Conscious and unconscious sin

"The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (1Jn.3:8,9). To practise sin is to go on sinning even when one knows it is sin. Another thing is to fall into sin accidentally, or getting overtaken in a fault, when it is not what one desires (Ga.6:1 KJV). We can see that there is a huge difference between going ahead and committing sin when one is conscious that it is a sin, and falling into sin when one actually does not want to.

There is another possibility still. We have been born into this world with a nature that is inclined towards sin, and even after we are born again this old nature does not disappear automatically. It is for us to battle against this sinful nature and overcome it, and be transformed into the nature of Christ little by little (Ga.5:17). This is a lifelong process. What happens is that all of us are doing many things wrong all the time, which originates from our sinful nature but we are currently unaware of as being wrong. Many times we realise that what we have just done was sinful, only after we have done it. Many times we become aware of our sinful tendencies as we read or listen to the word of God, or when the Holy Spirit points them out to us. Then we realise that we have been doing those things all our life and that only now we are learning that they were wrong in God's eyes all the time!

All of us, however long we have been born-again Christians, how well we know the Bible, or how powerfully we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, must admit that there is sin in us (1Jn.1:8). We are conscious of some of it, but we are unconscious of a whole lot of them. That is why we must keep pressing on to perfection (He.6:1). How foolish and ignorant we will be if we think that since we have been robed with the righteousness of Christ all is fine with us, or even that God has given us victory and we are not knowingly committing those old sins!

When we observe other people and see many things they are doing wrong, should we not remember that they may not even be aware that they are doing something wrong? Then we can show them mercy and compassion rather than judgment. Is this not true even when it is about Christian leaders?

When we have received light and understanding about some areas of sin as we have walked on the way of sanctification, and we see others doing things we have stopped doing, do we consider ourselves to be superior? We and they may be at different places in our journey, and learnt different aspects of life at this time from our experiences. It is good to consider the possibility that they may be ahead of us in some areas where we are still in the dark. Let us press on ourselves, and also stop judging others ahead of time (1Co.4:5).