PSALM 32: SIN, GUILT, CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

Psalm 32 offers a rich theological depth about sin and forgiveness in a few, beautiful poetic lines.

Background:

Psalm 32 is an example of a “Thanksgiving/Declarative Praise” psalm.  The speaker has made a pilgrimage to the Temple, sponsoring his family, servants, and others who might not otherwise have means.  He will offer a thanksgiving (todah) sacrifice in which much of the meat will be cooked and given back to be eaten in the outer temple precincts as a celebratory, communion meal in the Presence of God.  This psalm is the text of his oral testimony to the community of what God has done, to whom he is so grateful.  His story is that he was ravaged by unconfessed sin, but when he overcame his stubbornness and confessed, God’s graceful response of forgiveness restored him.

Outline with poetic structure:

I. Opening Proclamation (Why he is thankful), 1-2

   (Based on what the psalmist has learned: Blessed is the one who is forgiven!)

            A.  Rebellion forgiven/lifted (personal), 1a

                  B.  Guilt covered (objective), 1b

                  B  Sin not reckoned against (objective), 2a

            A.  In his spirit no deceit (personal), 2b

II. Report of Deliverance (His abbreviated story), 3-5

            Trial, 3-4

                 A.  I: wasting away due to unconfessed sin, 3

                      B.  God: hand was heavy (causing affliction), 4a

                 A.   I: strength dried up, 4b

            Cry to God: acknowledged/confessed sin, 5ab

            Deliverance: received forgiveness (sins lifted away), 5c

III. Conclusion: Instruction & Affirmation (The advice he shares with his hearers), 6-11

            A.  Command: pray to God, 6

                 B.  Affirmation: God will deliver, 7

                    C.  Intention to instruct, 8

                    C.  Instruction: do not be without understanding, 9

                 B.  Affirmation: God loves those who trust Him, 10

            A.  Command: praise God, 11

Comments:

In the Opening (1-2), we learn about sin: it involves rebellion (pesha`) and deceit (remiyyah) (1a and 2b).  The essence of sin is that I, a created one, think I can run my life better than my Creator.  Like Adam and Eve, I want to be like God.  That inner deceit leads to the outer expression of living in rebellion toward God.  The consequences are sin and guilt.
We also learn about the restorative depth of God’s forgiveness.  Although sin and guilt are not visible entities; they are also not abstract notions.  The Israelite system symbolizes sin and guilt as “tangible” results that must be dealt with.  In 1b and 2a the tangible/objective nature of sin is dealt with: the guilt is buried away (kasa) and the cost of sin is no longer counted against (chashab).  In 1a and 2b there is personal restoration: the rebellious act has been lifted up/bear (nasa’) by God and the inner spirit is no longer deceived.  The person is right with God again.

In the Report (3-5), we learn about the real weight of sin.  It is as if God’s hand is pressing down on us.  The consequences are psychological and physical.  I am reminded of the time there was a movement in psychological counseling that told people that they only needed think positively about themselves.  In response, Karl Menninger wrote about the reality of guilt and how some patients were healed only after confession, in Whatever Became of Sin?
So, in the concluding instruction (6-11), the psalmist teaches what he has learned.  He tells us not to be as stubborn as he was about dealing with sin.

Lord, thank you that when I am in a state of rebellion, in unconfessed sin, that your hand is heavy upon me, letting me know of my broken relationship with you.  May my heart never become hardened to accept that condition.  Forgive my presumptuous deceit of self-rule and my prideful rebellion.  I praise you that you lift up/bear my sin.  Amen.

CONFESSION: THE LOST ELEMENT OF CHRISTIAN ATONEMENT

Although rites of confession are in most forms of Christian practice, the heart of confession seems to be lost.  In ancient Israel’s priestly temple of system of atonement (better: “purgation”) for sins, remorse and confession were necessary.  The purgation offering for sin was only provided by God for inadvertent commission of transgressions.  Inadvertent sins were portrayed as symbolically polluting the altar outside the temple building for individual sins and penetrating into the first chamber of the temple for the sins of the community.  When people learned of their inadvertent sin, remorse was expected.  Even for these inadvertencies, reconciliation was not effected by walking through some ritual by rote; it was only efficacious by the gracious response of God.

What about deliberate transgressions?  These sins were portrayed as penetrating into the innermost chamber of the temple, the “Holy of Holies,” which symbolized the immediate Presence of God.  Technically, there was no means provided for cleansing God’s inner sanctuary and restoring a right relationship with God for deliberate transgressions.  The relational covenant with God had deliberately been broken.  However, that is where remorse and confession came in.  Sincere confession of sin was understood to be received by God so that deliberate sins were brought into a state in which their detritus could now be cleansed by the purgation sin offering and symbolically “removed” by the scapegoat ritual.  Confession was necessary as well.  (“And it will be, when an individual feels guilt [remorse] with regard to one of these things, he must confess that which he sinned against it [a command of God], and bring his reparation-offering to the LORD,” Lev. 5:5-6:a).

