The Accuser Within Can Never Lead to Freedom

What to do with the condemnation that we (and all humans) feel

Photo by Slim Emcee

Condemnation is a real felt experience from a human standpoint. It’s what happens when flawed humans (‘sinners’ aka all of us) bump into ‘the law’.

Now… ‘The law’ in a theological sense doesn’t just mean the 10 commandments or the 613 Levitical laws. It means ‘anything that accuses.’ You don’t have to be religious to ram up against the law. We can hear the rustling of leaves as pure magic while the man walking next to us through the park hears it as sheer condemnation.

In an ethical sense, the law is “written on our hearts” (Romans 2:12–16). This is Biblespeak for ‘we have a conscience’. Humans can’t escape the law. It’s the water we swim in.

Even the staunchest atheist, when his wife dies of a terminal disease, will honestly ask himself, “What did I/she do to deserve this?”

There it is. The law. Condemnation. It’s real.

The Bible portrays that humans have long been possessed by this condemnatory voice. Something shifted in the human experience between Genesis 2:25 and Genesis 3:7–11. Shame enters the human mind. And we start acting in all sorts of crazy ways to defend against it.