“Without blame” – Of Epitaphs and Headstones
By Elizabeth Prata
When a person dies, the eulogy tends to be flowery, and usually leaves out the negative characteristics of a person, and focuses on the positive. We want a dearly departed loved one to be remembered well. We erect gravestones, some larger or more ornate than others. Some of these have simple born-died facts, others have a life verse, motto, or even a flowery description.
“Seventeenth and eighteenth-century stones generally had solemn epitaphs which prompted passers-by to contemplate mortality and the fleeting nature of life on earth.” (Source).
These epitaphs or selected Bible verses on headstones were meant to demonstrate both how the person shepherded his or her life, and to cause those reading the gravestone to think about their own life after death.
Many early New England epitaphs contained this poem, which this blogger calls “The Classic”–
“Behold And See As You pass By, As You Are Now So once Was I, As I Am Now So You Must be, Therefore Prepare To Follow Me.”
An inscription probably from 5th century found in Sicily, reads in translation:
“Here lies Marinna who lived honorably and without blame, and left this world to go to the Lord at the age of 37 years, paying her debt on December 24, but she loved God.” source The Catacombs by Paul Carus.
Many early Christians’ graves were marked simply “without blame.” If you ponder that for a second you realize just how beautiful that is. To be a Christian is to be a person whom God sees as without blame (or spot or blemish- meaning, sin).
Catharine Wilcox, Jan 29, 1824 was laid to rest in Mt. Zion Presbyterian Cemetery. The Inscription and Notes read as follows, “Age 25. w/o Cyprian Wilcox. “She was a Christian” : “In that solemn hour when the last enemy appears, what conquering power like this I know my sins forgiven.” (Source).
In fact, if you look up the word ‘blameless’, you see it is often used in both the Old Testament and the New.
What does it mean to be without blame?
but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— Colossians 1:22
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. (Ephesians 1:4)
God said Job was blameless. (Job 1:1). Noah, too. (Genesis 6:9).
It doesn’t mean that they were without sin. Only Christ is without sin. It means, “not absolute or faultless perfection (compare Job 9:20; Ec 7:20), but integrity, sincerity, and consistency on the whole, in all relations of life (Ge 6:9; 17:1; Pr 10:9; Mt 5:48). It was the fear of God that kept Job from evil (Pr 8:13).” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary).
It means that Noah and Job always chose to do good in God’s name, had integrity, and their character was faultless in their constant pursuit of holiness. Satan attributed Job’s character to his prosperity but it was the fear of God that kept Job blameless.
We have the gift of the Holy Spirit to aid us now, so anyone who has repented of sin and is in Jesus is seen by the Father through His Son as blameless, perfectly righteous.
What an incredible shepherding of life to have written on stone that the Christian was blameless in living. They must have borne much fruit to be seen so. Of course the true epitaph occurs in heaven, when we eagerly stand before Jesus upon our arrival and hope to hear those golden words, honey to our hearts,
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:21).
How incredible to be ushered into eternal joy, spotless, blameless, all because of the sacrifice of Jesus. He laid down His life, shed His blood as God’s lamb, and was buried. Rising again and ascending to the Father, Christ is and was and always will be blameless. He is the true origin of blamelessness, and we are grateful He ordained His elect to be so, after Him and through Him.
If you’re interested, as I am, lol, in historic cemeteries and gravestones and epitaphs, here are some links that have more information.
A Guide to Reading Early Epitaphs
Cemetery Epitaphs Through Time
Epitaphs Tell Tales in New England’s Graveyards, New England Historical Society
