Today's epistle lesson shows us Paul's legal training. Throughout his letters to the early Christians, Paul uses the language of the court system to talk about our relationship to God, from seeing Jesus acting as our attorney to this statement -- that we have been justified: that is, acquitted or pronounced innocent. It is not the same word as "virtuous" nor "innocent as a child." It means that, having been put on trial, we are acquitted; we are free to leave the courtroom and return home.

The courtroom drama is a familiar one to those of us who watch television. A favorite ploy of Perry Mason-style mysteries is to have the attorney stand up in the courtroom and begin to peel away the layers of the crime, discarding theories and alibis one by one, turning false testimonies into a defense of…