Neither Do I Condemn Thee

After her accusers had slunk off, Christ told the woman who had been dragged before Him because she had been caught in the act of adultery that He did not condemn her. I want to talk about the word condemn. The root of the word, -demn, shares the same origin as the word damn, and both derive from the Latin word damnum, which means harm or damage. The prefix con- means together or with, but also completely or with intensive force. The commandment to judge not that you be not judged is not trivial. When we condemn someone for their sins, we are damning or harming ourselves along with them. What Christ was telling that angry mob when He said he who is without sin, cast the first stone, is that for every rock you throw at this exposed sinner, you must also cast a stone at yourself. Everyone there, save One, was condemned or damned and damaged together. Christ does not condemn us because He does not intend to be damned together with us. He did descend to our level and far, far below, taking upon Himself our harm and our damage and our damnation. In that sense He was condemned. But He did not intend to stay damaged and broken and damned, nor does He intend for us to remain that way. Christ descended into the depths of Hell not to remain damned with us but so that He can pull us back up out of damnation and save us. When a piece of property has become so completely damaged and so thoroughly ruined that we can't imagine any use for it at all and no amount of time or effort could repair or restore it, we say that it is condemned. Christ does not condemn us. He never sees us as so completely damaged that He can not repair us. Christ chose to be damaged with us when He took upon Himself our sins and our griefs and our pains, but He refuses to be damned with us, not because He despises us in our damned and despicable state, but because He loves us and refuses to leave us damned. Christ understands more completely than any who ever have or ever will live what it means to condemn and be condemned, but though He alone has earned the right, He will not condemn us. He is not called the Condemner but the Savior, and He will save us from damnation and from damage and from harm.