Day 4 - Crime Scene Reconstruction
Part 2 - ‘Not Guilty vs. Innocent’
Scripture Passage: 1 John 1:5-10
Focal Verse(s): If we say, “We have no sin,”we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ~ 1 John 1:8 (CSB)
In our last devotion, we learned that John is going on the offensive against false teachings (mostly by a group known as ‘gnostics’ who believe in salvation through secret knowledge) right out of the gate of this letter. We see how he began his argument with a declarative statement about God: “God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.” Then, he proceeds to, like a forensic investigator doing crime scene reconstruction, begin asking a series of what if questions.
No need to rehash the first two what-if questions, as we discussed those last time. Today, we’re jumping right into the next question he asks (in verse 8), and it’s a biggie:
“If we say, “We have no sin,”we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
John then follows this question up in verse 10 with this one (which has even bigger consequences):
“If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
One of the arguments the gnostics had in regards to salvation was that it was not about any kind of moral inadequacy that separates man from God, but rather intellectual. Knowledge. Understanding. This philosophical heresy had begun to creep into some of the churches in the first and second centuries.
You might be thinking, “But Christians are all familiar with Romans 3:23, which states the everyone has sinned and fallen short of glory of God. How can anyone think they haven’t sinned?
Think about it. Examine your own life for a moment. Be honest with yourself. Has there ever been a time when you’ve compared yourself to someone else in terms of morality and thought, “Well, I’m better than them anyway!” Or, in a moment of moral victory thought, “I’m not too bad a person, am I? I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. I rarely lie. I’ve never killed anyone or even intentionally hurt someone. I’m a good person.”
Before I proceed and explain why that above paragraph is important, have you ever wondered why, in a court of law, there are typically only two verdicts available to a suspect? Guilty and Not Guilty. Have you ever wondered why it’s ’Not Guilty’ and not simply called ‘Innocent’?
In terms of jurisprudence, a defense attorney or prosecutor can never prove innocence. All they can do is prove beyond a shadow of a doubt—based on evidence and an influential argument—that someone most likely did or did not commit a particular crime. For a defense attorney to get a ‘Not Guilty’ verdict, all that has to happen is that the prosecutor fails to produce enough evidence to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the suspect is guilty.
‘Innocence’ is intangible and therefore, unprovable. It is a state of being, not defined by any particular action or lack thereof.
If we say “We’re without sin!” we’re saying we’re innocent. If we say “at least I haven’t murdered anyone. I’m nothing like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer”, we’re saying we’re more innocent than someone else. But once again, innocence is a state of being. More than that, ‘innocence’ is a state of being with no shades of gray (remember the declarative statement: ‘God is light and there’s absolutely no darkness in Him.’). We’re either in the light or we’re in the dark. We’re either innocent or we’re not. We’re either without blemish or we’re not. A gallon of milk that’s been in the fridge for too long is either spoiled or it’s not. There’s no happy medium. Sour milk can never be turned to unspoiled milk anymore. It’s bad. Rotten to the core.
And if we only stumble one time in our life, we are forever soured. We’re now blemished. No amount of filtering, scrubbing, or cleaning will unspoil us. No amount of ‘good things’ we do can put us back to that ‘Sell by’ date on our jug.
Here’s the thing: Innocence is a state of being and has nothing to do with action. The same is true with the reverse. Sin is a state of being, not a verb or an action. The moment we breathe our first breath, our ‘Sell by’ date has already expired.
We know this is true because the Bible tells us so. We know this is true because God tells us so. We know this is true because Jesus told us so. And if we say, “Yeah, but…” or try to rationalize our state of ‘Sinness’, we’re effectively calling Jesus a liar. If Jesus lied about our state of being, what else has He lied to us about? If Jesus lies, then He’s not perfect and therefore, there is no hope of redemption for any of us.
So, we either make Christ out to be a liar, leaving us without hope or we take Him at His word and accept the fact that we’re spoiled. We’re rancid, rotten, and forever tainted and there’s nothing we can do to fix us. No amount of knowledge can change the molecular makeup of a glass of milk. And so, no amount of knowledge can change our own spiritual makeup either. The gnostics had it wrong. Those who claim they’re “pretty decent” or “basically good” are wrong.
In terms of ‘knowledge’, maybe this is the only knowledge any of us truly needs to know: we are sinners. We are spoiled. We are blemished and unable to stand before a perfect God without being utterly destroyed by his holiness.
Thankfully, John doesn’t leave it at that in verse 9 in our passage: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Focus on the verse. Meditate especially on the last part of that verse (…to cleanse us) and understand: He was able to turn water into wine. Therefore, I have no doubt He’s also the only being on earth with the power to unspoil milk. He is the only One capable of changing our state of being from ‘guilty’ to ‘innocent’. Even more amazing, He’s willing to do so. All we have to do is ask.
But more on this next time!
Father God, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your unwillingness to give up on us even thought we deserve it. Help us to understand that we are born wicked and there is no good in us, no matter how our outward actions might be. And yet, you sent your Son to take us home to you.