Is it better to have no awareness of sin?

John 9:41 NASB
41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Jesus of Nazareth, as far as I can tell, basically said if you aren’t aware of your sin then you don’t have any sin.

Consider the following passage:

Matthew 18:5-7 NASB
5And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me;
6but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes!

Jesus said we shouldn’t cause someone to sin. One of the ways to cause someone to sin is by making them aware of sin.

So my question is does God actually want us to be aware of sin? If yes, why?

Once a person reaches a certain age, it is impossible to not have an awareness of sin............or right v. wrong. This is spoken of as the age of accountablilty by many. The exact age is not given in Scripture, but it is revealed in how Jesus thought about "little children." Children are not held accountable for their "sin nature," or any misdeeds they may commit prior to a certain age.

The Scripture you gave does not excuse "ignorance of sinful acts."

There are two kinds of sin. A sin of "omission," and a sin of "comission." The first is one that falls into the "ignorant" category. The second falls into the "willful commitment" of sin.

Both must be dealt with, repented from, but omission is not nearly as deadly as willful acts of sin once a person is saved/becomes a disciple of Jesus. We all commit sins of omission from time to time, and, if we acknowledge them, and ask for forgiveness (as taught by Jesus in "The Lords Prayer," God will forgive them, and we remain in good stead with Him.

Willful acts of sin.......sins of commission are a different beast altogether. It is debated how deadly they can be to ones eternal life. One Scripture to consider concerning "willful sins."

Hebrews 10:26 says that “if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (NKJV). Many people believe Hebrews 10:26 is teaching that intentional, willful sin causes them to lose their salvation. It is sometimes taught that God forgives unintentional sin, but not intentional.

Jesus was speaking to adults, Pharisees specifically, and it says He came to make those who see become blind where being blind is equal to being unaware of sin. In other words, there isn’t such thing as a sin of ignorance because apparently being ignorant of sin makes the sin nonexistent.

This is coming straight from Christ so I can’t agree with your interpretation.

John 9:39-41 NASB
39And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40Those who were with Him from the Pharisees heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?”41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

He also said He came to make those who are blind see and those who see blind. From my perspective those cancel each other out. In essence, Christ seems to be saying He wants to make people aware of their sin and then be unaware of their sin.

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• Heb 10:26-27 . . If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received
the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful
expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of
God.

Within context of the letter to Hebrews; the pronoun "we" in the reference
above pertains to folks living in the land of Israel whose association with God
is regulated by the covenant that Moses' people agreed upon with God per
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy: which says:

• Num 15:30-31 . . But the person, whether citizen or stranger, who acts
defiantly reviles The Lord; that person shall be cut off from among his
people. Because he has spurned the word of The Lord and violated His
commandment, that person shall be cut off-- he bears his guilt.

Also:

• Deut 27:26 . . Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this
law by carrying them out.

However, it's possible to associate with God by means of a different
covenant; one that provides a means for absolving willful sins.

• Acts 13:38-40 . .Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through
Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone
who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by
the law of Moses.

Now, where Heb 10:26 says "no sacrifice for sins is left" it's talking about
the catalogue of Levitical offerings rather than Christ's. In other words: none
of the old covenant's sacrifices cover willful sins; for example David's acts of
premeditated murder and adultery. He would've been totally lost beyond
recovery had there not been a Christ to die for him.
_

1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:8-10
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.

John is speaking to the church. Christians can and do sin. There is nothing in what John says that places conditions on forgiveness. Sin is sin, wilful or not.

It is also true that sin has consequences. We reap what we sow. God does not hate sin for no reason. It offends His holy nature, but it also has a terrible effect on our own lives. God loves us enough to desire that we be freed from sinful ways.

Hebrews was written to Christians familiar with the OT ways. "There is no more sacrifice" is a warning that it is not possible to go back to the old customs to be forgiven. The truth is that Lord Jesus put an end to the ritual sacrifice.

For the believer, sin brings about separation from God. All we need do is confess (1 John 1:9) and we are cleansed from sin and fellowship is restored. If you imagine that God is watching and waiting for an opportunity to smack us around for sinning, you are wrong. God disciplines, He does not punish. Punishment has no corrective value. Discipline is intended to change the believer's attitude. Discipline is part of God's love, mercy and grace.

For some years I lived with a kind of cloud of apprehension that I might have sinned and not realised it. I learned some truth about God's mercy, grace, love and forgiveness. One day, it dawned on me that I was no longer worrying about whether or not I'd sinned. I was confessing sin when I was convicted, but I stopped ripping myself to shreds looking for some flaw that I could worry about. God's expectations for us are zero. He knows what we are like and loves us anyway. He looks at Jesus, not us. He is always willing to forgive. When Jesus is living instead of us, we are much less inclined to sin. And God has no problem with Jesus!

brother of course it’s why it’s on every page of the Bible. And why Jesus made this a foundational statement of the gospel

“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭13:3‬ ‭KJV‬‬

That’s always how the Bible speaks of sin it’s very nature is death

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

…For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:16-18, 23‬ ‭


that being said we are each one going to be judged by what we actually understand of right and wrong no ones going to have my standard but me. God knows everything I know and what I don’t know so my judgement is going to be according to what I know and what I’ve done

“And that servant, which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭12:47-48‬ ‭

as we learn so does our capacity to act and be held accountable

this doesn’t mean we want to be ignorant d not hear Gods word because we don’t want to know what he said because we think it’s going to condemn us if we hear him it’s quite the opposite we want to feed on his word because it discerns good and evil in our heart and mind and keeps us away from sin and death

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

if we hear the gospel it teaches to turn from evil and cling to the good because ultimately if we don’t repent we’re going to perish as all sinners will

I would say yes that Jesus does want us to be aware of sin, our sins.

