Noah was blameless (Gen 6:9). Job was blameless (Job 1:8; 2:3). David was blameless (Psa 18:23). (God made him that way (Psa 18:32).) Paul maintained a blameless conscience (Acts 24:16). We read, "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him." (Eph 1:4). We are commanded to be blameless (2 Peter 3:14). Jude wrote that God will "make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy." (Jude 1:24). Luke recorded that John the Baptist's mother and father, Elizabeth and Zechariah, "were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord." (Luke 1:5-6). And Paul wrote, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). Now, what's that all about? How is it possible for anyone to be blameless and still satisfy Paul's claim about sin being universal?
Hebrew speaks of תּמים--tâmı̂ym--meaning more at "entire". It refers to being complete, having integrity. It is used in reference to sacrificial lambs without blemish. It is translated "complete, perfect, upright, whole"--that kind of thing. The Greek word is ἄμεμπτος--amemptos--a merge of a--not--and memphomai--to blame or reproach. Another word is ἀνέγκλητος--anegklētos-- "not" and "brought to account" or "accused". A third is ἀνεπίληπτος--anepilēptos--"not" and "arrested, seized". An overseer or elder must be anepilēptos (1 Tim 3:2)--blameless.
So Greek and Hebrew are all good, but what do we mean by it? The dictionary defines "blameless" as "free from blame; innocent." Okay. So blame means "to hold responsible; find fault with." If we are to try to correlate Paul's "all have sinned" with all these references to people being "blameless", we will have to avoid the "innocent" definition. You can't be "innocent" and "have sinned". What then? We need to see if they can fit. (Showing how they don't won't help.)
If we go with "blameless" as in "free from blame" and by "blame" we mean "held responsible", we suddenly have no problem. Because anyone can be blameless--free from blame--without requiring sinless. How? Well, sinless requires "free from sin", but blameless only requires free from culpability. "Oh, great, Stan, that solves everything." No, think about it. From the fall of Man God has provided a means of redemption. It has always been found in repentance and faith. Repentance and faith provides forgiveness. Or we could use the theological term--atonement. So with at-one-ment (the meaning of the term), our culpability is dealt with at the Cross. (Note: It has ever been thus. It's just that from Adam to Jesus the Atonement was anticipatory.) Thus, while we are not sinless, we can be blameless.
There is, in this, a key element that I haven't yet offered. Notice the sequence in the account of Noah.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. (Gen 6:8-9)Now, I already mentioned that Noah was blameless, but notice what happened first. "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." See that? Now, if Noah found grace because he was sinless, it wouldn't be grace, would it? Grace that is earned isn't grace. If Noah was sinless, not only can we discount Paul's "all have sinned" claim, but we can also remove grace as unmerited favor. No, that's not how it works. First, God grants unmerited favor. Then the culpability is absolved in the Cross. And now we have a blameless person. Not sinless, but blameless.
Blamelessness is a great thing. He chose us to be blameless before Him. We are commanded to be blameless. The good thing is that this does not require sinlessness; it is God who makes us stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy. Embrace blamelessness.
No comments:
Post a Comment