Guilt feelings: true guilt, as defined above, is not always felt. For example, one may have no feeling about any instruction of God of which he is ignorant. But, he may feel guilty about some parental instruction to himself as a child. For example, you must eat everything on your plate. The goal of the Christian is to align his feelings with God’s instructions. Thus, when he commits sin, he will see and feel his guilt, and can confess it as such. Feeling are a poor guide for guilt, but they can stir one to examine the Bible to see whether what he feels is indeed guilt or not!
At various times in church history and in some localities, a subjective type of mind has claimed to be superior in spirituality. This “pietism” has found representatives in the late twentieth century. They put emphasis on the intensity of believing and minimize the object of belief. In come cases the object virtually disappears. “Guilt-feelings” are a cause of concern, while (true—Ed) guilt is rather ignored. The New Testament is more objective. Just as grace is the favor bestowed by God on his people, so too peace is not any subjective “peace of mind,” but an objective peace with God. We were once His enemies; now God has established peace. It is the objective peace with God that Paul asked God to bestow on the Colossians. (Gordon Clark’s Commentary on Colossians 1:2)
Peace: “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3). A perplexing and slippery concept in philosophy is certainty. There is a definite correspondence of the Biblical concept of peace, which includes regeneration and a basic understanding of forgiveness that exists in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. It is not too difficult to relate “trust” to certainty. The truth is that true “peace” of mind and “certainty” of knowledge can be found only in regeneration and proper Biblical belief. Perhaps, the “rest” of the Sabbath rest and the “rest” of the book of Hebrews is virtually identical with “peace.”
At various times in church history and in some localities, a subjective type of mind has claimed to be superior in spirituality. This “pietism” has found representatives in the late twentieth century. They put emphasis on the intensity of believing and minimize the object of belief. In come cases the object virtually disappears. “Guilt-feelings” are a cause of concern, while (true—Ed) guilt is rather ignored. The New Testament is more objective. Just as grace is the favor bestowed by God on his people, so too peace is not any subjective “peace of mind,” but an objective peace with God. We were once His enemies; now God has established peace. It is the objective peace with God that Paul asked God to bestow on the Colossians. (Gordon Clark’s Commentary on Colossians 1:2)