I have always found it very interesting thinking about this man’s life. The concept of ‘redeeming yourself’ is one that I have thought about from time to time. What place should it have in our understanding of our past sin? I can’t help feeling that in many senses Profumo did the right thing and that his life might have something to teach us. The question is how we can avoid turning the concept of ‘redeeming oneself’ into a form of works’-righteousness (a real danger, I believe).

Redeeming oneself, I feel, has to do with the ability to own one’s history. When one has sinned, there needs to be some way for one to say ‘no’ to what one has done in the past, if one is to truly own that past. This might take the shape of penitential acts, submitting to punishment, or giving restitution. As a child I remember occasions when I strongly felt the need to be punished. Having my sin left unpunished would leave me alienated from my own history. I would be robbed of a way to say ‘no’ to what I had done.

We receive forgiveness in the gospel. This forgiveness includes within it the divine ‘No’ to our past actions. This forgiveness, however, is not something pure and objective. It is something that we must live in and live out. To receive God’s forgiveness we must say ‘yes’ to His ‘No’ regarding our past actions. This ‘yes’ will take a form similar to what the world tends to call ‘redeeming oneself’. The great difference is that we realize that we can never redeem ourselves. Our redemption, our owning of our histories, is only possible because of the gift of God’s ‘No’ (O help, I’m starting to sound like Karl Barth!). God’s ‘No’ makes it possible for our ‘no’ to receive redemption.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?