December 19

‘And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin…’ John 16:8

   Conviction of sin is distinct from morality. We all, minus the sociopaths, feel badly when we have done bad things. Shame is the resultant feeling and should compel us to seek forgiveness from whomever we have slighted. In this way, we recognize that we have sinned against each other.

On the contrary, conviction of sin is the recognition that we have sinned against God. In accepting the reality of our conviction, we are accepting our destitution. We know that there is no way in which we can be made clean again without God. We have nothing to offer Him and cannot ‘make it up’ to Him in any way.

   The only way we are made worthy of God despite our sin is through His forgiveness. His forgiveness which is manifest in the Atonement on the Cross of Jesus. But why did God give us His son? Why did God give His son to die for our sins? Is it because he is Love? OC argues that such as statement is small-minded. God is Love, but the catalyst for his forgiveness is greater than just love.

   To directly forgive Man his sins would be to detract from the divinity of God. He would be dragged down to Man’s nature. In giving Christ to Atone for our sins, God gives Man a vessel in which he can approach God, rather than God approaching Man. Think of the Redemption as God’s extending His reach to Man. Man’s job then is to accept the forgiveness of his sins, reach up to God, and be pulled out of the mire of sin.

Furthermore, it is not enough to simply be sorry for our sins, as we might be if morality were our only impetus to be forgiven. Conviction of sin is the first step in accepting our own ineptitude. Because we are convicted, we can become a new creation. A new relationship with God is made in us through our humility, which otherwise would not be possible.

   This relationship is the crux of forgiveness. Forgiveness does not merely assure us of going to Heaven rather than Hell. It creates in us the desire to know God and to uphold His law because to do anything less would be simply unacceptable to the convicted sinner.