You might want to sit down for a minute, it's kind of a long read. I believe that though you are familiar with what I'm about to share, you will nonetheless read about something truly interesting or dare I say, exciting.

After reading a tumblr post that had a rather worldly idea/undertone about how "punishment" is to be perceived and since I wasn't entirely sold on what was said. I took it to the Bible and ended up looking up word occurrences.

I was jumping from one word to another, because a devotional I read a couple days ago was about "guilt" I looked it up and that's when it got really interesting. Here's the definition form the New Oxford American Dictionary.

guilt | ɡilt | noun ・the fact of having committed a specified or implied offense or crime: it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt. ・a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation: he remembered with sudden guilt the letter from his mother that he had not yet read.

At that point I'm just using a Bible app to compare the number of times God uses a word in the OT vs the NT. I had witnessed a pattern with words like "punishment" and "shame", God is using them drastically less in the new testament.

One of the main teachings of the gospel being the joy of our salvation and our reconciliation with the Father through the death and resurrection of His Son. I had a feeling that "guilt" would follow the same logic. By walking according to the spirit and not enslaved by the flesh anymore, the believer is to have a different relation to guilt. Hope is continuously on the horizon.

So, here's the math

OT: 111 occurrences used over 102 verses NT: 8 occurrences used over 7 verses

Now, out of the 8 times "guilt" is used in the NT, only 1 of those occurrences has to do with man being guilty. It's in John 9, when after Jesus has cured a man blind from birth, the pharisees after taking under account this miracle still choose to reject Jesus and deny His divinity.

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, “We see,” your guilt remains.” (John 9:41)

It gets even better when we analyse the 7 remaining occurrences, they all have to do with someone NOT found guilty. Who is this special someone? It's Jesus Himself, during Christ's unjust trial Pilate advocate on multiple occasions that NO guilt can be found in Him! As believers and followers of the Messiah, being made new and anchored in Christ, no guilt can be found in us also! His righteousness is imputed unto us!

cf. Luc 23: 4 & 22, John 18: 38, John 19: 4 & 6, Acts 13: 28

The Bible explains clearly that when we are encompassed by guilt, we are not to reconsider the urge to report to Jesus and confess our short comings. We know that He is quick to forgive us, He remembers not our inequities. We are not doomed to be dead under the law because of sin and to be washed clean only by ancient customs and traditions. No more dead sacrifices to God, for life to abound we bring ourselves as a living sacrifice.

We are by no means to sin in order for grace to abide but if we mess up we are to definitely not hide in a dark corner feeling cut off from Him and covered in guilt. Jesus paid it all for eternity, we are called to cherish Him as the gift and perfect work that He is. On top on what Jesus has done for us, what I'm calling exciting is how God uses the word "guilt" as a proof and as an evidence that point to His gift to us all.

As christians we are to enjoy the cure for sin, guilt is pushing us toward our Saviour more than it throws us into the grave. Let us lock onto Him who brings healing instead of focusing on what used to be symptomatic of death under the law. Once you see it, it's like a road sign reminding us of where to run to. We are to come flying in Jesus' arms always and especially when we feel guilty.