Calvin on voluntary sin vs. sins of ignorance

Here is another quote from Calvin on the subject of voluntary sins vs. sins of ignorance:

“Certain men, somewhat more prudent, when they see the teachings of Novatus refuted by the great clarity of Scripture, do not deem every sin unpardonable, but only voluntary transgression of the law, into which one knowingly and willingly falls. Now those who speak thus allow pardon for no sin, except on that is an error or ignorance. But in the law the Lord commanded one sort of sacrifice to be offered to atone for the voluntary sins of believers (Lev. 6:1ff), another sort to redeem their acts of ignorance (Lev 4). Consequently, what depravity it is not to grant any expiation for voluntary sin. I say that nothing is more apparent than that Christ’s sacrifice is alone sufficient to forgive the voluntary sins of the saints inasmuch as the Lord has attested this by carnal sacrifices as seals.” (Calvin, Institutes).

Novatus was a contemporary of Calvin that taught that if someone sinned one of the "bad sins" voluntarily after being baptized that they had to be excommunicated from the Church and no forgiveness remained for them. If that was the case then there probably weren't a whole lot of people left in his church! As Calvin points out in several places this is a grave error and it does not see sin the way Scripture does, and worse than that it attempts to limit the extent of forgiveness that Christ's sacrifice accomplished. Thankfully Christ's death on the cross makes an allowance for the worst of sins, as long as there is repentance involved (I John 1:9).

Note: If it seems like I'm spending a lot of time and effort on this subject, well its for a couple of reasons. #1, it's the reasons I created this blog, to struggle through some of these verses. #2, it's because I have struggled with these verses. In the past I have struggled with God's forgiveness for certain sins in my own life in light of a lot of these passages. But to my surprise I keep finding one thing...grace! And I hope that's what these blog entries convey to whoever reads them.

(Go here for rest of this series)