Intentional and Unintentional Sin
I could have titled this “Ignorance of the Law is No Excuse.”
Have you ever gotten a ticket for unintentionally violating the law? I’m not talking about those situations where you are pulled over and pretend you didn’t know you were breaking the law. I’m referring to those times when you did something illegal and didn’t realize it.
I was driving down Fairlawn Road (pre-road construction) with little traffic and slightly exceeding the speed limit. I saw a police officer pull behind me, so I slowed down. He followed me for about 10 blocks, through three stoplights. When the third stoplight turned green, the police officer turned on his lights. I pulled over and waited patiently for the officer to come to my window. When he did, he asked me to put my hands on my steering wheel, so I complied.
He explained that it appeared my license plate light was out and my truck matched the vehicle they were looking for. He checked my driver’s license and confirmed I wasn’t the person or vehicle they were looking for, so I was free to go.
I was curious, so I asked about the license plate light. He replied that, upon closer inspection, it was fine. He said my license plate was hard to see because of the streetlights, but that the bulb was fine. The point is that I was focused on whether I needed to fix the light rather than the fact that I didn’t know it was out. I accepted there might be laws I could violate without realizing it, but that didn’t mean I was immune to the consequences of committing them.
I try to have a similar attitude toward sin. The blatant, intentional sins are easier to see—people hurting one another, robbing each other, lying for personal gain, and the list goes on and on. If you think about it, these kinds of sins are exactly why we have laws we must follow—to punish people who blatantly sin against another person who needs protection.
But, what about unintentional sins? For example, am I sinning if I’m out in public and throwing a fit within earshot of a non-believer, which causes them to stumble? Of course. Another example might be all the times I played the lotto and hoped I would win big. It wasn’t until Patrick questioned the motivation for playing the lotto that I even considered whether I was worshipping money by that hope and desire to win big.
As my faith walk continues, I find I’m looking at my motivations and other non-obvious influences for what I do to see if they are focused on God or myself.
“But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 22:34-35, 37-40 ESV
It is so easy to look at what someone else does and fault them for it. How many times have you said (or thought to yourself), how could anyone do that to a child or something similar? We even have sayings like “there but for the grace of God go I” to highlight the disbelief in committing such a sin. The problem is that you are seeing the speck in your brother's eye and not seeing the plank in your own eye.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” - Matthew 7:1-6
If that isn’t enough, there is always this:
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” - Romans 3:21-23
By the way, I’m convinced it was the description of the truck they were looking for that caused the officer to stop me and not my license plate light, but I didn’t mind the minor inconvenience.
