How Can a Christian Lawyer Knowingly Defend the Guilty?

By John Contini

The question I am most often asked as a criminal defense attorney is, “Isn’t it hard to represent people who you believe are guilty? It is almost always asked in a rhetorical, accusatory fashion, with inquirers never really wanting to know the exact approach, strategy or methodology involved in defending the criminally accused. Instead, they simply want to make a statement, essentially saying that they could never represent someone they believed was guilty, thereby indicting the criminal defense attorney for doing just that. My answer is almost always the same: “I am glad Jesus didn’t think that way.”

Christ as our advocate

I continue explaining that I believe the Bible is clear in suggesting that Jesus Christ was the ultimate defense attorney, reconciling all of us with the Father, the judge. Jesus is referred to as “the counselor” in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 16. He is also referred to as “the advocate” in 1 John 2:1. In John 14:26, Jesus told the disciples: “I will ask the Father and he shall send another counselor,” referring to the promised Holy Spirit, defined ten lines later in John 14:26, as “the comforter.”

Jesus continues in John 14:26 with: “and when the counselor comes (some translations refer to Him as ‘the comforter’), He will teach you many things and remind you of everything I have told you.” Obviously, Christ was referring to the promised Holy Spirit, whenever he was referring to “the comforter” or “the counselor,” or when references are made 1 John 2:1 to “the advocate.” The phrase “another counselor” used by Jesus in John 14:16, literally means “exact same duplicate other,” referring to the fact that the Holy Spirit is an exact duplicate of Christ, or the third person of the Godhead within the Trinity.

The ultimate defense attorney

The original language used by Christ was Aramaic, translated later into Hebrew and then Greek, and ultimately into English when the King James Translation was authored. However, in all of these translations, the meaning of “another counselor” is still the same, to wit: “exact same, duplicate other,” referring to the exact likeness of Christ himself in Spirit form.

More specifically, the word “counselor” literally means: “one who stands along side of, in defense of,” a word picture of the ultimate defense attorney! By use of the word “another,” which immediately precedes “counselor” (used by Christ in describing the promised Holy Spirit, or “the comforter”), we have a picture of “an exact same duplicate other” Christ, or His Holy Spirit, standing “along side of you, in defense of you,” or a picture of Jesus himself standing next to you as your ultimate defense attorney, reconciling you with the Father, the judge!

This is the same word picture which is suggested in 1 John 2:1 when the Apostle John refers to the promised Holy Spirit as “the advocate,” remembering that all good defense attorneys are referred to as advocates for their clients! In 1 John 2:1, the Apostle John states: “My dear children, I write these things to you that you would not sin; however, if anybody does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense, the advocate, Christ Jesus.” These are some of the typical references to Jesus Christ and the promised Holy Spirit as our counselor and our advocate, pitching for our defense before the Heavenly bench, advocating our cause before the Father, the holy judge! I often use these biblical references when I respond to the accusatory individual who rhetorically asks me the predictable question, how can you represent people you know or believe are guilty?

My wife has occasionally suggested that I might be a little insensitive and too defensive when responding to the otherwise innocent individual who curiously asks this question about representing the guilty. Elizabeth tells me that it’s a perfectly normal question for a layperson to ask a criminal defense attorney, given the fact that the layperson has no experience representing the guilty, or advocating the cause of someone who is believed to be guilty. It’s simply a natural curiosity to want to know about the mentality, approach and moral dilemma that one might face in this situation.

Perhaps I am a little too impatient with those whom I perceive as being judgmental toward my clients and me. Yes, I am quick to judge the very folks who I believe are judging me, asking me in an accusatory way how it is that I could do such a morally reprehensible thing.

“Sons of your Father’s Satan”

Though I may sound too judgmental, I am nowhere near as critical as Christ when he indicted the same Pharisaical people. Jesus called these judgmental people hypocrites five times in just one chapter, the 23rd chapter of Matthew, while also calling them “blind fools, blind guides, vipers, snakes, and sons of your Father’s Satan.” Jesus had some very strong words for the hypocritical, pious and Pharisaical folks who would look down their ecclesiastical noses at sinners, daring to ask Jesus how He could associate with such sinners. We know how strongly our Savior feels about those people who would use their religion to judge others. Jesus commands us in the 7th Chapter of Matthew to “remove the plank from your own eye before your look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye,” continuing with, “only after removing the log from your own eye can you clearly see the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye,” reminding us that “by the same measure you judge others, you too shall be judged.” Some Bible translations use the word “log” for the word “beam” or “plank.”

The point that Jesus is making is that, you need to quit judging other people and remember that your Heavenly Father will use the same measure of judgment on you, reminding us that He is not advising us or suggesting certain advice to us. Instead, He is commanding us to obey Him and to quit judging other people. Again, He had the harshest words for the Pharisees and others who were judging sinners with whom Christ would associate, and at those people to whom Jesus would minister.

