Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. – Psalm 53:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 31, 2019): Psalm 53

I am old enough to remember the Presidency of Richard Nixon. As a young teen, I was actually a fan of the American President, and one of the deniers that he could have done anything wrong. The logic seemed unassailable. Why would an intensely popular President need to do anything illegal to maintain his hold on power? Nixon won the 1972 Presidential election with one of the largest electoral landslides in history, winning over 60% of the popular vote.

But then again, as we are often reminded but sometimes forget, the evidence against Nixon in the Watergate Scandal was not that he took part in the break-ins, but rather that he covered them up to support some of his friends. The wrongdoing of Richard Nixon was that he found out about the Watergate break-in a few days after they happened, but elected to hide that fact from the authorities. Had Nixon been honest at the time, it is quite possible that history would have been written much differently. But because of Nixon’s cover-up of the Watergate Scandal, Richard Nixon is not remembered as one of the most popular American Presidents, but rather as one of the most corrupt American Presidents. I still remember Richard Nixon’s line “I am not a crook.” And to be honest, I am pretty sure that Richard believed that.

I have had several discussions with people over James comment that “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). The intention would seem to be that it doesn’t matter how much of the law you might break, break any aspect of it and you are guilty of breaking all of it. If you speed, then you are guilty of murder. In Richard Nixon’s case, he was guilty of the Watergate break-ins even though it is possible that he did not take part in them. The coverup of the break-in was all that it took to make him guilty of the break-in.

But none of this is really James’s point. His argument is not that we should worry over all the small ways that we might be lawbreakers. It is that we all stand in need of grace and forgiveness. When it comes to our need for forgiveness, there is very little difference between us and someone like Adolf Hitler. We all need the grace of God.

David seems to be making the same point here. We are all corrupt lawbreakers. David begins his argument by saying that the atheist, or anyone who does not believe in God, is corrupt. They are all fools. But here he continues by saying that we are all corrupt. It is not just the atheist who has turned away from God. All of us have turned away from God.

Therefore, we all need the grace and forgiveness of God. All of us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 58