Three Audiences for Shame
Shame is, effectively, a public disgrace. When we think about shame, we’re thinking about three audiences. There’s God, there are fellow believers, and there are outsiders. And so when we think about shame, we’re thinking about how we experience this disgrace before these various audiences.
I can feel shame for violating God’s law, and so the shame I feel is going to be before God and potentially before fellow believers. Or I could feel shame for violating some non-biblical or even anti-biblical expectation of me, and so I would be ashamed in front of outsiders.
In Scripture, when it says that the believer desires to be free from shame or that God is not going to put them to shame, I think it has in view two reference points. Ultimately, those who are obedient to God, who hold to God’s law, who are faithful and faith-filled toward God’s word will not ultimately be put to shame. When they stand before the Lord, they will not be put to shame. They’ll not be disgraced before God, fellow believers, or the world.
But there’s also a more imminent or more here-and-now framework where, for those who follow the Lord and who are faithful, God will oftentimes deliver from public disgrace. Not all the time, but sometimes God will deliver them from public disgrace as they walk faithfully with him.
And so I think what the psalmist is doing is similar to what Jesus does in the Beatitudes. Jesus says there are these kinds of things that bring public disgrace. If you’re poor in spirit, if you mourn, if you’re persecuted, or if your name is being dragged through the mud—all of those are public shaming kinds of things. And Jesus says that in all these situations, you will be vindicated. When you stand before the Lord at the end time, you will be vindicated. And in many cases, even right now, those who are faith-filled and faithful towards God’s word will be vindicated. Not all the time, but sometimes.
Uche Anizor is the author of The Goodness of God in the Gift of Scripture: 20 Meditations.
Uche Anizor (PhD, Wheaton College) is professor of theology at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. His other books include Overcoming Apathy and How to Read Theology.
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