My words would not even come close to the righteous condemnation in Christ’s. Many of the “believers” from the faith community today who ask me how I can represent those I believe are guilty are likened by me to modern day Pharisees, looking down their own ecclesiastical noses at the disobedient criminally accused. How quickly they forget that they themselves are guilty as hell, “sinful as the day is long,” and no more innocent than the criminally accused I represent.

How quickly they forget that Jesus died for those people in just the same way that he died for them, and that our Father in heaven does not differentiate between their sins and the sins committed by my clients, keeping no score or hierarchical distinction between their own sins and my sins and my clients’ sins, counting them all as exactly equal, and placing all of us on equal footing. We’re all destined for hell, but for the saving grace of Jesus Christ!

Don’t they realize that Jesus was referring to them when He related the parable repeated in the 18th chapter of Matthew, the parable of the servant’s debts forgiven by the King? Do they remember how the servant, whose debts were forgiven, failed to forgive his own debtor, choosing to put his own indebted servant in jail, notwithstanding the fact that his own greater debts were forgiven by the King? Do they forget the King’s wrath when he learned that His forgiven servant failed to forgive the debts of his own debtor, after having just received forgiveness from the King?

Do they not remember that the King’s wrath was visited upon His own servant when he learned of His servant’s unforgiveness, after he just received forgiveness? Did they forget that the King had his servant then thrown into jail and tortured and otherwise judged by the same measure the servant decided to use against his own debtor? In the 35th verse of that 18th chapter of Matthew, Christ warns all of us: “So my Father will also do to you if you do not forgive others from your heart.”

That’s right, we are not only to forgive others with lip service, we are to forgive others from our heart. Did He say from your heart? Absolutely. There is no escaping the fact that Christ told us that we must not only tell other people that we forgive them, but we must actually mean that we forgive them! We cannot simply tell people that we forgive them while saying, I forgive Joe, I won’t forget, never truly forgiving, only saying that we forgive. That is not good enough, according Christ, who again tells us: “So my Father will also do to you if you do not forgive others from your heart.
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Keep in mind that Jesus was referring to what the King had just done to his unforgiving servant, when Jesus warns of what the Heavenly Father will do to us if we do not forgive others from our heart. Jesus is telling us that our Heavenly Father will throw us into hell and send us into the burning like of fire if we do not forgive others from our heart. That is what the King essentially did to his own unforgiving servant in the parable. It is actually a beautiful picture of the grace of our Heavenly Father, because in that parable, the King showed grace to His indebted servant, wiping out all of the tremendous debt and forgiving His servant, choosing not to throw His servant into jail because of the servant’s inability to pay all those debts. This ought to remind us of ourselves, and of our own inability to pay our own sin debt, a debt we owe, but a debt we cannot pay.

Notwithstanding this tremendous amount of grace bestowed upon us daily by our King, our Heavenly Father, we choose not to forgive others who have offended us, just like the unforgiving servant in the parable chose not to forgive the debts of His own servant! Only then did the King visit His wrath upon His unforgiving servant, and in the same way, only then will our Heavenly Father show us the same treatment. We are forgiven and thereby escape the otherwise expected torture, unless we fail to forgive those who have sinned against us.

Jesus forgave and interceded for His own murderers, as they were murdering Him!
Remember, Jesus Christ forgave the very individuals who were murdering Him! He interceded for His own murderers while He was dying on the cross, proclaiming: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Can you imagine? Here Jesus is on the cross praying for his own torturers. You can only imagine the level of excruciating pain He was experiencing while he was interceding for His murderers at that time — finding enough time still to intercede for the “criminal” crucified on His one side, the very thief who was rebuking the “criminal” crucified on His other side.

It takes a thief

It is interesting to note that two of the four gospels have both criminals mocking Jesus while on the cross, while two other gospels reveal that one criminal was rebuking the other for mocking Jesus. There have been some commentators who chose to point out this apparent inconsistency among the four gospels, while more learned theologians are quick to explain the fact that there exists no inconsistency at all here, only a clear illustration of a deathbed conversion. Both criminals apparently were mocking Jesus when they were first on the cross.

Only after listening to Jesus intercede on behalf of His own murderers, and hearing no complaints from Him, but instead interceding on behalf of His murderers, His mother, and then on behalf of John, His disciple, and only after hours of witnessing this behavior of Jesus on the cross, one of the criminals recognized Christ’s messiahship and rebuked the other criminal: “We are guilty for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong, we deserve to die for our evil deeds. Don’t you fear God even when you are dying?” then saying to Jesus: “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom, Jesus.” Jesus is then said to have responded: “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:40-43). Jesus promises the guilty criminal the same redemption and salvation He promises us! Jesus was interceding at that very moment for a guilty criminal, advocating that criminal’s cause, choosing to represent that criminal, knowing that the criminal was guilty, doing the very same things which I am accused of doing by the Pharisaical believers in the churches today.

