Sins of Ignorance

“But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance” – Heb. 9:7

The phrase ‘sins of ignorance’ is one that has been very confusing, and has accomplished everything from sparking debate among commentators to causing tender consciences to be shaken. The phrase has been translated many different ways, such as ‘errors’(ESV), ‘sins of ignorance’(NKJV), and ‘unintentional sins’ (NIV), depending on which translation you have. We can quickly see where the trouble arises when we read in Numbers 15 that sins committed in error can be forgiven, but that there is no sacrifice for sins committed defiantly (with a high hand). It seems at first glance that there is a huge gap between the two. For example, if I sin and didn’t mean to do it, then it’s ok and it can be forgiven because I did it ignorantly. But if I sin on purpose, then it must have been defiant and God can’t forgive me (which can cause a lot of misdirected introspection). If this is true how did God forgive King David and Peter? Could Peter say he didn't mean it after 3 times? I think if we look further into the text we can hopefully clear the fog on this passage (or at least some of it), and more importantly reveal the abundant patience and forgiveness that God offers sinners.

The Greek word here for ignorance is agnoema, which Strong’s Greek concordance defines as “sins committed through error, ignorance, or thoughtlessness”. If we go even further, the root for this phrase comes from the Greek word agnoeo, which simply means to be wrong or make a mistake. With this in mind I think the meaning begins to start becoming clearer already. To sin in this way is simply having bad judgment by leaning on our own understanding instead of believing what God says. Calvin backs this up in his commentary on Hebrews by saying,

“As the verb shagag (Hebrew equivalent to agnoeo), means in Hebrew to err, to mistake, so shgagah, derived from it, properly denotes error, or mistake; but yet it is generally taken for any kind of sin; and doubtless we never sin except when deceived by the allurements of Satan. The Apostle does not understand by it mere ignorance, as they say, but, on the contrary, he includes also voluntary sins; but as I have already said, no sin is free from error or ignorance; for however knowingly and willfully any one may sin, yet it must be that he is blinded by his lust, so that he does not judge rightly, or rather he forgets himself and God; for men never deliberately rush headlong into ruin, but being entangled in the deceptions of Satan, they lose the power of judging rightly.” -(emphasis mine)

So to put it simply, Calvin says sinning ignorantly (whether we “meant to do it” or not) is forgetting what God says and only pursuing what we want. He also mentions that the reason we sin is because we are satisfying our own lusts and desires and that blinds us. We are leaning to our own understanding instead of acting on what God clearly says.

So does it have to do with whether the sin was committed on purpose or not? Doug Wilson makes an interesting comment here on his blog when he says, “The word rendered errors here is agnoema. It is a broad term, encompassing sins generally, and has reference to sins committed in ignorance or thoughtlessly. Sin is defined as such by Scripture, and not by the knowledge or intention of the one committing the sin.” What Wilson is saying here is that God doesn’t necessarily have a file labeled “knew better” and “didn’t know better” which he files our sins under, but rather He defines our sinning against Him as ignorant and thoughtless because that’s what we are when we commit them. We are sinners and that’s what we do…we sin.

Thankfully God has provided a sacrifice to cover our selfish and thoughtless sins…His son Jesus! Have you sinned and then realized it later, repent, confess it to Him and He will forgive you. Have you sinned on purpose and knew better? Do the same, repent and believe! We must be careful though and not use this as a license to “sin so that grace may abound”. There is a point where we can so willfully alienate ourselves from God that we can get hard towards His warnings and then we enter dangerous ground, i.e. Romans 1 & 2 (more on this later).

...“The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Ex. 34:6-7)