Two Kinds of Blamelessness

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There are two kinds of blamelessness. One is impossible for us to have, and the other is the full and settled expectation for all Christians.

Compared with the holiness of God, not one of us as yet at the place where God could not find fault if He wanted to. In our vertical relationship with God, we all stumble in many ways. No one should ever preen himself with the flattery that he has somehow arrived at a place where he is sinlessly perfect.

This is why the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ is necessary. This is why we pray in the name of Jesus, and not in our own name. This is why we come before God dressed in the obedience of Jesus. That is the one obedience that is needful for us—to trust in Jesus, the one that God sent.

 

But there is another kind of blamelessness that we are called to, and which we are called to achieve. Call it a social blamelessness. We are to be blameless in our relationships with one another, and because we cannot see every little twitch in one another’s heart motives, this kind of relationship is actually possible. This kind of relationship is repeatedly set before us in the Scriptures as an attainable goal.

When we fail in this regard, the principal thing is to humbly acknowledge it, and guard against the corrupt arrogance of defensiveness. Defensiveness is our counterfeit justification. We try to have it do in our relations with one another what the obedience of Jesus does for us in our relationship with God. We even call it justifying. As we come to the worship of God, let us be done with all such paltry attempts to defend and justify ourselves.

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