Reference: Guilt
Hastings
1. Guilt may be defined in terms of relativity. It is rather the abiding result of sin than sin itself (see Pearson's Exposition of the Creed, ed. James Nichols, p. 514 f.). It is not punishment, or even liability to punishment, for this presupposes personal consciousness of wrong-doing and leaves out of account the attitude of God to sin unwittingly committed (Le 5:1 ff.; cf. Lu 12:48; Ro 5:13; see Sanday-Headlam, Romans, p. 144). On the other hand, we may describe it as a condition, a state, or a relation; the resultant of two forces drawing different ways (Ro 7:14 ff.). It includes two essential factors, without which it would be unmeaning as an objective reality or entity. At one point stands personal holiness, including whatever is holy in man; at another, personal corruption, including what is evil in man. Man's relation to God, as it is affected by sin, is what constitutes guilt in the widest sense of the word. The human struggle after righteousness is the surest evidence of man's consciousness of racial and personal guilt, and an acknowledgment that his position in this respect is not normal.
We are thus enabled to see that when moral obliquity arising from or reinforced by natural causes, adventitious circumstances, or personal environment, issues in persistent, wilful wrong-doing, it becomes or is resolved into guilt, and involves punishment which is guilt's inseparable accompaniment. In the OT the ideas of sin, guilt, and punishment are so inextricably interwoven that it is impossible to treat of one without in some way dealing with the other two, and the word for each is used interchangeably for the others (see Schultz, OT Theol. ii. p. 306). An example of this is found in Cain's despairing complaint, where the word 'punishment' (Ge 4:13 English Version) includes both the sin committed and the guilt attaching thereto (cf. Le 26:41).
2. In speaking of the guilt of the race or of the individual, some knowledge of a law governing moral actions must be presupposed (cf. Joh 9:41; 15:22,24). It is when the human will enters into conscious antagonism to the Divine will that guilt emerges into objective existence and crystallizes (see Martensen, Christian Dogmatics, Eng. tr p. 203 ff.). An educative process is thus required in order to bring home to the human race that sense of guilt without which progress is impossible (cf. Ro 3:20; 7:7). As soon, however, as this consciousness is established, the first step on the road to rebellion against sin is taken, and the sinner's relation to God commences to become fundamentally altered from what it was. A case in point, illustrative of this inchoate stage, is afforded by Joseph's brothers in their tardy recognition of a guilt which seems to have been latent in a degree, so far as their consciousness was concerned, up to the period of threatened consequences (Ge 42:21; cf. for a similar example of strange moral blindness, on the part of David, 2Sa 12:1 ff.). Their subsequent conduct was characterized by clumsy attempts to undo the mischief of which they had been the authors. A like feature is observable in the attitude of the Philistines when restoring the sacred 'ark of the covenant' to the offended Jehovah. A 'guilt-offering' had to be sent as a restitution for the wrong done (1Sa 6:3, cf. 2Ki 12:16). This natural instinct was developed and guided in the Levitical institutions by formal ceremony and religious rite, which were calculated to deepen still further the feeling of guilt and fear of Divine wrath. Even when the offence was committed in ignorance, as soon as its character was revealed to the offender, he became thereupon liable to punishment, and had to expiate his guilt by restitution and sacrifice, or by a 'guilt-offering' (AV 'trespass offering,' Le 5:15 ff; Le 6:1 ff.). To this a fine, amounting to one-fifth of the value of the wrong done in the case of a neighbour, was added and given to the injured party (Le 6:5; Nu 5:6 f.). How widely diffused this special rite had become is evidenced by the numerous incidental references of Ezekiel (Eze 40:39; 42:13; 44:29; 46:20); while perhaps the most remarkable allusion to this service of restitution occurs in the later Isaiah, where the ideal Servant of Jehovah is described as a 'guilt-offering' (Isa 53:10).
3. As might be expected, the universality of human guilt is nowhere more insistently dwelt on or more fully realized than in the Psalms (cf. Ps 14:2; 53:2, where the expression 'the sons of men' reveals the scope of the poet's thought; see also Ps 36 with its antithesis
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Cain said unto Yahweh - Greater is my punishment than I can bear.
