Does the gospel instill toxic guilt?
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| "The Kiss of Judas" is a traditional depiction of Judas by Giotto di Bondone, c. 1306. Fresco in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The apostle Paul lends more light to this subject than virtually any other writer, biblical or secular, ancient or modern, in his short parenthesis in 2 Corinthians 7:8–11:
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it.… I am happy … because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done (NIV).
We are not certain what event Paul refers to here. Regardless of the situation, he speaks of two types of sorrow: “Godly sorrow that brings repentance to salvation” and “worldly sorrow which brings death.”
If we were to work backwards from the symptom to the cause in these troubled people, the closest word we could find to explain their “worldly” destructive guilt and sorrow would be remorse. Remorse, an agonizing regret of guilt, is all that there is for the honest nonbeliever. Dishonest secularists have at their disposal the tool of rationalization. They can blame their environment, circumstances, parents, even genetics for their failure. Honest people, while recognizing mitigating circumstances, accept personal responsibility for at least part of their actions.
The lethal characteristic of remorse is that it relentlessly searches for an object to attack. Remorse always turns inward on the honest person beset by a problem of conscience. Psychologists’ offices and mental hospitals are filled with the casualities of this guilt. In an honest and compassionate desire to cure the symptom of guilt, many counselors decide that an overactive conscience is the problem and often this conscience is tied to God. Thus their answer is to rid the client of his or her belief in God.
The point, however, is that a “worldly sorrow which brings death” is the culprit, not God. God is not interested in sorrow for sorrow’s sake, encumbered with guilt, remorse, self-denial, and eventually self-destruction. He is interested in a “godly sorrow” called repentance. Like remorse, it is too honest to rationalize. It also relentlessly seeks for an object. The object of repentance, however, is not the guilty sinner who cannot, even by self-destruction, take away sin. No person, not even psychologists, can forgive sins. When one has fallen short of the standard, he is not okay. He cannot forgive himself or be absolved, even by polysyllabic, psychological words. Only God can forgive, and He has made it plain in Scripture that His forgiveness is so far-reaching and available that a new word had to be invented to describe it. That word is grace: unlimited favor of God to man.
Although Paul lived before modern psychology, he communicated one of the most important principles of mental health: misdirected guilt is harmful even to death. He understood that it keeps people from the object of godly sorrow: repentance which leads to the Savior, to life abundant, and eventually to eternal life.
The problem is in a misunderstanding of the object of our sorrow. Godly sorrow leads to life; worldly sorrow leads to death. The Bible has experiential definitions of each.
Judas sinned grievously against God by betraying Christ. The seriousness of his error haunted him so that he attempted to undo his actions. He returned the money he had taken as reward. His conscience still haunted him, and he was too honest to rationalize. He eventually hanged himself. Few men have ever been more sorry. His sorrow, however, did not redeem the situation or the man. It led to death.
The apostle Peter also sinned by denying Christ. He became so sorrowful that Scripture says he “wept bitterly.” He too refused to rationalize away his weakness. Peter did not hang himself over misdirected remorse for his sin. He became the spokesman for the disciples at Pentecost and a leader of the early church. What was the difference between Judas and Peter? Was Judas more sorry? Was Peter more sincere? What we do know is that Peter’s sorrow led to a full and productive life. Godly sorrow, what the Bible calls repentance, allows the Savior to do what no man can do: pay the penalty for sin and forgive.
There is much more to be said about the mental health side of forgiveness. Many good books, secular and Christian, have been written on the subject. None will work, however, until we understand the central difference between worldly sorrow that leads to death (guilt and remorse) and godly sorrow that leads to life (repentance and forgiveness).
