Blameless

The Bible talks on more than one occasion about being "blameless". Noah was "blameless in his generation" (Gen 6:9). The Lord told Abram "Be blameless." (Gen 17:1) David sang, "I was blameless before Him and I kept myself from guilt." (2 Sam 22:24; Psa 18:23) Job was "blameless and upright" (Job 1:1). (God called him that (Job 2:3).) Paul told the Philippians to "be pure and blameless for the day of Christ." (Phil 1:10) He even classified himself as blameless (Phil 3:6). A whole lot of "blameless" going on. A similar term is "guilt" or, rather, "guiltless". Paul says that Christ will "sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor 1:8) The popular song, In Christ Alone, speaks of "No guilt in life, no fear in death; This is the power of Christ in me." That's it, isn't it?

There's a problem here. I mean, there is indeed a lot of "blameless" in there, both commanded and claimed, and, yet, we know that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23) We know that "no one does good, not even one." (Rom 3:12) We know that "whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." (James 2:10) We know that "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." (1 John 1:8) and "If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (1 John 1:10) So ... who is blameless here? How could Noah or Job or David be blameless? How could Paul (who wrote some of those things about "all have sinned") call himself "blameless"?

The problem is our understanding of "blameless". We think of it as "without guilt" or "without error", but that's not the idea here. It would be more at "unblamable". It's not that there was no sin; it's that all sin has been handled. It's like your finances. It's not that you don't have any bills; it's that you're up to date on them. No outstanding balances. Paid in full.

Well, again, aren't we left with the same problem? We don't have a means to pay our debt in full. We are incapable. Having deviated from "perfect" (Matt 5:48) and "holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16), can we make ourselves perfect and holy again? No. We do not have this ability.

We talk about "accepting Christ", but that's not the real question, is it? The real question is will God accept me? Thanks be to God I'm accepted because Christ was rejected. I have life because He gave His. I owe no penalty for sin because He paid the penalty for sin. I bear no blame because He took the blame. When Jesus said, "It is finished", He declared the debt paid. He canceled our record of debt (Col 2:14). He made us the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). He filled us full of Himself -- raised us up to "blameless". He solved the unsolvable problem. This is why we rejoice. This is why we celebrate. We will suffer from guilt as we sin and confess (1 John 1:9), but He makes us blameless in His sight. He has done what we could not. This is the good news!