This was originally written for r/TrueChristian, but because it jives so well with the spiritual freedom aspects of the 400-series here, and really complements it in many ways, I thought I'd add this here too.

Okay, this issue has come up so much in light of one of my recent posts and from other conversations I've had in the past that I actually decided to look into it today. The basic premise is something like this:

  • I'll talk about how our guilt is on Christ, so there's no reason for us to feel anything negative associated with our guilt and that doing so is either a direct rejection of the cross or an internal refusal to allow the cross to work in your life.

  • Invariably, someone will respond that guilt is an emotional state that God uses to lead us to repentance.

I disagree. I just went through both the NIV and the ESV and found that out of at least 186 uses of the words "guilt" or "guilty" in the Bible, only 1 of these uses called it a feeling. Hebrews 10:1-2, "The law ... can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins." There are two crucial things to note here:

  • First, if there is a sacrifice "once for all," then there's no basis for feeling guilty for our sins, which actually proves once more that teh saved have no basis to experience feelings associated with guilt in the first place.

  • Second, the Greek word translated as "felt guilty" is used 16-30 other times in the Bible (depending on how specific you want to be with conjugations) and it is translated as "conscience" every single time, including by other translations of this verse. This is a distinct word from the other times the Bible uses the words "guilt" or "guilty."

What does this Mean?

In the Bible, guilt is not a feeling. It is a legal status - a judgment against someone's conduct. You either are guilty or are not guilty. You don't "feel" guilty. That said, when we have the status of guilt on us, there are negative feelings associated with that - shame, remorse, regret, anger, sorrow.

When a Christian says, "I feel guilty," they are speaking only in a modern colloquial sense. But if we want to know what the Bible has to say about our guilt we have to use the Bible's definition of guilt. If someone believes they have the legal status of guilt on them because of their sin, then it makes sense that they would feel the negative emotions associated with and produced by guilt. However, this also shows a clear misunderstanding of the Gospel. If God removed your guilt, you have no reason to feel that way any longer. Christ has set you free.

If, on the other hand, we genuinely believe that we are "not guilty" because our guilt is on Christ and not on us, what feelings would that belief produce? I imagine it would not be shame, remorse, regret, anger, or sorrow.

To put it another way that might make more sense to the guys on this sub: if you let your guilt shape your actions and emotions, then you are living in sin's frame and not your own or God's.

Godly Sorrow

Now, there is a concept known as "godly sorrow," which as a phrase is only used once in Scripture: 2 Cor. 7:10-11, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret." But again, even this concept is not for the believer, whose foundation for repentance should not be an emotional one, but a spiritual one. Notice that the passage shows a clear progression: godly sorrow --> repentance --> salvation. In other words, it's speaking about the unsaved. This is affirmed by the context of the passage itself. Paul is referencing his prior letter that he knew caused them grief. That letter is 1 Corinthians, where Paul saw great sin within the church and people's salvation was in jeopardy. So, he calls out their sin, declares that they're in a state of guilt, and compels the church to kick out as a non-believer anyone who did not repent (1 Cor. 5). That's not an easy word and Paul says in 2 Cor. 7:8 that he actually regretted writing that for a short time - until he realized that people actually repented and were saved because of his writing that, at which point he shifted to rejoicing, not at their grief but at their repentance! In other words, godly sorrow is to lead people to salvation. There is no biblical use of this concept that the saved are meant to experience.

Conviction

In turn, what the saved are designed to experience in relation to their sin is a sense of conviction. This is what the Holy Spirit compels in us. Conviction is not a negative emotion that drives us away from sin; it is not associated with painful feelings. It is a positive and proactive desire to pursue God and godliness.

  • The person who is convicted looks at his life and says, "I am not acting godly. I want to be godly. I think that would be a great thing. Now I will start being godly."

  • The person who looks to guilt and the associated feelings says, "I am not acting godly. I'm a horrible person. I don't want to be ungodly. I'm going to try to stop doing ungodly things."

These two ideologies are not as closely overlapped as some might think. Turning away from sin is not the same thing as turning toward God. I have seen countless Christians who have struggled with one sin and their method of conquering it has only led to another. That is because as believers if we look to guilt as our guide, we're never orienting ourselves toward something, only away from something. If we let conviction be our guide, we are orienting ourselves toward God, without regard for the sins we are leaving behind, for they are on Christ and not us.

Repentance

I explained it recently to someone using this illustration (which was originally created for another purpose, but works well here too). Moving the same direction as Jesus is "not sin." Moving any direction other than the direction Jesus is moving is sin. Simple enough? That means that out of the 360 degrees of motion, there is only 1 degree (or technically 0 degrees - a single directional ray) that is "not sin" and the other 359 degrees are sin.

So, if I'm letter H and darting away from the direction Jesus is going, I'm sinning. But if I do a 180 degree turn ... I'm still not going the same way Jesus is going, so I'm still sinning. That's why I don't like the "repentance is doing a 180 degree turn" analogy. It's not a turning away from sin; it's a turning toward God - which inherently includes "away from sin" as a byproduct. But the goal of repentance isn't to rid ourselves of sin; it's to put on Christ and become godly. This distinction matters and it is far too often overlooked.

CONCLUSION

The bottom line is this: if you're saved, your guilt is on Christ. If you believe that and acknowledge that God has declared you "not guilty" in his sight, then there is an incredible freedom that comes with this - that we don't have to feel the negative emotional ramifications that the guilty experience when they know they've done wrong and their conscience convicts them.

However, this does not mean we are free to sin. Rather, our freedom is away from sin and toward Christ. That is the work of the Holy Spirit: to convict or motivate us toward godliness, not as if "avoiding sin" is an end in itself.

We are not to define ourselves by our sinfulness, but by our godliness. Guilt makes us look to sin as the standard. Conviction by the Spirit makes us look to God as the standard.