AGAINST THEE ONLY

This is the greatest of the penitential psalms. Its background in found in 2 Samuel 11, 12, where the record of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and the arranged killing of Uriah, her husband, is given. Here also we have Nathan’s accusation of David’s guilt, and his conviction of it in his own heart. David acknowledges his transgressions and his sin; he emphasizes the fact of his own acknowledgement: “I acknowledge”, and his “I” is emphatic. His sins had always been known to God, but now he has come to know them himself; they are ever present to his conscience. Such consciousness of sin is the first step towards the repentance and confession which are indispensable conditions of forgiveness.

Then he says, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned”, v. 4; but were they not sins against others? Against Bathsheba, whom he had tempted; against Uriah, whom he had had killed; against his own family, whom he had polluted; against his kingdom, which he had weakened? Yet he says, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned”. This is because of his deep conviction of his sin. He must confess to, and be forgiven by God, before he could ever think of the wrong done to his neighbours. Then again, all sin is, and must be, against God, 1 Cor. 8. 12. All sin, even that by which man is most grievously injured, is in its ultimate nature sin against God, a breach of His holy law.

The real character of sin is rebellion against God. This constitutes its essence, its enormity, its malignity. The blow is aimed at God’s supremacy. What does David mean, then, when he says, “that thou mightest be justified … when thou judgest”? Is it not that “Thy righteousness and Thy holiness may be declared and vindicated when Thou dost pronounce sentence on my sin”? Man’s sin brings into clearer light the justice and holiness of God. This poses a problem. Does it mean that because this is so, sin ceases to be sinful, and that man ceases to be responsible for it? No!, for the O.T. firmly asserts the truth of man’s responsibility, and Paul refutes the suggestion that God is responsible for sin which He overrules to His glory, Rom. 3. 4ff. David confesses his guilt unreservedly, so as to admit the justice of whatever sentence God may pronounce. This is the true essence of penitence.