And they said each man unto his brother - Verily guilty, we are, respecting our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul when he appealed unto us for favour and we hearkened not, - therefore, hath come in unto us this distress.
Keeping lovingkindness to a thousand generations, Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, Though he leave not, utterly unpunished, Visiting the iniquity of fathers, Upon sons, And upon sons' sons, Unto a third and unto a fourth generation.
Any person, moreover, whensoever he shall sin in that, when he heareth a voice of swearing, he himself, being a witness either seeing or knowing, - if he do not tell and so hath to bear his iniquity: -
Whensoever, any person, shall commit a trespass, and shall take away by mistake, from the holy things of Yahweh, then shall he bring in as his guilt-bearer unto Yahweh, a ram without defect out of the flock, with thine estimate in silver by shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt-bearer:
or in anything as to which he hath been swearing to a falsehood, then shall he make it good in the principal thereof, and the fifth part thereof, shall he add thereunto, - to whomsoever it belongeth, to him, shall he give it in the day he becometh aware of his guilt;
so shall the goat hear upon him all their iniquities into a lone land, - and he shall set the goat free, in the desert.
I also, must needs go in opposition to them, and bring them into the land of their foes, - Save only that, if, even then, their uncircumcised heart shall be humbled, And, even then, they shall accept as a payment the punishment of their iniquity,
Speak unto the sons of Israel: When any man or woman, shall do aught of an human sin, in acting unfaithfully against Yahweh, - and that person shall become aware of his guilt,
And they said - If ye are going to send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away, empty, but ye must, surely return, to him, a guilt-offering, - then, shall ye be healed, and it shall be known to you, wherefore his hand would not turn away from you.
So then Yahweh sent Nathan the prophet unto David, - who therefore came unto him and said to him - Two men, there were in a certain city, the one, rich, and, the other, poor.
Silver for guilt-offerings and silver for sin-offerings, was not brought into the house of Yahweh, - to the priests, they belonged.
Yahweh, out of the heavens, looked down over the sons of men, - to see whether there was one that showed wisdom, enquiring after God: -
God, out of the heavens, looked down upon the sons of men, - To see whether there was one that showed wisdom, Enquiring after God.
Let them be blotted out of the book of life, And, with the righteous, let them not be enrolled.
When he is judged, let him go out condemned, and let, his own petition, become a sin;
Yet, Yahweh, purposed to bruise him, He laid on him sickness: - If his soul become an offering for guilt, He shall see a seed, He shall prolong his days, - And the purpose of Yahweh, in his hand, shall prosper:
Therefore, will I give him a portion in the great, And the strong, shall he apportion as spoil, Because he poured out, to death his own soul, And with transgressors, let himself be numbered, - Yea, he, the sin of Many, bare, And for transgressors, interposeth.
Now when Yahweh, let me know and I did know, then, didst thou shew me their doings.
Give thou ear O Yahweh unto me, - And hearken unto the voice of mine accusers.
But, Yahweh, is with me, as a mighty one striking terror, For this cause, shall my persecutors stumble and not prevail, - They have turned very pale, For they have not prospered, Confusion age-abiding, it shall not be forgotten!
And in the porch of the gate, were two tables on this side, and two tables, on that side, - to slay thereon the ascending-sacrifice, and the sin-bearer, and the gut-bearer.
Then said he unto me, The chambers of the north the chambers of the south which face the secluded place, they are the holy chambers where the priests who draw near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things; there, shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering and the sin-bearer and the guilt bearer, for the place is holy!
As for the meal-offering and the sin-bearer and the gut-bearer, they shall eat them, - And everything devoted in Israel to them, shall belong.
Then said he unto me, - This is the place where the priests I shall be the gut-bearer and the sin-bearer, - where they shall bake the meal-offering, that one may not carry them forth into the outer court to hallow the people,
Hypocritical is their heart, Now, shall they be held guilty, - He, will break down their altars, he will destroy their statutes.