Interestingly, since the Book of Leviticus is more a guide for what ritual actions to take rather than why, there is no explanation about how confession “reduces” the offense to what is expiable.  But, we do have an older Hittite text that mentions that if a servant confesses guilt to his lord, the lord’s soul might be pacified.*  So, oral, public confession makes sense.  Although “to seek God” is not priestly language, confession involves the same humility and surrender to God as does “seeking God” and entrusting oneself to God.

Moreover, since the NT writers use OT priestly atonement language to describe, in part, the salvific work of Jesus, they would have been well aware of the need for, and significance, of confession for forgiveness and cleansing.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9).

It is presumptuous arrogance on my part – as well as hard-hearted blindness to the gravity of sin – when I take forgiveness for granted.  Or, when in church, I mechanically read a confession of prayer.  Humbly kneeling before God and acknowledging that I have sinned and have no automatic “right” to be forgiven is what confession is about.  The Eucharistic cup of the blood of the new covenant – that is, it is the life of Jesus’ blood as the purgation/sin offering – should remind me how serious my unconfessed state is before God.

Invitation:

Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another. Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another.

Prayer:

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us,
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your name. Amen.

*Page 302 in Jacob Milgrom’s Leviticus 1 – 16 (Anchor Bible, 1991), who mastered a massive wealth of Hittite and Mesopotamian cultic material as background from which the Israelites adopted and adapted their rituals, and from whom I have drawn much of my understanding of the Israelite purgation/atonement system.

THE HUMAN “DEMONIC” PUTREFICATION OF GOD’S CREATION

In Israelite priestly theology, humans provide the “demonic” and/or corrupting activity that profanes God’s creation and alienates us from God.

General Background: Inspiration as Transformation
An “Ah ha!” moment comes to students of the Bible, when they realize that divine inspiration may occur when God takes what is common and transforms it to a divine perspective.  A simple analogy would be how, as Christianity has moved into different cultures, Christians have adopted cultural elements and adapted them for theological purposes – even down to such trivial examples as evergreen trees, butterflies, and bunnies and eggs.  The people of Israel were “late-comers” in the cultural world of the ancient Near East.  Israelites adopted the technology of building walled cities, the graded-holiness design of temples, the symbol system behind sacrificial systems, music and liturgy, even world-view explanatory stories (mythology).  Somewhat analogous to Christians reinvesting common cultural symbols with new meaning, one aspect of divine inspiration for Israel was that many of the cultural symbols of their day were transformed to communicate divine reality and truth.

Specific Background: Israelite Transformation of Pagan Images
The ancient pagan world was filled with fickle, human-like, nature gods and rampant demonic activity – ironically, not like the idealized “pagan clubs” of college students or today’s covens of “good witches.”  Magical practices manipulated gods and others as well as provided self-protection.  Having built a temple dwelling for a god, various cultic rituals and sacrificial practices were needed to appease the god and to protect the dwelling from demonic “pollution” that would lead to the god’s loss of favor and departure.

Israelites adopted much of these pre-existing rituals and practices, but “demythologized” them from the polytheistic, the demonic, and the magical.  In the transformation of temple, priestly matters, the notion of demonic activity polluting God’s symbolic place of dwelling was eliminated.  What was taught symbolically in its place was the image of the “tangibility” of sin; that is, human disobedience to God broke intimacy with God by “polluting” God’s dwelling.  Human sinfulness replaced demonic activity.

Illustration of the Flood Story
Human sinfulness putrefies God’s creation.  One cannot overstate the seriousness of sin, of disobedience toward and rejection of one’s Creator.  Such, too, is the message of the divine “rewrite” of the very ancient explanatory Mesopotamian Flood story.  The cause of the flood is no longer about depopulating a noisy humanity who were disturbing the chief god’s sleep (Atrahasis Epic).  Rather, God desires humans who are righteous (trusting) and whole (in intention), like Noah (Gen 6:8 – 9), but instead sees that the hearts of all people were set on wickedness (ra = chaos; that is, the opposite of God’s tov -- orderly/good/life producing -- creational work) (Gen 6:5).  God sees that the earth had been putrefied (shachat); it was filled with human violence (chamas here probably includes all forms of societal and personal, physical and psychological violence, injustice, profanation toward others) (Gen 6:11-13).  And, God became sorrowful for making humans and was grieved to his heart (Gen 6:6).

Application:
These Israelite portrayals of sin, are powerful, disturbing images of the consequences of my sin.  My sin putrefies God’s good creation.  My sin is like demonic pollution of God’s home.  My sin, which is rooted in not embracing my Creator, is displayed in the many ways I “violate” others who were created by my God.

Lord, may these powerful images penetrate to my heart so that I never take lightly the nature and consequences of my sin.  And, in doing so may I all the more value the forgiveness and grace by which you “cleanse” my pollution and again restore me to fellowship with you.  Amen.

