Guilt Gospel (2) Bondage

When Jesus was preaching to the ordinary people, he did not accuse them of guilt. Rather, he described them as harassed and beaten.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt 9:36).

There is a big difference between being guilty and being “harassed and helpless”, and the remedy will be different. Preaching the good news of Jesus should be quite different when speaking to people who are harassed and helpless than what it would be if it was shared with people who are guilty.

Paul gave a similar message in his letters.

I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin (Rom 7:14).

Before he came to faith in Jesus, Paul was sold as a slave under sin. Given that he was in bondage to forces from which he could not escape, his real problem was not guilt, but bondage. He did not need a solution for guilt. He needed to be delivered from bondage.

We were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world (Gal 3:4).

Paul explained to the Galatians that before they came to faith in Jesus, they were slaves to the spiritual powers of evil.

Their problem was slavery, not guilt. They needed a way to escape from slavery, not a remedy for guilt. They needed a messiah who would deliver them from spiritual bondage.