” During archery competitions, the archer who failed to hit the bulls-eye “sinned” when the arrow “missed the mark” the archer aimed at.
We “sin” when our lifestyle fails to hit the bulls-eye of the moral code we aim to live by. Whether our code is sacred or secular, whether we “have sinned without the Law” or we “have sinned under the Law,” we are all in the same boat.
Apparently, those with a sacred moral code felt that they were nearer and dearer to God. This is why Paul writes “it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law.” Being “religious” did not give them grounds to feel superior to the irreligious . . . at least not in God’s eyes!
God doesn’t award points for those whose code is more sacred. Aiming at a God-based standard doesn’t make a difference. Hitting it does. And that is our problem. Our bulls-eyes are untouched. We are guilty of missing the mark.
We are guilty.
There is a courtroom inside our heads.
Our “conscience” is the judge. It convicts us when we violate the code we live by. There are plenty of cases on the docket.
Our “thoughts” are like lawyers. Guilty! Innocent! We end up, “alternately accusing or else defending” ourselves. It is as if we have both prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys living in our heads . . . and “court is always in session.”
By the way . . . don’t bother looking for God in the courtroom. He is not there!
He is your Father . . . not your judge.
He’s in the family room.
That is the “good news!”