"Poor excuses for avoiding accountability"

Accepting the need for accountability is a humbling step. None of us likes to think that we lack self-control. And we’d rather not have to talk about our private struggles with other people. When we read about the  misdemeanours of certain politicians, and even some church leaders, we long for them to be held to account.
This article looks at commonly held objections to accountability and critiques them in light of biblical principles. We might not articulate the four objections cited here as starkly as they are phrased, but let us consider whether we might quietly use these excuses to opt ourselves out of living under sufficient scrutiny.

"I'm accountable to God, not people"

From this perspective, I might argue that I'm ultimately accountable to God, who sees all my thoughts and actions. So why would I want to enter into an arrangement with a mere mortal, who will themselves have a flawed and incomplete view of my life? 

Indeed, in the early days of creation, God directly challenges sin in individual people. He asks Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” (Gen 3:11). He asks Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” (Gen 4:9). Cain responds with the infamous reply, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” But of course, we do have responsibility for the wellbeing of others: not only to keep from harming them, but also to challenge them when they go awry. The Apostle Paul criticises the Corinthian church for turning a blind eye to the case of incest within the church: not only is the man himself sinning by sleeping with his father’s wife (1 Cor 5:1), but his brothers and sisters in Christ also sin by their indifference to his behaviour (1 Cor 5:2). Indeed, Paul writes, the whole Christian community will be polluted by this one man’s sin, if it remains unchallenged: “…a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough” (1 Cor 5:6). 

In Romans 3:19, Paul writes that, “…the whole world [will be] held accountable to God”. But later in the same letter, he also writes, “…in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Yes, it is correct to think that our ultimate accountability is to God, and the final day of judgement will expose all of our sin. And it is good to practise this accountability every day to God through confessing our sins in prayer. Indeed, some people also find journaling before God to be a helpful way to practise upwards accountability. But sometimes we lack insight and harbour blind spots in our own lives. God’s chosen agent for accountability in this life is the church. We are responsible for our own sin, but we are also to “confess your sins to each other” (James 5:16). 

Yes, we should avoid judging those outside the church, but we are to hold one another within the church to account (1 Cor 5) for our own spiritual wellbeing. But we do this with a non-judgemental posture, because we recognise that we are all vulnerable to temptation.

"Accountability is just for immature believers"

From this perspective, I might consider that I have reached a level of spiritual maturity and purity that takes me beyond the need for accountability. Perhaps I can claim 12 months free of viewing pornography. Maybe I’ve been appointed as a church or ministry leader, which has required a level of scrutiny into my moral life. But the Bible is realistic about our ongoing capacity for sin and even self-deception - “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
If we think of biblical heroes, we might celebrate their strengths. We might look to be more faith-filled, like Abraham. We might aspire to have wisdom like Solomon, or courage like Peter. But the Bible is honest that each of these biblical heroes failed at crucial moments to honour God. The prophet Samuel declared that David was “a man after [God's] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) – surely a wonderful commendation of spiritual maturity. But, later in David’s life, the prophet Nathan had to challenge David on his adultery and murder (2 Samuel 12).

In more recent times, we have seen multiple Christian leaders fall catastrophically. Outwardly (and perhaps even to themselves), they had every sign of Christian gifting and maturity. Indeed, as people age and grow in experience, they often have greater opportunities to influence others and to exercise power. But this should lead to us increase levels of accountability. As our influence increases within the church, our capacity to damage the faith of other people also grows. We all have our areas of ongoing vulnerability. And the Bible does not promise that God will resolve our weaknesses in this life: indeed, Paul confesses that God intentionally left him with his “thorn in the flesh”. God informs him that “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). In recent years at TFT, we have increased our levels of accountability for staff, volunteers and trustees. Every trustee is now required annually to have a conversation with an “accountability coordinator”, in order to test whether they are living according to the TFT Basis. Although this process often triggers light-hearted groans across the trustee team every June, they are committed to the transparency and accountability involved in this process.

In this life, none of us should consider ourselves beyond temptation. We are all fallible: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). We can benefit our whole lives from the interested concern about our spiritual health from fellow believers.

