Is ignorance bliss?

We can easily misconstrue what Paul says about sinning,

supposing that if we blow it, and not grasp that it is sin, we’re off the hook.

Paul wrote to Timothy:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord,

because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 

though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.

But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief…

1 Tim 1.12-13

But hold on.

Paul is not saying ignorance is bliss, and that’s how he got away with being a Jewish terrorist.

Rather, he is reflecting on his astonishment at the paradox

of having been called into the service of the King,

when, previously, he was a persecutor of that very same King.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Acts 9.5

The trespass offering, also described as the guilt offering,

is exactly about sinning when we didn’t grasp what we were doing.

In Leviticus 5, not only did the person have to make an offering and receive atonement,

he had to make things right with the offended.

It doesn’t matter if you do it with your eyes open or eyes closed.

It doesn’t matter if your brain has all the lights on up there, or there’s no signal at all.

If you trespass, you’re guilty as sin.

The sign could read:

No trespassing. Not knowing is no excuse.