Bible Text: 2 Corinthians 5:21 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | God made Him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Are criminals to be excused because they cannot overcome the circumstances which surround their behavior? Is there such a thing as an imbalance of genes or chromosomes that produces individuals who absolutely cannot help themselves?

Dr. Stanton Samenow dropped a bomb on some of the theories of criminal behavior which have been in vogue for the last couple of decades. Samenow is a clinical research psychologist, and for 15 years, he and Dr. Samuel Yockelson, now deceased, studied theories of criminal behavior. They worked with hundreds of men who had committed almost every known imaginable type of crime. Samenow says that poor home environments, poverty, mental illness, and other psychological factors may and do contribute to criminal behavior, but they believe that these factors do not produce criminals.

They are convinced that the criminal is a man who has chosen to reject society, and with full sanity, chooses to follow the course of conduct that results in his tag as a criminal.

“We found,” says Dr. Stanton Samenow, “that the criminal is the person who rejects parents, school and the world of work before the world rejects them.” Of 255 men who were involved in the study, fewer than 5% were, in their opinion, emotionally ill, but they did find at least 52 common attributes shared by criminals, which they call “the criminal personality.” Some of the traits were lying, anger, ownership (the world owes him a living, and he is out to collect), uniqueness (the feeling that nobody understands him and that he is better than the rest).

I have no way of knowing whether Dr. Stanton Samenow has ever read a book full of profound psychological insights called the Bible, but I do know that their conclusions are in perfect agreement with what this Book says about man and his behavior. The major thesis of the Bible is that man is responsible, and because he is responsible he is accountable. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NKJV), was Paul’s analysis of the situation. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “All we like sheep have gone astray;” wrote Isaiah, “we have turned, every one, to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6, NKJV). Yet from the very beginning of recorded history, it has been characteristic of human nature to try to pin the blame for our human failure on circumstances or other people. “The woman you put here with me,” said Adam, “she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12).

“I am not responsible–I could not help it. I am sure that anyone else would have done the same thing under the same circumstances.” Maybe so; nonetheless, God not only says that we are responsible, but He makes provision for our human weakness, and this is the good news of the Gospel.

The Gospel contains two great provisions: 1. The provision of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and 2. The provision of living above your old carnal nature which produces criminal behavior.

That first provision was a costly one–it required the death of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who satisfied the justice of God by paying the penalty for man’s sin. “God made Him to be sin for us,” wrote Paul to the Corinthians, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because God does not cross the picket lines of our hearts, we are the ones who must accept God’s provision of forgiveness. The Bible calls it “being born again,” or “being saved.” And this experience is the doorway to God’s second provision: the power of the Holy Spirit to live a victorious life. Do not be content to hide behind rationalizations, but rather find His provision and discover life.

Scripture reading: Psalm 51