"I don't watch porn, so I don't need accountability"

From this perspective, I might congratulate myself on my progress with sexual purity. Perhaps I am quietly confident that my Covenant Eyes accountability partner is going to find nothing of concern in the latest report.

Our view of accountability, particularly within Christian circles, can become narrowed to just sexual purity. The Bible repeatedly calls us to be vigilant about sexual morality, but it doesn’t stop there. It also calls us to restraint with our words (James 3:1-12) or our eating and drinking (Proverbs 23:2). There might be areas of restraint (eg use of a smartphone) that the Bible doesn’t name directly, but where our consciences tell us that these devices have an unhealthy grip on our attention. Even in biblical times, Christians were warned against wasting their time and attention on foolish and unprofitable distractions (Titus 3:9). We are only truly self-controlled if we are exercising restraint in all areas of our lives, not just the one(s) that we choose to monitor or prioritise. Indeed, the area of our lives where we most resist scrutiny is probably the area that needs it most.

Whereas a lot of accountability focus can be on abstaining from ungodly activity, there might be other life areas where we need help from other people to participate in something that is good for us (eg exercise; social contact; getting out of the house each day etc).

Others find that exercising self-control can be like the classic “Whack-a-mole" arcade game: when they deal with a mole in one place, another one pops up somewhere else! One of our members recently wrote this: “Since experiencing this victory over porn, I have had an increased battle with controlling my swearing. I need God’s ongoing mercy on my life in every area. God is good.”

Self-control is a fruit of God's Spirit within us (Gal 5:23). It’s not something that we can develop purely by our own efforts. But neither is it just something we simply receive passively. For a fruit tree to flourish, we need to keep on clearing the weeds around its roots. Straight after describing the fruit of the Spirit, Paul writes, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). Indeed, Paul spends most of this letter calling the Galatian church to account.

“I keep well clear of temptation”

From this perspective, I might have established a comprehensive set of rules to deter me from undue temptation. For example, I might travel home from work via a longer route, so that I’m not tempted to visit a certain shop that sells certain magazines or Crispy Cremes or provides access to slot machines. I might have installed an internet filter on my electronic devices to block pornography. I might sit in the front row at church to avoid gazing lustfully at a particularly good-looking member of the congregation. These precautions might be a sensible first line of defence, but they are not sufficient for holiness, particularly if they lead us into complacency. There has been plenty of criticism written about purity culture in the US church, where the emphasis is mainly on self-imposed rules. Famously, Billy Graham refused to share a car alone with a woman; that may have been a wise decision for him to protect his integrity and his reputation. But such rules by themselves are usually inadequate, because we can be masterful in finding another way to satisfy our ungodly desires! Paul advised the Colossian church against putting their hope in self-imposed rules:

“These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Col 2:22-23)

Sensible boundaries in our lives certainly have a value. The foolishness of the youth in Proverbs 7 is in flirting with temptation by entering the vicinity of the prostitute. His unravelling begins with “…going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house” (Prov 7:8). This youth should probably set himself a rule never to walk down that street. But how much better if he also asks a godly friend to keep track of his whereabouts. So, while it is wise to steer clear of temptations, we cannot build walls around ourselves to protect us from every pitfall. Part of our strategy to defend ourselves against temptation comes from the support of other people. The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Eccl 4:12). The “two” perhaps refers to how we can support one another. The “three” adds the invaluable help of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusions

We are ultimately accountable to God. But we are also accountable to one another, because we cannot trust ourselves fully and because we do not live lives of isolation: when we sin, it impacts those around us. None of us should think in this life that we have reached a level of maturity or holiness or lifestyle that puts us beyond the reach of temptation. Let us continue to open our lives up to one another, so that we may share in the responsibility for one another’s spiritual growth. Let us have the attitude of the Apostle Paul, whose great concern for the holiness of others was driven by his great goal to “…present everyone fully mature in Christ” (Col 1:28).

This article was originally published in the Summer 2025 edition of the TFT magazine, Ascend. Click the button below to download your copy.