The Absolution of Transgression
by Christopher Hendrix
Our world is covenantal. All mankind and all of creation are in covenant with God. However, this covenant is broken. It’s the one that God made with Adam, our head. Then Adam went and snapped it. The results? A world attempts to mend the brokenness with its strategies, plans, and executions. The ‘uncivilized’ world does this through the worship of false gods. The great philosopher Loki was right; people crave subjugation. Humanity desires to worship something. Since people know they’ve messed up, the gods of wood and stone tend to become the objects of faith. These objects are accessible to please. Just throw some money, knee-bowing, and adoration to appease God’s wrath. I once witnessed a tribe in Mexico offering cans of Coca-Cola to these gods. I wonder why Coke doesn’t make a commercial about it being so good, even if the gods drink it? After all this frittering away of resources, guilt and shame are temporarily absolved, and people can go about life.
These gods look different in the ‘civilized’ world but still appear. One such God is the desperation to omit zero emissions, which aims to achieve absolution of guilt. Create the eminent danger of worldwide destruction, warn that everyone outside of the elite is destroying the world (even the cows!), add in an emotional outcry, and get the kids to yell at the adults (Greta ain’t a kid anymore. Now she has joined the adults she hated), and create unobtainable goals to explain the shame and guilt we all feel. Then, when you post on social media about how much you are doing to save the planet, buy an electric car, or put plastic in a plastic-only bin, you can feel somewhat better about yourself. Shame and guilt are temporarily relieved.
Watch Pastor Chris Hendrix’s sermon on Jeremiah 31:31-34
The list goes on as to what we’ve created in the West to experience guilt-free. However, shame will never go away. That’s because our problem isn’t a physical but a theological one. Our problem is that humanity has rebelled and sinned against the most holy God. Our problem is that the wrath of God is upon us. Our problem is that we need salvation from God Himself. Our problem is that we can’t solve this problem.
This realization is what makes Jeremiah 31:31–34 such good news! The New Covenant, the hope for humanity, brings us salvation. Our guilt and shame are absolved in only one way. The solution only comes from one source and not humanity. God Himself, the very God we offended and hated, saved us. He kept us from Himself! The wrath of God was appeased through Christ and His sacrifice. He has forgiven His people of their sins. Not only that, but He has regenerated us! He has written His law upon our hearts. We know Him because of Him.
Our covenantal world has had a new covenant introduced to it. This covenant is not from Adam but from Christ. He is the new head over this one. Under the new covenant, we have been forgiven of our sins. Our guilt and shame were laid upon Christ, who bore it all for us. We are justified by faith alone. This faith was given to us by the work of Christ, and we are brought into His kingdom. Though all creation is in a broken covenant with God, His children, those saved by grace through faith, are in a new covenant with God. This is only because of God.
So then, it’s not by our work that we enter in. It’s not by any amount of good we do. It’s by resting and relying upon the work of Jesus Christ. Humanity is without a solution. Yet, the good news is that Christ offers us this salvation freely. We rest and rely upon Him. Stop striving! Look at the world’s means by which they try to absolve themselves of guilt and recognize it as foolishness! Bring the truth of the Gospel into their lives by showing them the better way. Stand against the deception and lies put forth, proclaim the truth of God, and send the Gospel into conversations. The world may hate you for stomping on their easy solution to guilt or even introducing a means by which guilt is absolved. Yet, we are called to be bold and courageous, not backing down, for we have a hope that rests on the absolution of transgressions.