The same tired old question could have been asked of Christ as He was on the cross: Jesus, how can you defend that criminal, whom you believe is guilty? Jesus knew that the criminal was guilty, and yet he represented the criminal anyway. Jesus hugged all the lepers, the very untouchables who were shunned and condemned by society at that time. Today’s criminally accused are akin to modern-day lepers, shunned and ostracized by others, outcasts in society. Was Jesus not representing the soldiers who were crucifying Him, murdering Him, the very people on whose behalf He begged the Father, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” Those folks were guilty, and yet Jesus represented their interests anyway, choosing to advocate their cause, pitching to the Father in their defense, and yet would you think to ask Christ today, Jesus, how can you represent folks who you know are guilty?

I must confess that I am much less offended when I am asked this rhetorical question by non-believers, or by anyone who does not purport to be a gospel-believing Christian. I am much more understanding when I am asked that question from someone who is not acquainted with the good news of the gospel, unfamiliar with the promises of Christ. It is easy to understand how a layperson who has not yet embraced this redemptive plan could ask me this question. However, when I am asked this question by self-proclaimed, born again believers within the faith community, by those who purport to believe in the good news of the gospel, I am perplexed. I wonder how it is that they could possibly ask me this question, knowing that Jesus Christ died for these same people I represent, and knowing that they themselves have sinned a million times over in their lives.

The pharisaical folks must know that they need forgiveness as much as the next guy. I cannot imagine how they could possibly believe that they are not in tremendous need of serious measures of grace from an all-forgiving God! I am quick to wonder if they have been reading the scriptures at all, and if they have been how they are able to so quickly forget His words? How is it that they could see themselves at the moment of their question in any other light but that of a modern-day Pharisee? Would they not rather err on the side of grace, rather than legalism?

“Are you near the light?”

I am reminded of an illustration I once heard regarding light and its illuminating effect on the skin. The closer your hand gets closer to the light, the more flaws and imperfections are revealed. The light in this analogy represents God, the Father, or any member of the Godhead (the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit) for that matter. The bottom line: As you get closer and closer to the light, seeing your own flaws and imperfections much more clearly, the less you will be quick to judge the flaws and imperfections in others; and in that way, the less Pharisaical and pious you will be, less likely to look down your own ecclesiastical nose at others.

If you are noticing all the flaws and imperfections in others, you must not see yourself as particularly flawed and imperfect, and you must therefore not be close to the light. Therefore you have serious work to do on your own relationship with the Father, as it would then appear that you are not very close to Him at all, requiring you to get closer and closer and closer to the light, and you had better move there as fast as humanly possible! If you recall from the Bible, there are only a few people who were in the actual presence of the Lord, and each of those wanted to then hide their faces, so much more cognizant then of their own vile nature and imperfections as they saw Him, begging God to not look at them.

Remember also the other parable shared with us by Jesus, when He described by illustration the two different levels of debt, a debtor owing 50 denari (a dollar equivalent of a day’s wages in that day) and a debtor owing 500 denari; wherein the debts of both debtors were forgiven by creditors described in the parable, with Jesus asking the question as to which debtor would be more grateful or more loving after having had his debt cancelled or forgiven. Predictably, the answer was that it was the individual debtor who had 500 denari cancelled or forgiven who loved the creditor more than the individual who had only 50 denari forgiven. Christ explained: “He who has been forgiven of much, loveth much.”

In like manner, Jesus is essentially saying that we, who realize just how much we have been forgiven, will be closer to the light and will love much more than those who do not truly realize just how much of which they have forgiven. If you do not truly appreciate just how much of which you have been forgiven, you will not love the Lord as much as one who clearly sees himself as an incredibly thankful reprobate who has been forgiven of a tremendous amount by God!

Think about Matthew 9:12, specifically the dinner party attended by Jesus and the “tax collectors and sinners.” (Shouldn’t you see yourself at that dinner party?) The Pharisees asked Christ’s disciples: “How can your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” They did not have the courage to ask Jesus directly, so instead they asked His disciples. Isn’t that just like the cowardly Pharisees?

I am also referring to today’s Pharisees within the faith community too, who instead choose to gossip and talk about other people behind their backs, not having the courage to directly confront the target of their gossip. Well Christ is omniscient and knew what they asked His disciples. He chose to then answer this question for His disciples, responding with: “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. I desire mercy, not sacrifice; I have come not to call the righteous to salvation, but sinners.”

I see this question posed by the Pharisees to the disciples as the exact same question asked of me today, essentially asking Jesus, how can you represent people you know are guilty? The question was asked of His disciples: “How can your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Again this question was essentially the same question.

That is the same question asked of me whenever I am asked how I can represent those I know are guilty. Remember how Jesus responded? “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. I desire mercy, not sacrifice; I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Today’s Pharisees want justice, not mercy, when it involves everyone else except themselves or their loved ones; when it involves themselves or their family members, justice is the last thing they want; it is then that they want mercy. Isn’t that interesting?
© 2006 John P. Contini