Now, whether you look at the Hebrew language or the Greek language of the Bible, the very same word for sin is, at times, also translated sin offering.  Doesn’t make sense, right? From a purely human perspective, sin cannot be a sin offering.  But from God’s viewpoint, all our iniquity (sin) was laid upon Jesus by the hand of God the Father…like the High Priest did with the scapegoat sent into the wilderness from ages past.  

But there are huge distinctions!  Yes, our sin carried to death by Jesus as an act of divine obedience, a sacrifice.  But because Jesus is God and the obedient Son, it was also a sin offering by Him…completely righteous, perfectly holy, and fully glorifying to the Father as the purest and most holy of sacrifices.

Let’s look again at Romans 8:3-4. “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.  And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.“

Also remember, Jesus was no whipping boy,
no mere ancient scapegoat sent off to die. 
There was far more to the Crucifixion than just punishment for Jesus
while retaining our own moral agency,
enabling us to start each year with a clean slate to sin all over again.

No, our sin was “imputed” to Christ…as the hymn “It Is Well” says, “not in part, but the whole”. From a divine perspective, all the iniquity/ sin that was ours (humanity’s whole) was instead offered to God and paid for—in full—by Jesus’ blood.  

Jesus, who identified with us through His Incarnation, Baptism, and now Crucifixion…was made to “be sin”, in the likeness of sinful man for the purpose of being the sin offering back to God on our behalf. 

How did this do anything different than the scapegoat? 
What does the Bible say? 

“And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” 

Here’s what’s amazing:  no goat or sheep—even ones sent or sacrificed—could ever fully meet our “righteous requirement” like Jesus did.  How did He do that? Stay tuned….

As I continue to ponder whether Jesus experienced shame, there is no denying what the Apostle Paul was careful to describe: 

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus had no sin.  That’s the easy part. 
The hard part is to understand what it means that He would “be sin” for us. 
And further, how could He “be sin for us” without experiencing shame?

Any of you who have read more than a few posts I’ve written may recall that I’m fond of analogies.  Even though they all fall apart when pressed, there are things that become easier to understand when I think of them via analogy.  Today’s analogy is iridescence.

The same iridescent fabric is—in fact—one color viewed directly.  But when viewed from one angle the light is interrupted in a way that it appears a different color, say blue.  View it from another angle and it appears another color entirely, say gold.  Is the fabric gold?  Yes, in the moment.  Is the fabric blue?  Yes, to our view at the time.  But is the fabric in its existence changed or just our assessment from the position we view it?  Could it therefore, be iridescent white while simultaneously be gold and blue to two different people from their directional perspectives?  Hold that thought.

Jesus was fully man and fully God…all the time He walked on earth.  That’s a mystery difficult to wrap one’s mind around.  Unless we ponder that His spiritual being is unchanged.  That’s how God the Father sees Him.  Jesus is always God….and existed in heaven before all time and as He remains forever into the future.  Therefore, His eternal view was/ is/and reliably will be spiritual, divine, holy, and righteous.  After all, He’s God.

As He walked upon the earth, though, He was made flesh and His perspective (how He viewed the world) was self-veiled divinity.  Note, however this is not a division in His being which would be heresy.  Jesus was undivided.  His light was self-veiled … “interrupted” in a sense … so that He would see as a man would: through the clear lens of pure humanity, as Adam and Eve were at Creation.  It’s how He could truly feel temptations but not give in to them.  He could see sin coming a mile away, but never do the sinful thing.  He could experience the pain of knowing what death did to His precious creation, feel grief, and even anger at sin and death.  More though, He could feel death personally in His humanity.  Yet God did not die.  Hold that thought, too.

Romans 8 has much to illuminate this idea: “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.  And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.  The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.  You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:3-10)

Two realms.  Two perspectives.  Same person Jesus Christ who “endured the Cross, scorning its shame” (Hebrews 12:2) but even as His flesh experienced death, “Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit.” When He had said this, He breathed His last.” (Luke 23:46)

He scorned the shame a crucifixion forced “on” His flesh. 
But His Spirit was untouched. 
He didn’t die as a superhuman,
but fully human with His mind governed by the Spirit in a fully human sense. 
His Spirit never died, though His body did. 
Same undivided Jesus. 
Two realms… the Spirit belongs with God,
but shame, sin, and death belong solely to the flesh. 

Yes, a lot of deep thought, but here’s where the rubber meets the road for us: if you’re “born again,” shame belongs to the old self, not the born again one as you are born of the Spirit.

There will never be such a lasting and consequential failure
as that of Adam and Eve in Eden
when a single bite of fruit from the forbidden tree
plunged all humanity into guilt and shame.

