Things That Were Written Aforetime...

Will Rogers said, “Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” There is one subject we cannot be ignorant about: the Bible. Many times when studying with people or having a Bible conversation the person will say, “I haven’t done as much study in that field as you have.” One gets the feeling that knowledge of the Bible is not a good thing and that ignorance is blest. Not so! God has always held a person accountable for one’s actions whether he knew about it or not.

In this article we want to look at the Sin of Ignorance in the book of Numbers chapter 15. There seems to be a sin that the congregation of Israel is involved in (vv. 22-26), and a sin of ignorance on an individual basis (vv. 27-31). The law applied to both a child of Israel as well as to a sojourner (v. 29). There was a difference in the offering between the congregation and the individual (vv. 24,27).

Let’s take a look at what ignorance means under the Old Testament and the New. First, in the Old Testament ignorance is several things: a going astray (Lev. 4:2), and “unwittingly” (Lev. 5:15; Num. 15-24; Josh. 20:3ff.). The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia has the sin as “innocent error,” even though much had to be considered. Ignorance is also used of one lacking in knowledge (Dt. 19:4; Josh. 20:5). There were some 613 laws under the Old Law and I’m sure it would have been hard for one to keep them all straight. No doubt one might learn that he sinned by doing something he shouldn’t have done and needed to make sacrifice for it.

In the New Testament there are a variety of meanings, but basically, it is a lack of knowledge. There is a willful ignorance that both Paul and Peter refer to in Ephesians 4:17ff.; and 2 Peter 3:5. We learn that sin is sin no matter what. The apostle Paul said the things he did previously to becoming a child of God were done ignorantly and in unbelief (1 Tim. 1:13), and he did them in a good conscience (Acts 23:1). This should show us that he was accountable for his sins. Even though the Old Law was specifically given to the Jews (Ex. 31:17; Dt. 5:1-3), the sojourner was still held accountable for his sins when joining himself to the camp (Num. 15:30).

Everyone is accountable for their sins and will be judged by the New Testament. God, at one time, winked at such ignorance, but now He commands all men to repent (Acts 17:30-31). Jesus said His word will judge us all in the last day (Jn. 12:48). We cannot plead ignorance.

We all were once living in ignorance (1 Peter 1:14). It is up to us to teach all men what God requires of them (Heb. 8:10-11). Note the men of Athens were very religious, yet they were worshipping in ignorance (Acts 17:22-23). Did Paul say they would not be held accountable? No. He proceeded to teach them. There are a lot of members of the church that are ignorant and some just plain rebellious concerning the teaching of marriage and divorce (Mt. 19:9), modest dress (1 Tim. 2:9-12), drinking (Gal. 5:19-21) and Christian conduct (Tit. 11:12). Their lack of knowledge does not excuse their sin, nor will they be relieved of accountability for

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