In this third article, we will examine the third silent killer: SHAME
Shame
Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden. Consider for a moment the scene just before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. They are in a garden, implying many things, not the least of which is enjoying in full measure a resplendent environment flourishing with plants and animals all living in harmony. It is also safe to assume that their experience of this young world engaged their senses fully, as God’s world was designed to deeply satisfy their physical needs and desires. Indeed, God made them and His creation to know comprehensive abundance as they walked in fellowship with Him.
There they were, the pinnacle of God’s creation, His image-bearers, man and woman, living in unbroken companionship with God–totally uninhibited–without insecurity, without self-consciousness, and most importantly, without SHAME. God was with them, speaking and offering Divine wisdom and guidance as they enjoyed all that He had made. To put it plainly, they were in a physical and spiritual unity and harmony with God, His world, and each other. What more could they ask for? What more could they possess?
And this is why their decision to rebel is so surprising. They exchanged their thoroughgoing Divine fellowship for their own unmet desires, causing not only their relationship with each other, the creation, and God to be forever altered, but also driving them to notice things they had never noticed before. Something they could not ignore. They became self-aware: self-conscious.
The result? Shame. They saw their nakedness and hid (Gen. 3:10). Before understanding their nakedness in God’s world and in His presence, Adam and Eve were not ashamed (Gen. 2:25); now they are. Their response to this shame? Cover up—another facile attempt by mankind to solve its problem: sin and separation from God.
So, what is shame? Biblically, shame is the recognition of one’s sinful nature in light of God’s holiness. Another way to put this is that shame is the internal human experience of recognizing corruption that manifests in thought, word, and action in light of God’s perfect holiness, and of being helpless to change.
Simply put, shame is being exposed before God. And that exposure is disorienting in light of God’s holiness, because it leaves us without a remedy left to ourselves. It is knowing that deep down, something is off, fearing being found out, and accepting that sinking feeling that you cannot remove, cover, or otherwise change yourself to meet God’s righteous and holy standard.
Many secular thinkers ponder shame, too, revealing that nobody likes it–sort of like that unpleasant feeling you get when you can’t get a stinking stain off your hand. One author, Brene Brown, defines shame: “the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging—something we’ve experienced, done, or failed to do makes us unworthy of connection.” But, most people understand shame as how the Cambridge dictionary defines it: “loss of honor and respect.”
So, what are we to make of shame, the silent killer? How are we to confront this ever-present yet unwelcome guest? Let’s look at it from a biblical, theological, and practical standpoint.
Biblical.
Throughout the Bible, we see various manifestations of shame. Of course, we’ve already seen it with Adam and Eve, but we also see it with King Saul as he hid in the baggage (1 Sam. 10:22), with David as he tried to conceal his sin against Uriah (2 Sam. 11-12). Consider also Achan (Joshua 7:19-21), hiding the spoil from Shinar; the Samaritan woman (John 4), going to the well in the heat to avoid her shame; and even Peter (Luke 22:54-62), dissociating himself from Christ at His most vulnerable moment. These and many more examples show that shame is not only a universal condition we all experience, but also something the Bible exposes in its characters. And, more importantly, something they cannot remove themselves.
So, how does God deal with shame?
New creation.
The Scriptures reveal that God removes our shame by making us new creatures. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul explains that those in Christ are new creations. Previously, Paul had declared that Christians are being “transformed” in the image of Christ. Taking just these two passages, we see two things:
- God makes a new humanity by grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
- God transforms this new humanity to image more and more the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, Christians are new creatures with no shame.
Theological.
An obvious question that arises is how this occurs. How does God bring about this new creation in us?
Regeneration.
A fancy way to define regeneration is to say that it “brings forth anew.”* It is interesting to note that this Greek word, “palingenesia”, is used only twice in the New Testament (Matthew 19:28 and Titus 3:5). In Matthew, it is talking about a future regenerated world, and in Titus, it references the regeneration of a person. In both cases, the word is the same: make new.
Thus, the process through which a believer in Christ undergoes to become a new creation, free of shame, is regeneration.
How does this work in practice?
Practical.
It is easy, is it not, to forget that in Christ, we are new creatures, the old has been washed away, and the new has come? Our memories can often be long on regret and short on remembering. But the reality is, our Lord declares us new creatures in Christ. Thus, clinging to an old way of thinking is neither biblical nor practical.
Consequently, the Bible has no category for a partially new creature. Being made new means you are ontologically and eternally changed and are being transformed into Christ’s image. There are no partial Christians—only new ones.
So, how do we remember this every day?
Replace shame with surrender.
You and I must replace thoughts of shame with surrender. We must pray something like: “Lord, I surrender ____ and ____ and ____ to You. I pray you make me understand TODAY that I am a new creature by grace through faith. That my relationship with you is secure, and because that is true, then no past, present, or future shameful thing may cling to me. Amen.”