Nothing we can do will be able to cover our guilt and relieve our shame because it all goes back to God and our separation from Him.  And it all began with Adam and Eve, the first to experience shame and fear of God in the negative sense.

Shame and fear—both are rooted in guilt
because it’s guilt when we sin and fail to obey God. 
Shame is our reaction when we fall short or remember times we did. 

But short of what?  That’s the key. 
It’s the dividing line between those of faith … and those of the world.

Cultural anthropologists parse shame as arising from transgressing mere cultural or social values.  When it’s visible to others and exposed for failure to meet the world’s performance standards, we experience shame.

They parse guilt as privately sourced and dwelling in one’s internal values.  In other words, to these cultural anthropologists, you feel shame only when others see your failures to perform or conform, and you feel guilt only when you violate your personal conscience which is linked to your own standards of right and wrong. 

When the standards are personal—everything I do is right, maybe everything you do is wrong, then I am justified in everything I do—and that leads to a really warped view.  If the murderer of the Jews in the Holocaust can feel justified in genocide, or the killer or live organ harvester of the Uyghurs in China has no conscience about it, where is the guilt? 

Wow, it’s a really warped view when one’s standards exist only internally.

This explains why moral relativism is so dangerous, destructive, and why the age we’re living in seems to be spiraling out of control.  When we have no anchor, no external reliable truth sometimes called moral absolutes, there is no real conscience about sin or guilt. 

Moral Relativism is at the heart of many of the world’s problems. 
When each person has his/her own version of the truth
and what constitutes right and wrong, then who holds the moral compass? 
It’s the old “Who are you to judge?” taken out of context.

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you– who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12

There is One Judge, but culture denies Him.  We’ve turned away from the Author and Giver of the Moral Absolutes—our true compass for every human being.

With Jesus there was no separation from God, no sin, and no guilt. 

Adam and Eve—at one point in their lives—were just like that! 
But then enters stage left, guilt on the coattails of sin. 

Together, Adam and Eve sinned and separation from God was the immediate outcome (as sin becomes guilt).  They weren’t separated from God because they made a mistake or because God was a control freak.  Back in that day, nothing was a mistake because everything God provided was perfect…including His command. 

Even God’s command was good and protective. 
Adam and Eve just didn’t believe it enough to obey it.

Adam and Eve’s own will and moral agency failed them in their eagerness to be like God.  It didn’t matter their motivation in seeing “the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom” or good intentions, perhaps, of wanting to be like the God who created and loves them. 

They didn’t believe God was fundamentally different from what they could become.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Fast forward to today when people make the mistake of believing good intentions and virtue signaling are enough. The world applauds and feeds the ego of the “good person”.  But God’s got perfect instructions for us in His Word (the Bible). 

Platitudes of “right-thought” abound, but as Martha’s Vineyard’s recent expulsion of 49 of the very people they claim to care about…the old “Not In My Back Yard”…in the end, these platitudes were exposed as fraudulent, a masquerade.  They’re not enough to save to eternity, earning it our way. 

Or like Adam and Eve thinking we can steer our own moral agency—even with good intentions and sincerity—all the while… violating what God says. 

Not one of those popular platitude signs says, “Obey God” or “Seek Jesus” or “We believe the Bible is Truth.”  Those are too risky, invite the FBI to raid your home, and don’t signal cultural virtue to the world’s onlookers and thought-police.

Just like back then, God’s Word is good and protective. 
We just don’t believe it the way we should.

Continuing our discussion of shame and whether Jesus ever experienced it, maybe we need to look at shame through a more biblical definition and to contrast it with guilt.

Here’s our history: When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, walking with God, and enjoying His full presence in the cool of the day, they were naked and unashamed.  There was nothing to hide.  Nothing to be embarrassed about in the presence of the God who created them and loves them.

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:25)

But then that fateful, life-altering choice to do what God had expressly commanded them not to do.  Blame it on the serpent, but the moral agency for behavior resided individually within Adam and Eve. 

Genesis 3: 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.  8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”  11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

Now all of a sudden, they know they’re naked, and they’re ashamed and afraid.  Ashamed in front of God (obviously since there was no one else there).  And they were afraid of Him.  Afraid of His knowing.  Afraid of His reaction.  Afraid of what He meant when He said, “you will certainly die”.  What did that even mean?  So, they were afraid.

What about Jesus?
He is (and was) as Adam and Eve were before their failure.