That which was left by the creeping locust, hath the swarming locust eaten, and, that which was left by the swarming locust, hath the grass locust eaten; and, that which was left by the grass locust, hath the corn locust eaten.
I have smitten you with blight and with mildew, When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees have increased, the creeping locust would devour them, - Yet have ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.
Then, shall they make outcry unto Yahweh, but he will not answer them, - that he may hide his face from them, at that time, even as they have made wicked their doings.
Speak thou unto Zerubbabel, pasha of Judah, saying, - I am shaking, the heavens and the earth;
And he said unto me, What canst thou see? So I said, I, can see a flying volume, the length thereof, twenty by the cubit, and, the breadth thereof, ten by the cubit.
Then, began he to upbraid the cities, in which had been done his noblest mighty works; because they repented not: -
Whereas, he who had not come to know, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And, every one to whom was given much, much, shall be sought from him; and, he to whom they committed much, for more than common, will they ask him.
For God, so loved, the world, that, his Only Begotten Son, he gave, - that, whosoever believeth on him, might not perish, but have life age-abiding.
Jesus said unto them - If, blind, ye had been, ye had not had sin; but, now, ye say, We see, your sin, abideth.
No one, forced it from me, but, I, lay it down, of myself, - Authority, have I, to lay it down, and, authority, have I, again, to receive it: This commandment, received I, from my Father.
Had I not come and spoken unto them, Sin, had they none; but, now, have they no, excuse, for their sin.
Had I not come and spoken unto them, Sin, had they none; but, now, have they no, excuse, for their sin.
Had I not done among them, the works, which, no other, had done, sin, had they none; but, now, have they, both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Had I not done among them, the works, which, no other, had done, sin, had they none; but, now, have they, both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Inasmuch as, by works of law, shall no flesh be declared righteous before him, - through law, in fact, is discovery of sin.
But God commendeth his own love unto us in that - we as yet being sinners, Christ in our behalf died.
For, until law, sin was in the world, although sin is not reckoned when there is no law, -
What, then, shall we say? Is the law sin? Far be it! On the contrary, I had not discovered, sin, save through law, for even, of coveting, I had not been aware if, the law, had not kept on saying - Thou shall not covet;
For we know that, the law, is spiritual, - I, however, am a creature of flesh, sold under sin;
Hence there is now, no, condemnation unto them who are in Christ Jesus;
But, ye, have not your being in flesh, but in spirit, - if at least, God's Spirit, dwelleth in you; and, if anyone hath not Christ's Spirit, the same, is not his; -
For, the flesh, coveted against the Spirit, but, the Spirit, against the flesh, - for, these, unto one another, are opposed, lest, whatsoever things ye chance to desire, these, ye should be doing!
Among whom also, we all, had our behaviour, at one time, in the covetings of our flesh, doing the things desired by the flesh and the mind, and were children, by nature, of anger - even as the rest, -
On account of which things cometh the anger of God, -
And awaiting his Son out of the heavens - whom he raised from among the dead, - Jesus: Who is to rescue us out of the anger that is coming.
Hindering us from speaking, unto the nations, that they might be saved, to the filling up of their own sins, continually; but anger hath overtaken them at length.
how shall, we, escape, if, so great a salvation as this, we have neglected, - which, indeed, having received, a beginning, of being spoken through the Lord, by them who heard, unto us was confirmed,
For it is impossible - as to these who have been, once for all, illuminated, who have tasted also of the heavenly free-gift, and have been made, partners, in a Holy Spirit,
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be accounted worthy, who hath trampled underfoot the Son of God, and, the blood of the covenant, hath esteemed, a profane thing, by which he had been made holy, and, unto the Spirit of favour, hath offered wanton insult?
Who, our sins, himself, bare up, in his body, unto the tree, in order that we, from our sins getting away, in righteousness, might live, - by whose stripes, ye have been healed;
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, - seven messengers having seven plagues, the last, because, in them, was ended the wrath of God.