As I was reading the Bible (in the NASB) for my devotions, these verses caught my attention:
The LORD has treated me in accordance with my righteousness; in accordance with the cleanliness of my hands He has repaid me. 22For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not acted wickedly against my God. 23For all His ordinances were before me, and as for His statutes, I did not deviate from them. 24I was also blameless toward Him, and I have kept myself from my wrongdoing. 25So the LORD has repaid me in accordance with my righteousness, in accordance with my cleanliness before His eyes. 26With the one who is faithful You show Yourself faithful, with the blameless one You prove Yourself blameless; 27with the one who is pure You show Yourself pure, but with the perverted You show Yourself astute. … 31As for God, His way is blameless; the word of the LORD is refined; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. 32For who is God, except the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? 33God is my strong fortress; and He sets the blameless on His way. – 2 Samuel 22:21-27, 31-33
(For some reason, 2 Samuel 22 gets repeated as Psalm 18. Verses 20-26 and 30-32 are the same as the passage I quoted.)
Like most of the songs and poems in the Bible, this one praises God for His goodness. No surprise there.
But I couldn’t help noticing several verses in which the psalmist David touts his own uprightness, too.
He drops the word “blameless” five times in four verses. Now, this isn’t a short chapter; it’s 51 verses long. David doesn’t scatter references to blamelessness throughout this psalm; he concentrates them in a few verses.
I did a quick word study of “blameless” and found out that four of the five incidents in 2 Samuel 22 are the Hebrew adjective tamim. It’s basic meaning is “complete, whole, entire, sound.” The word occurs 95 times in 84 verses.
The other Hebrew word is the related verb tamam. The general meaning of the word is “to be complete, be finished, be at an end.” And like the adjective, it’s also pretty common, occurring 62 times in 60 verses in the Old Testament.
The verses quoted above really do create the impression that David considers himself to be righteous in God’s sight.
Is he fooling himself?
David’s not sinless! Remember his adulterous liaison with Bathsheba? And how he arranged for the death of her husband Uriah? (2 Samuel 11 spells out all the details.)
How can he call himself blameless?
God, I can understand. The Lord is holy. But David? He falls way short!
I can chalk this up to self-deception or a faulty memory, but the Bible doesn’t support these explanations. If what David says is correct, how are we to justify it?
I believe blamelessness is an issue of status.
Where people fit into society, the roles they play–these are important in every culture in every era. The values will vary, but the principle of finding and fulfilling one’s status is a social reality.
God called the shepherd boy David to be king over His people. And David dedicated himself to that task.
“He also chose His servant David and took him from the sheepfolds; 71from the care of the ewes with nursing lambs He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. 72So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands.” – Psalm 78:70-72
No, David wasn’t perfect. But when he sinned, he repented.
“Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has allowed your sin to pass; you shall not die.” – 2 Samuel 12:13
David penned an entire psalm expressing his remorse and recommitment (Psalm 51).
Again, David wasn’t flawless. However, he was loyal to God and committed to his God-given responsibilities. This secured his status within God’s kingdom.
We Christians can apply these interconnected notions of status and blamelessness to ourselves. Through Jesus Christ, we’ve received an elevated spiritual status. We are sons and daughters of the King.
“See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him.” – 1 John 3:1
And we participate in Christ’s rule over this world.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. – Ephesians 2:4-7
Our salvation isn’t a reward for our hard work; it’s a gift from God because we can never measure up on our own. But thanks be to the Father that He invites us to join His kingdom. And when we come under the dominion of Jesus, we receive a whole new life.
We’re blameless because we’re in Christ. His righteousness is now ours. So we’re free to pursue the will of God and live out our calling.
Just as David did.