Was Adam fully human back then?  Yup.  So, if Jesus is fully human and is (and was) as the original Adam was when the first man was created… (and as aside, Jesus being the Creator would know) …

Jesus was never afraid … and arguably never felt shame. He could recognize both of those consequences of separation from God when He saw them in us. I say “arguably” because it’s a bit more complicated as to how He could be without experiencing shame and still experience all that broken humanity suffers. There was no shame before sin entered the picture. And Jesus had no sin. He had glory before the Incarnation and has glory now. It is during the parenthesis of His 30-year ministry during the Incarnation that He did not have the same glory He once did.

John 17:1 After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.  2 For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him.  3 Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.  4 I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do.  5 And now, Father, glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.

Read John 17.  Jesus finished God’s work…perfectly.  He honored the Father in all things.  From before the world began until the moment called “Today”, Jesus remains unashamed in the Father’s presence, and in His presence, there was and is no separation and never will there be.

What is Shame?

Shame has been defined as “a spiritual consequence of sin”.  Oxford defines shame as “the feelings of sadness, embarrassment, and guilt that you have when you know that something you have done is wrong or stupid.” None of them quite plumb the depths of the biblical definition.  Irrespective, it is always viewed as unpleasant, and the world’s definition often focuses on one’s self-perception and self-worth. 

Less so, a spiritual consequence of sin because He could experience that consequence … of our sin, not His own … but then, is that really *experiencing* shame?  Or just receiving someone else’s punishment?

But He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,
and by His wounds we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:5)

You may have heard the strange phrase “whipping boy.”  Do you know where that comes from?

“It seems an odd notion to us now that a royal court would have kept a child for the purpose of beating him when the crown prince did wrong. That’s just what did happen though. Whipping Boy was an established position at the English court during the Tudor and Stuart monarchies of the 15th and 16th centuries.”    The saying ‘Whipping boy’ – meaning and origin. (phrases.org.uk) 

Did the crown prince receive the ability never to do wrong again by the whipping boy being whipped?  Would punishment still come to the whipping boy if the crown prince failed and did wrong again?  As any actual “moral agency” or intrinsic power over behavior resided within the crown prince, the whipping boy didn’t stand a chance of escaping another beating.

Now, let’s turn to what it means to experience something.

While the crown prince may have suffered the emotions of seeing someone whom he cared about being whipped, did the crown prince suffer in the same way (e.g., personally, individually, emotionally, or physically) as that of the “whipping boy” who felt every blow in his entire being?

Do you see where I’m headed?

We’ll get there but for now let’s just agree that Jesus was no mere whipping boy, punished instead of us.  Read Romans 3:20-26 (verses 20-22 below).

Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.  21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Before dismissing the question, “Did Jesus Experience Shame?” with an offended “Of course not!”, one must ask if Jesus was truly human and to what degree is shame part of our human condition? 

“He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)

And if Jesus didn’t experience it, was He truly tempted in every way as we are (Hebrews 4:15)?  Was He made to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21)?  Was Jesus a superhuman and not really like the rest of us?  But the mirror response of “Of course He did!” leaves open a quagmire of theological problems.

What is shame anyway? 

I’ve been quiet for a while, overwhelmed by life in general, trying to cling to my faith in the midst, toiling away with manual labor, being nourished by somewhat weak sermons that only left me hungry, and resorting to chewing on my own thoughts. 

This question, “Did Jesus Experience Shame?” has proven to be a rich for theological ideas to be mined.  There is an opportunity to go deep into shame–something we all experience to one degree or another– and a series is born in which we will explore whether Jesus, as fully-human-fully-divine, ever experienced shame.

The Storm is Upon Us

The wind whips us with forty lashes minus one.

The rain pelts in wave upon wave of needle pricks.

The air turns cold as the feeder bands come,

one after the other, in a relentless parade of persecution.

The storm is upon us, and there is no mistaking it.

Go to the inner room.

To the place of seclusion and safety.

Rest there in the stillness.

It is dark, windowless to the raging all around us.

The storm is upon us, and there is no mistaking it.

But God, You are our refuge.

You are the Master of the storm and the Stiller of the seas.

You silence the wind and shut the door to the storehouses of hail.

You govern the rain and the tides.

You set limits and seasons, and for that, Lord, we praise You.

The storm is upon us, but there is eternal safety for the righteous.

It’s a Passover of wrath in the quiet place of the heart.

In the heart secure in Christ.

His hand shields us as destruction befalls the wicked.

In Christ’s sanctuary of the soul,

We are at peace and rest,

And faith reigns unchallenged.

For our God is completely trustworthy.

The storm may be upon us, but there is eternal safety for the righteous.

(Isaiah 26:3-4)
Amen and amen.

