I was reading in one of the threads that sins are to be divided into categories, according to one poster. But I'm wondering how accurate these categories are? Not wanting to disturb an ongoing conversation I decided to bring my questions over here.
What really are the "unwitting" and "witting" sins that Leviticus talks about? For example...
Lev 5.“‘If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty—if they unwittingly touch anything ceremonially unclean (whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any unclean creature that moves along the ground) and they are unaware that they have become unclean, but then they come to realize their guilt...
It seems to me this is just talking about being unaware of the ritual requirements of the Law or not. If you're aware of the ritual requirements, and do it anyway, you will be put to death as a rebel. The assumption here is being made that the one who "unwittingly" does certain things wrong would likely not have done those things had they known better, or would repent of them had they understood the full extent of what it meant.
For example, someone may be guilty of murder like David, who intentionally had a man put in a position to be killed. And yet he lacked full recognition of his guilt, because he did not recognize Nathan's story, indicating his guilt, and also because he did not personally have the man put to death, but rather, merely put him in a position to be killed.
And so, all categories of sin can be forgiven. But sin, when the sinner refuses to repent, shows that his intention is to oppose God, and incurs His judgment.
This poster also said we can be "sinless." That is really against the spirit of what the Apostle John said in 1 John 1. I don't know how someone can face 1 John 1 and still claim we can be "sinless?"
What I do believe, however, is that we can truly separate ourselves from the sin nature by choosing to live in the new nature Christ gave us. If we choose to remain in the old nature, and only do good works without a complete change of heart, we remain under the judgment of God, because we show that our intention is to oppose God, thus incurring His judgment.
Clearly, we can become "completely sanctified" in the sense of choosing to live in the "new nature of Christ." But even in this we cannot become "sinless" and "perfect." This is a complete misreading of the theology of sanctification.
What really are the "unwitting" and "witting" sins that Leviticus talks about? For example...
Lev 5.“‘If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty—if they unwittingly touch anything ceremonially unclean (whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any unclean creature that moves along the ground) and they are unaware that they have become unclean, but then they come to realize their guilt...
It seems to me this is just talking about being unaware of the ritual requirements of the Law or not. If you're aware of the ritual requirements, and do it anyway, you will be put to death as a rebel. The assumption here is being made that the one who "unwittingly" does certain things wrong would likely not have done those things had they known better, or would repent of them had they understood the full extent of what it meant.
For example, someone may be guilty of murder like David, who intentionally had a man put in a position to be killed. And yet he lacked full recognition of his guilt, because he did not recognize Nathan's story, indicating his guilt, and also because he did not personally have the man put to death, but rather, merely put him in a position to be killed.
And so, all categories of sin can be forgiven. But sin, when the sinner refuses to repent, shows that his intention is to oppose God, and incurs His judgment.
This poster also said we can be "sinless." That is really against the spirit of what the Apostle John said in 1 John 1. I don't know how someone can face 1 John 1 and still claim we can be "sinless?"
What I do believe, however, is that we can truly separate ourselves from the sin nature by choosing to live in the new nature Christ gave us. If we choose to remain in the old nature, and only do good works without a complete change of heart, we remain under the judgment of God, because we show that our intention is to oppose God, thus incurring His judgment.
Clearly, we can become "completely sanctified" in the sense of choosing to live in the "new nature of Christ." But even in this we cannot become "sinless" and "perfect." This is a complete misreading of the theology of sanctification.