NEW HUMAN COMMUNITY, NEW PERSON, AND COMMUNION THROUGH THE SPIRIT

Sometimes meditating on God is like holding a precious cut diamond up to the light.  I cannot directly see what lies behind it, but the light still illuminates.  And, the brilliant colors that emerge from the multitude of facets change as I turn the jewel just a trifle, causing a new sparkle that catches my eye.  Reading a recent article by a theologian friend has given me some new sparkles that I will attempt to reflect here and in some future devotions.#

First, I now think of my connection to humanity a little differently.  The Incarnation created, in a sense, a new human community.  I am part of a grace-directed community, all of for whom God emptied God-self and took on human frailty such that Jesus could vicariously serve each one of us.  My fellowman/woman are now more precious to me.  (Thank you Chris.)

Second, being born again/from above/of the Spirit makes me a Jesus-like new being – which will take explaining.  Embracing weakness in human form, Jesus through the Spirit lives in the Father-Son-Spirit communion.  From the Father, Jesus is born of the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, led by the Spirit, ministered in the Spirit to testify of the Father and be one with the Father, and was raised by the Spirit.  Such communion is to be present in the believer who becomes a new being through one’s participation in God’s life (doctrine of theosis); that is being in Christ and being one in whom the Spirit dwells.  We are told both that Jesus in his vicarious humanity as the ascended Christ intercedes for us “downwardly” (e.g. Heb 7:25, see devotional Dec. 11, 2023).  We are also told that in our acceptance of our weakness, the Spirit within us intercedes for us “upwardly” articulating the longings of my heart (Rom 8:11, 15 – 16, and partic. 26 – 27) to align me with the Father's will.  My friend spoke of a divine “echo” of communion between the heavenly interceding Jesus and the indwelling interceding Spirit.  I like that.  Embracing my weakness, but as a new creation, my role is to nurture and facilitate that “echo” so that something about my life might testify of the glory of the Father.

Lord, may it be so in me.  Help me never to quench or grieve the Spirit, but to be open to the production of the Spirit’s “fruit” in me (1Thess 5;19; Eph 4:30; Gal 5:22 – 23) so that the divine communion may shape and form who I am.  Amen.

# Christian D. Kettler, "Life in the Spirit: Communion with the Vicarious Humanity of Christ," Participatio, vol. 10: "The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience" (2022) at https://tftorrance.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/2022-CDK-1.pdf.  (This is a densely packed article.)

UNFOUNDED GRIEVING: A COMMON DENOMINATOR

 

Feelings of loss, grief, fear, and anger are common to many people today.  However, as real as those feelings are, they may not be well founded.  I am thinking politically about feelings the “Left” and “Right” share.  On the one hand, those who have believed in the Enlightenment’s promise of collective, human progress are in mourning.  The project of humans being self-governed by rationality presents failures all around us.  On the other hand, many people are also grieving a personal loss of power to succeed.  “Success” does not come by self-application as in the “American Dream,” which too stems back to the Enlightenment.  Such feelings of loss turn into grief, grief into fear, fear into anger, and anger into acts of destruction of self and others.

The feelings of loss and grief are real and are powerful motivators.  What catches my attention is that some such grief is caused, at least in part in America, by failed promises of the Enlightenment.  The Enlightenment did away with humanity’s “irrational belief” in God and promised progress based on liberated reason serving human freedoms and the pursuit of happiness.  A bet was placed on reason, science, democracy, and free-market capitalism leading to ever-greater progress.  With what checks and balances?  What insight was there into what happens when each unfettered person pursues his/her own “rights” and happiness?

As one who is a professing Christian, I am distressed by how the grief and anger of the some who profess Christianity are due to unwittingly embracing atheistic, Enlightenment concepts.  For example, they reject a government that would pursue righteousness toward all, and, instead want only one that protects their “rights” and “freedoms,” particularly of their separatist identity.  Ironically, they claim to worship the Christmas, Incarnate Jesus who emptied himself of rights and freedoms and called his followers to become slaves in the service of others.  As Paul basically states, in Christ Jesus all religious, economic, racial, and other “tribal” boundaries no longer exist (e.g. Gal 3:28).  More ironically, they sometimes even reject the attempts of the nonreligious who do work for expressions of righteous, such as respect for diversity, equity in opportunity, and inclusion instead of marginalization!

I, too, know feelings of loss based on false or worldly expectations, and I need to be corrected.  Although such feelings of loss, grief, fear, and anger are real, they may be predicated on a pretentious and un-Godly view of humanity, a successful life, and of the world.  Jesus did not set a model of, nor call me or anyone to, a successful pursuit of “progress,” to enjoyment of “freedoms,” or to enjoy the “happiness” of the world.  He called me and you to find wholeness, meaning, purposefulness, hope, and joy by entrusting ourselves to God and by submitting to service in God’s Kingdom in the name of Jesus.

Lord, may I examine my feelings of loss and see if they are based on what is real and worthy in your sight.  May I not grieve as those who have no hope in you.  Help me to ground my expectations on your promises.  May I find my joy and worth in you and in service in your name.  Amen.