Which brings me now to the final word I want to offer and why I began this sidebar on abortion and the New Covenant world at the outset.  It’s not going to be as simple as turning back the clock.  It’s not going to be as simple as going to a state that has laws as you believe.  There will be interstate complications of a national interest.  Interjurisdictional issues that will be for lawyers and lawmakers to resolve. 

Christians must be prepared to offer a Gospel solution…with neither freedom at the expense of life … nor life at the expense of freedom.  We must be prepared, not to take up arms in the looming “abortion wars”, but to speak peace and redemption.

Roe v Wade, for all the bad policy it is, and for all the damage it has done to our culture, it did serve one positive purpose.  By finding in the Commerce Clause a “right” to abortion and nationalizing it, Roe v Wade served as a lock on a Pandora’s Box of Interjurisdictional Troubles.

To be sure, that was never enough good to make bad policy into good.  When it is overturned which will happen eventually as the science and technology surrounding childbirth catch up with the law, we must be prepared for what comes next.

Christians must be able to speak the New Covenant’s grace
into the coming abortion wars and political chaos.
We are called to be peacemakers.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:9-18

I will raise these issues as questions with the understanding that I don’t have the answers.  But we need to think about them and be prepared to address the issues that Roe’s imperfect thinking kept in a Pandora’s box.  Issues of State vs. State.  Person vs. State.  Commerce vs. State.  Healthcare vs. State.  Insurance vs. State. 

They’re not insurmountable or without some degree of parallel
(such as interjurisdictional issues with marijuana legalization and drinking age
and physician assisted suicide, etc.).
In fact, the parallels ought to give us hope
that the abortion wars won’t end in mutual destruction.

What if a woman crosses state lines to get an abortion?  Which state’s laws apply and is it based upon residency or where the service is performed?  How does insurance pay for it as healthcare if the employer or healthcare insurer are located in a state where abortion is not legal but are willing to pay for it in a state where it is?  Will there be financial penalties for a company’s assisting a woman across state lines?  With a national insurer, how will medical reimbursement work?  What about national corporations with locations in numerous states with different laws?  Can a physician offering abortion services be prosecuted for doing legal work in their home state if it’s illegal in another?  What about licensure or professional credentialing by national organizations?

These are among the many questions which will need to be addressed state by state.  It can be done as other interjurisdictional issues have been without nationalizing a solution. 

Thank you for hearing me out.  I know this topic is a hard one.  Let’s be prayerful and peacemakers and show the way of grace that leads straight to the Gospel in a New Covenant world.

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The Series on Roe v. Wade includes:
Http://seminarygal.com/ruminations-on-roe-v-wade
Http://seminarygal.com/life-and-freedom-as-old-as-eden
Http://seminarygal.com/freedom-at-the-expense-of-life
Http://seminarygal.com/no-doomsday-future
Http://seminarygal.com/no-consequence-chauvinism-of-abortion
Http://seminarygal.com/life-at-the-expense-of-the-gospel
Http://seminarygal.com/roe-v-wade-pandoras-box-of-interjurisdictional-troubles

I know the passage of Scripture below doesn’t occur in the earliest manuscripts.  I wish it was in all of them, plus all 4 Gospels, plus expounded upon by every writer of the New Testament.  Its singular lesson about the Gospel and the person and work of Jesus Christ is just that important.

Let us not become a nation of first-stone-throwers
and condemn people who have engaged in sin. 
Let us be more Christlike with the Spirit that gives life. 

This is what we should seek as Roe v Wade is being considered for overturning.

John 8:2 At dawn [Jesus] appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.  9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.

10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John. 8:2-11). 

Life and Freedom.  Do you see them both?

The two are upheld in beautiful tension and displayed in Christ Himself, in both His life and His death.  In this instance, Jesus was sinless and had every right to throw the first stone. But His focus was the Spirit that gives life not the law that brings death (2 Corinthians 3).

Christians should be mindful of both Life and Freedom as we prepare to minister tough topics in this New Covenant world. Let us not be a nation of first-stone-throwers and focus so much on the humanity of the unborn that we lose the humanity of the woman. Let us not focus so much on the law that we lose the Gospel and the witness. When God gives us opportunities like this, let’s display His heart and live the Gospel of grace and redemption to a watching world.

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The Series on Roe v. Wade includes:
Http://seminarygal.com/ruminations-on-roe-v-wade
Http://seminarygal.com/life-and-freedom-as-old-as-eden
Http://seminarygal.com/freedom-at-the-expense-of-life
Http://seminarygal.com/no-doomsday-future
Http://seminarygal.com/no-consequence-chauvinism-of-abortion
Http://seminarygal.com/life-at-the-expense-of-the-gospel
Http://seminarygal.com/not-a-nation-of-first-stone-throwers