Have you ever done something wrong that you later regretted? Perhaps you have lied to your parents or taken something that wasn’t yours. Maybe you’ve treated others rudely or spoken about people you don’t like with slanderous intent. Is there anybody on the planet who hasn’t violated their own conscience or broken a law or rule?
Consequently, people live with varying degrees of regret, shame, and guilt over their past actions, knowing they have no ability to atone for them or make them right. Lying, stealing, slander, murder: These all happen daily in any given society. Hidden hatred, racism, greed, and envy are staples of human civilization. We covet what others have, and we take what we don’t own. Some people cheat on their taxes; others plagiarize from books or music. The list of our sins goes on and on.
Guilt is a universal problem for humanity. It exists in all places and at all times of history. No one can claim moral perfection. Every human being has participated, in some way, in corrupt behavior. The beauty of the Bible is that it doesn’t sugarcoat the misdeeds that humans have been committing since the dawn of time. Nor does it merely describe and then condemn those transgressions. It also provides a solution to our guilt.
Two Long Words to Help You When You're Struggling With Guilt
If you find yourself feeling guilt or shame over your past actions, we hope this article comforts you by explaining what God has done to deal with your guilt. To explain this, we will introduce you to two important biblical words: justification and sanctification.
For many people, reading the Bible is difficult because it uses words we don’t use in everyday language, and at Bibles.net, we want to make the Bible clear and understandable for people who might not regularly read or study it. Many Bible words are wonderfully meaningful: Though they may be foreign to us, they have everything to do with our life and experience with God.
What Is Justification?
Let’s tackle the word justification first. Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “Jesus died for my sins.” Essentially, that is what justification means—Jesus, the Son of God, died a substitutionary death for your sin, being condemned in your place, so that if you trust in him, you might stand righteous and free of guilt before God.
Although this concept may initially make sense, the overall concept may still be confusing. So, let’s go back to where the Bible begins its story of humanity and our relationship with God, in the book of Genesis.
Where Did Sin and Guilt Begin?
God made the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, who were the parents of the human race, and put them in a paradise called the Garden of Eden. They were created in God's image, to represent him in the world and rule over his world and to have a relationship with him. God gave them freedom to enjoy all his creation and one command: Do not eat the fruit of a particular tree in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:16-17).
Unfortunately, as Genesis describes, they both ate this forbidden fruit (Genesis 3). Consequently, God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden and cursed them for breaking his command, which he warned beforehand he would do if they disobeyed him. This first act of disobedience resulted in both spiritual and, eventually, physical death, and not just for Adam and Eve, but for every person who would come after them as well.
This is why the Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV) and that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 ESV).
This is where we are first introduced to the biblical concept of sin. Sin is anything done in violation of God’s will. For Adam and Eve, it was as simple as eating a piece of forbidden fruit, because in so doing, they doubted God’s goodness toward them and shirked his authority. This made them sinners in God’s eyes, and their sin damaged their relationship with him.
How Has God Dealt With Our Sin?
The same situation happens in every one of our lives, in varied forms. Each time we’ve made choices contrary to God’s will as revealed in the Bible, we sin and are subject to the same penalty that Adam and Eve suffered, which is ultimately death.
As you read this, you might be thinking, “But I thought you said this article was meant to provide comfort?!” The wonderful news is that God didn’t leave us in this lost state. He sent his Son, Jesus, who lived a perfectly righteous life—without sin or any disobedience against God—and then gave himself as a substitute for all who have faith in him. He took the penalty of death that we deserve upon himself in his death on a cross.
Above we quoted from Romans 6:23, but here’s the complete verse: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 ESV). Incredibly...
