One of the favorite phrases people love to kick around in recovery circles:
"Screw Guilt!"
But we cannot just "screw it". Even when there is no overt knowledge of right and wrong, a human being is still in bondage:
Everyone knows that there is a God:
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1: 18-20)
We all have the innate capacity to judge others. This bent in human nature exposes the condemnation at work in all of us:
"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
"But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things." (Romans 2: 1-2)
And the Psalms are explicit about the inner depravity of man:
"The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
"They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Psalms 14: 1-2)
Paul takes up this verse in his epistle to the Romans:
"We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
"There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
"They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Romans 3: 9-12)
But what's the point for Paul to tell us the painful, unavoidable, damning obvious?
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3: 19-20)
This is inescapable for every person on the face of the earth: we cannot escape the condemnation of fall short of the glorious ideal of God, upheld in His law, given at Mt. Sinai to Moses and the Israelites. But there is a way out for mankind:
"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
(Romans 3: 21-24)
We need righteousness, we need right standing with God, but we cannot get to it ourselves. But through the death of Christ on the Cross, we are set free from the bondage of sin, made the righteousness of God, and made One with Him in eternal reconciliation. Paul explains this ably in his epistle to the Colossians:
"And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
"In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
"And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 10-15)
We are complete in Christ, lacking nothing.
No wonder David could prophesy "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."
(Psalm 23:1)
One facet of guilt, or condemnation, is a nagging sense of incompleteness in our lives. That is gone when you become one with Christ!
The sinful nature that we are born with through our first parent Adam
(cf Romans 5:12, 17) is forever removed from us, cleasned away for good by the death of Christ. We no longer have to check ourselves, watch our own backs, wondering if we have misstepped, consciously or unconsciously.
When Paul writes that through Christ's death " the handwriting of ordinances" was blotted out, he signals that not only are we set free from sin, but we are also set free from the bondage of the law and the painstaking insistence of keeping the rules.
The Law was nailed, screwed to the Cross, and therefore those ordinances hold no more power of guilt over us.
How can we make so bold a declaration:
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 3-4)
In Christ, we have been THE righteousness of God (cf 2 Corinthians 5:21)
Yet we do not fall into a licentious lifestyle. On the country, because we walk "after the Spirit", letting the Holy Spirit guide us, we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (cf Galatians 5:16, 24)
Despite our righteous standing before God in Christ, there will still be attacks from the enemy, his fiery darts of condemnations from the Evil One. Our faith in Christ more the equips us against this ongoing onslaught:
"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." (Ephesians 6:16)
How is this possible? Back to Colossians 2:15, which reads:
"And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."
How were these demons "spoiled" or "rendered harmless"? The law, the one right standing which gave the devil freedom to condemn fallen man, has been screwed to the Cross, blotted out forever. The devil can no longer use the law against us.
We can "Screw guilt", scorn any shame, because we have only to point to the Cross, Christ's Finished Work, which has given us complete freedom from sin, made us One with Him before the Father, that we may boldly declare:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:1)
and then
"And [God] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6)
and therefore:
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 17-18)
Are you afraid? You feel guilty, hence the torment, but there is now NO condemnation, because you are in Christ.
SO you can say "Screw Guilt!"
Guilt, sin, shame, condemnation, all has been screwed, nailed once and for all and forever at the Cross!