Firstly because he died for our sins.
Secondly because he wants to conform us to the image of Jesus who was sinless.

Not saying we will be sinless whilst we are on earth but we ask the Holy Spirit to sin less.

How can we sin less if we do not know what sin is?

As believers we should know what sin is.

One thing I do is actually ask God to reveal to me any sins I committed today but did not know I had.

Boy is that an eye opener

Of course. If you are not aware of something, how will you deal with it? But Christ also wants you to be aware of the remedies.

It's the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin. The only way you could cause another person to stumble is if you deceive or persuade them to do something they know they shouldn't do. Merely making people aware of sin isn't causing them to stumble; if that was the case everyone who reads the Bible would be stumbling every time they read it.

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It's far more likely the letter to Hebrews conveys information intended for the
posterity of the people to whom the prophets were sent, viz: Jesus' countrymen.

• Heb 1:1-2 . . In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets
at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to
us, by His son.

The author-- unknown by either name or gender --was apparently a Jew
because the pronouns "us" and "our" associate him with the ancestors to whom
the prophets were sent.

NOTE: One of the hardest epistles for Gentiles to figure out in the New
Testament is the letter to Hebrews; primarily because it wasn't written to
them. The target audience is the author's fellow Jews; especially those
trained in Moses' law. Gentiles tend to have the rather bad habit of
Christianizing the letter to Hebrews and thus clouding its intent.
_

.

The Levitical system may be obsolete, but it has a long ways to go yet
before it comes to a permanent end. During the millennium, the Levitical
system will once again be up and running and on duty in a brand new
Temple at Jerusalem. (Ex 40:12-13 & Jer 33:17-22)

The thing is; God says that the Levitical system will survive for as long as
the cosmos exists; so He cannot cancel the ritual sacrifices until today's
cosmos is destroyed beyond recovery.

FAQ: Will today's Christians be required to offer sacrifices in the new
Temple?

REPLY: No, they are under a new system whose sacrifice is human rather
than animals.

FAQ: For whom then will be the Levitical system?

REPLY: Quite a few Jews will survive the time of Jacob's trouble (a.k.a. the
tribulation). The Levitical system will be for their use-- how long a time I
don't know, but eventually those survivors will have to make the switch to
the new covenant described by Jer 31:31-34 & Ezek 36:24-27 or risk getting
themselves culled from the herd when the millennium comes to an end and the new
cosmos comes into being.
_

Hello Runningman, I agree with what p_rehbein just said, EVERYONE is aware of sin, whether they posses/know/understand the Law of Moses, or not .. because God has written a basic set of laws on our hearts from birth (so that we know, basically and instinctively, what is good, and what is evil).

The Apostle Paul addresses this in his great treatise (Romans 1:18-3:20) about those who are outside of Christ, be they Jew or Gentile.


I believe that God will judge the unbeliever on the basis of what he/she both knows and understands of the law, even if the only law that they possess is the one that was written on their hearts from birth by God. On the other hand, those who possess the law, but do not know/cannot understand it (e.g. unborn babies/infants/toddlers/the mentally infirmed) will not be judged and condemned like the rest who do.

God bless you!!

~Deut

Until I knew what sin was, I didn't know I needed a savior.

We can look at this from the perspective of sin being a violation of conscience / inner feeling of right or wrong.

"(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; )" - Rom 2:13-15 KJV

John 9 starts with the healing of blind man. Jesus' disciples ask whether the man's blindness is the result of his sin or inherited sin. Jesus clarified that, no, the blindness was not the result of sin but that he was blind from birth so that the works of God could manifest in/through him.

To me, this has some similarities to Job's afflictions that cuminate in Job having a better relationship with God.

By the end of John 9, Jesus says that by judgement the blind will be made to see and the sighted blind. Some Pharisees seem to clue into the fact that Jesus isn't talking about ocular blindness and ask, "Are we blind too?" In a way that seems like a rhetorical question to say "We're not blind." Jesus basically says that if it were just a matter of blindness, it wouldn't be a problem, but because they boast of seeing, their sin remains.

We could approach this from the perspective of "sight"="knowlege" and reference Ecc 9:5

"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." - Ecc 9:5

From this perspective, blind to see and vice versa would mean Jesus is going to bring life to the dead and vice versa. I'm not sure on the mileage of that one.

Another approach is from Heb 11:1, where it is said that faith is the evidence of things unseen. From that perspective, Jesus could be talking about divine revelation to those of faith and to make known the unseen things to those that falsely considered themselves sighted. He would basically be calling the Pharisees sinners for not operating by faith.

I think you're presenting a different kind of interpretation altogether. I wouldn't go so far to say that Jesus would rather have us blind to right and wrong (in the sense of the law of Christ, etc) as we see verses that basically say to correct your brother when he's done something wrong. What are your thoughts on this?

The Bible is full of examples of sin He has written to us about.

spot on. That’s how I view the old and new covenant too.

That’s interesting and I agree with some of that, but Jesus said He came to make the blind see and those who see blind. Blind is equal to not being aware of sin and seeing is equal to being aware of sin.

I think Jesus told people to repent because they could see their sin, but if they repented then they wouldn’t have a reason to see their sin.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t at any point ever know about our sins, but at some point we’re forgiven and it’s time to move on from them and, if possible, become blind to their existence.

So what’s your take on what Jesus meant when He said this in John 9?

John 9:41 NASB
41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

but do children have the law written on their hearts? And did Jesus say, become like little children?