Shame: A Scriptural Study
Webster's Dictionary defines shame as "a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety", "dishonor and disgrace", and "something that brings strong regret, censure, or reproach; a cause of feeling shame". Differentiating from its synonyms, shame "stresses painful or humiliating loss of favor or esteem once enjoyed". To be ashamed is to feel "shame, guilt, or disgrace" or to feel "inferior or unworthy".
We find the whole story of
the human experience of shame in the Bible, from its inception in the Garden
of Eden to its ultimate vanquishment by God's glory on "the great Day of
God, the Almighty."
Mankind was created in innocence,
and God was completely satisfied with His work. Adam and Eve were
both naked, which in Scripture symbolizes an exposure of the spirit (see
II Cor. 5:1-4, Ampl.), and they were not ashamed-just as little children
know no shame in their nakedness until they are introduced to cultural
standards requiring clothing. But after they had partaken of the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they recognized their nakedness,
and having become conscious of guilt before God, were ashamed and afraid.
They attempted to hide their exposure by clothing themselves with fig leaves.
And they hid themselves from the presence of God-not that God could not
see THEM, for all things are naked and opened to His eyes (Heb. 4:13).
They, trying to cover their own disgrace (fall from Grace), thought themselves
hidden from God because they had repressed their own consciousness of personal
inadequacy. In so doing, they also separated themselves from consciousness
of God's Presence and the intercourse with Him which would have completed
them, making them whole and adequate. This was the original human
repression of falling short of God's glory, and all mankind has followed
their example. God, foreshadowing the sacrifice of His Lamb that
would open the way to ultimate redemption and reconciliation, then clothed
Adam and Eve with animal skins. This was done in His mercy for their
sakes, for the journey of humanity back to God's glory would stretch over
the entire history of mankind, and man would need appropriate clothing
to cover the shame of his nakedness until he could, once again, stand unashamed
in God's presence.
With the knowledge of good
and evil, man began to make judgments independently of God. The human
tendency is ever to try to justify oneself, most often at the expense of
others by judging THEIR shortcomings. So people care what other people
think, seek human approval, and feel shamed and humiliated before man.
This replaces caring what GOD thinks, seeking HIS approval, and feeling
shamed and humiliated before HIM. At the extreme is the total perversion
of God's glory into human guilt and shame, accompanied by a total lack
of awareness of the true nature of things. This is the result of
repeated choices of man's will and is lamented in scriptures: "Yet...you
refused to be ashamed [before God]" (Jer. 3:3, NAS); "You were not
at all ashamed" (Jer. 6:15); "...the unjust person knoweth no shame" (Zeph.
3:15); "O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn My glory into shame?" (Ps.
4:2); "whose [the enemies of the Cross of Christ] glory is in their shame"
(Phil. 3:19).
But our God is not only Creator;
He is also Redeemer. He will not always contend with man, and yearns
to forgive-to set aside His Anger-lest the spirit of man would faint and
be consumed before Him, and His purpose in creating the souls of men be
frustrated. He seeks the one "who is of a thoroughly penitent and
humble spirit", the one who is "bruised with sorrow for sin" (Is. 57:15,
Ampl.)-the one who is willing to see his own nakedness before God and recognize
his own shame. For that one is able to receive God's forgiveness;
that one God can revive.
The time is coming, we are
told in Habakkuk (2:14), when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord. And "woe to him who delays that day" by
leading his neighbors astray in order to look on their nakedness and pour
out shame on their glory. That one will experience exposure and shame
by the hand of the Lord (Hab. 2:15, 16, Ampl.). Rather, we are to
cover the shame of others with love. (See Gen. 9:21-27, I Peter 4:8.)
Indeed, the "Day of the Lord" is
even now at hand-God's Day, when His glory is revealed and He begins to
have things HIS Way. It is a time of judgment, when He no longer
covers man's nakedness in mercy and grace, but allows full exposure of
man's sin in light of His glory. This judgment begins at the house
of the Lord, and gives man opportunity to be rightfully ashamed before
God, to experience "godly sorrow", to come to repentance, and to experience
God's forgiveness. "I will change their glory into shame," says the
Lord in Hosea 4:7. This is a personal experience, not with other
men, but with the Holy God. "You have judged your sisters," He said
to Israel, "but you have behaved more abominably than they, for your sin,
as those taught of God, is far blacker than theirs. Be ashamed and
confounded [how often in Scriptures is confusion associated with shame!]
and bear your own shame, that you, amid your shame and disgrace may be
compelled to recognize your wickedness and be thoroughly ashamed and confounded
at all you have done, becoming converted and bringing comfort to your sisters."
(Ezek. 16:47, 52, 54, 61)
Shame as the result of divine
judgment and chastening is a theme throughout the prophetic writings.
But it is not intended by God, as man uses shame, to humiliate, belittle,
control, and manipulate. Rather, His intention is to facilitate His
redemption and restoration. Ezekiel's vision of the temple is given
as a standard of measurement to cause God's people to be ashamed of how
they have defiled God's holy Name (i.e., character), so that if they are
ashamed, they might pattern their lives after it to be a holy temple, fully
consecrated to the Lord, such that He is able to dwell in their midst (Ezek.
43:10, 11). Every reference to God's judgment of His people and their
resultant shame is followed by the wonderful promises of restoration and
ultimate revival: "Jacob shall not now be ashamed" (Is. 29:22); Israel
"shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end" (Is. 45:17); she
shall not be ashamed and shall forget the shame of her youth (Is. 54:4);
Israel, having been humbled, in that day shall not be put to shame for
her deeds by which she rebelled and transgressed against God (Zeph. 3:11);
"And my people shall never be ashamed" (Joel 2:26, 27).
Man was created to manifest
God's glory. To seek the glory of man is to be subject to shame in
the eyes of men (in bondage through "fear of death") and also to be ashamed
of God and His offering of salvation through Christ. The rewards
of man's glory are short, for "pride cometh, then cometh shame" (Prov.
11:2). Jesus said that whoever was ashamed of Him and His words would
suffer shame before the Son of Man (Mark 8:38, Luke 9:26). In the
end, shame is "the highest rank conferred upon" those who are foolish enough
to set man above God, but "the wise shall inherit glory"-participate in
God's glory (Prov. 3:35, Ampl.). Ultimately, those who believe in
Christ (adhere to, rely on, trust in), who hope and abide in Him, who know
and are joined to Him, who believe that His gospel is the "power unto salvation",
whose hope is in Him, who wait on Him, who walk in obedience to Him resulting
in fruitful living-those, in short, who manifest God's glory in their lives-those
will not be ashamed (Ps 119:6, 127:5; Is. 49:23; Rom. 1:16, 5:5, 9:33,
10:11; Phil. 1:20; II Tim. 1:12; I Jn. 2:28). They are "desiring a heavenly
country", and "God is not ashamed to be called their God" (Heb. 11:16).
"I will be their God, and they shall be my people." What higher honor
could one desire?
Those of us who desire to be the people of God and who enter into covenant with Him, have an example in Jesus, the "Captain of our faith". He, not ashamed to call us brethren (Heb. 2:11), came to declare the Father's Name to us in the spirit described by Isaiah: "The servant of God says, 'The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples and of those who are taught, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary; He wakens me morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as disciples-as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I have not been rebellious or turned backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God helps me; therefore have I not been ashamed or confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He is near Who declares me in the right; who will contend with me? Let us stand forth together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he who will condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old and be worn out as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.: (Isaiah 50:4-9, Ampl.). Jesus, also Author and Finisher of our faith, yielding Himself to the judgment of God, suffered the exposure and humiliation of humanity in His death on the cross, despising and ignoring the shame of man in order to fulfill the joy of His Father (Heb. 12:12). Thus He overcame the fear of death common to all mankind, transforming human shame into God's glory. We are to yield ourselves to God likewise, and for the same joy set before us, endure the cross, despising the shame. Only in the Spirit of Christ can we "set our faces as a flint" toward such a death. And only thus can we "put on Christ", "our Righteousness", the "white raiment" with which we are counseled to clothe ourselves that the shame of our nakedness not appear (Rev. 3:18). The "evil time" (Ps. 37:19)-also "that great day of God Almighty"-comes without announcement.
If we are alert and watchful and
guard our "clothing", we need not be ashamed (Rev. 16:15).
BPR
